Chapter 46

Alcina looks around the room that she calls her own and yet hasn't spent a night in for weeks and bites her lip.

She decides not to pack, not yet.

Not before she speaks with Brendan.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alcina freezes when she hears the telltale click of the door.

She looks up and finds Brendan entering the room with a blank expression on his face. An odd sensation of relief sweeps through her veins after having gone so long without seeing him.

And when had two days become a long time?

"Brendan," Alcina breathes, standing up to greet him. "Brendan, did you hear? About the-"

"Yes," Brendan murmurs. He smiles that wan, empty smile that Alcina is growing to loathe. "You can go home, now."

Alcina falters.

Something aches with a sharp pang. Alcina swallows down the bile, and that tiny, foolish part of her that surges forth, with something as ridiculous as-- I'd thought this was my home.

Definitely, valiantly, ignores that trembling, irrational part of her that flits dangerously close to--