Hyacinth (10 page)

Selene paused.

“My
apology
?”
she asked, her voice cold.

Griffin shifted
in his seat and gave a small smile. “Yes, for what you did to my family.”

Selene frowned. “Let
me get this straight… you’re accepting an apology I haven’t offered yet?”

“It was
implied,” Griffin said, oblivious to her irritation.

“You think I
implied an apology for
my
behavior?” Selene asked.

“Of course. Isn’t
that why you showed us what you did?”

Selene fumed.
How could he be so dense? “Any apology, implied or otherwise, was for what
my
brother
did,” she seethed through gritted teeth. “For the pain
he
caused you that I couldn’t stop. For what
he made
me do.”

“But what about
your part?” Griffin’s jaw clenched as he stared at her. It was becoming clear
he’d misread her.

Selene didn’t respond.
She simply closed her books and packed up her belongings. She rose regally to
her full height and turned to face him, head held high. “I’m so incredibly
grateful for your forgiveness. That being said, next time you accept an
apology, be sure someone is actually giving one.”

She paused and
gave him a haughty once-over, disgusted with herself for misjudging him so
badly. “Since you’re obviously still confused,” she continued, “let me clarify
something for you.... I risked my life to protect you and your sister. I
survived over a hundred-and-fifty years of mental and physical torture
inflicted by my own family and was forced to do unspeakable things against my
will. So I am so incredibly sorry for doing everything I possibly could to help
you.”

Selene hitched
her backpack over her shoulder and glared at the grass, unable to look at him
anymore. “When you have reconsidered your words,” she said quietly, “I’ll be ready
to accept
your
apology.”

She stalked away,
and Griffin jumped up and stared after her retreating form, dumbfounded.

“Sheesh, Griff,”
Ellie said, coming up behind him. “Could you have screwed that up worse?”

Griffin’s
shoulders slumped. “Shouldn’t someone go after her?”

“Lila’s on it.
Don’t worry. She’ll be able to calm her down.”

Griffin sighed
and sank down to the bench. “I was just trying to patch things up with her.”

“I know.” Ellie sat
down next to him. “But you did it by telling her that everything was all her fault,
despite all she’d endured to protect us.”

Griffin frowned
and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant, though.”

“Don’t tell me
that. Tell
her
.”

Thursday night,
Selene was in her guest room at Hugh and Lucy’s house. She was studying on the
bed, her history books strewn about, as Ramsey sat in a chair quizzing her on
dates and names and events. Selene liked the red-haired firestarter. He was a
bit intense, but she kind of liked that about him. Plus, being so serious meant
she didn’t have to try to lighten up around him.

They’d stalled
in their studying and were debating what it would’ve been like to be a human
trying to protect a family during the plague or the Great Depression.

“So you’re
telling me that you would steal?” Selene asked.

“To save my
family, yes… There is nothing I wouldn’t do,” Ramsey replied and clasped his
hands behind his head.

“What if you got
caught? Then you wouldn’t be there to provide for them.”

“If my choice were
between my family definitely dying because they had no food or possibly dying if
I got caught, I’d take my chances.”

“I think that if
the time actually came, you’d find decisions like that to be harder than you
imagine,” Selene said.

“Oh, I don’t
think they’d be easy. I’m just saying that my family comes first.” He paused a
beat. “Did you know that I left my original family?”

Selene tapped
her pencil on her notebook. “No. I’m still learning all your backgrounds.
Except Ellie and Griffin, of course. I know all about them.” She tilted her
head to him. “What happened?”

A small bitter grimace
twisted his mouth. “You have to ask? I’m a firestarter.”

“But you have so
much control over it,” she observed.

Ramsey leaned
forward and placed his elbows on his knees, his bottle-green eyes serious. “That’s
only recently. And with a lot of help from Ellie and Lila.”

“Who’d you
inherit your gift from?”

“Through my
mother’s side. But it skipped her generation. I think she assumed it would skip
us as well. I was only six when things started happening.”

“Stuff would
suddenly go up in flames when you were around?”

He nodded and
leaned back in his chair. “Yeah. Luckily, we lived on the frontier. We were
pretty isolated, so it was fairly easy to hide. When I was eight, my mother
explained to me what was going on. Although she didn’t tell me everything at
the time.”

“What happened?”

Ramsey’s mouth
compressed and shadows filled his eyes. Selene reached forward to lay her hand
over his. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Ramsey cleared
his throat. “Two things happened around the same time. First, when I was ten,
my mom discovered she was going to have a baby. And then I discovered my
grandfather’s diary. It was through him that I’d inherited my power. And it
turned out that he killed my grandmother. By accident, of course. He just
couldn’t control his power and it got away from him.”

“I’m so sorry,”
Selene murmured.

Ramsey frowned
and nodded. “Thanks. Anyway,I knew I had to protect my family from that,
especially—my new baby brother or sister—I had to protect them from me. So I
left.”

“When you were only
ten?!”

Ramsey gave her
a pointed look. “You were only ten when your brother turned your world upside
down. And he was only ten when he became King of the Vyusher. I did okay.”

Selene pictured
how Ramsey’s life must’ve been. At least she’d had food and a roof over her
head. Ramsey had not only had to fend for himself but wrestle with a power that
was usually a death sentence. It was a miracle he’d survived at all.

“When did Lucy
find you?”

“Ha. You’ve
heard of that little trick of hers, huh?” Ramsey chuckled.

Selene smiled. “She’s
used it on me, actually.”

He shook his
head, his eyes lighting up fondly. “She didn’t find me until 1952. I’d been on
my own for close to seventy years at that point. But if Ellie hadn’t come along,
I would’ve had to leave them, too.”

“Hey! I heard my
name. Not speaking ill of me I hope,” Ellie said as she walked into Selene’s
room.

She was soon
followed by Lila, who saw Ramsey’s and Selene’s clasped hands. She hid her
expression quickly, but Selene still caught the sadness that flashed through her
eyes.

“Never,” Selene
answered Ellie as she sat back. “We wouldn’t dare. That dragon trick is just
too intimidating.”

“Wait a minute…”
Ellie held up a hand to Selene’s forehead. “Was that humor? Are you sure you
feel all right?”

Selene grinned, her
adorable dimples making a rare appearance. “I feel fine.”

“Great! Then you
have no excuse. We’re going dancing tonight!” Ellie matched Selene’s smile with
one of her own.

“No way! Count
me out.” Selene held her hands up in front of her.

“Oh, come on,
Selene,” Lila implored, hopping on the bed beside her. “It’ll be really fun.
Even Ramsey’ll go.”

“Hey, Lily. I
think I can speak for myself,” Ramsey replied, and she wrinkled her nose at him.

Selene gave Lila
silent props. From watching Lila interact with Ramsey, no one would ever guess that
she was in love with him.

“I’m really not
in the mood for dancing tonight,” Selene insisted. “And I’m studying for
finals.”

“Well, I’m
afraid you don’t have a choice,” Ellie retorted with a mischievous grin.

Selene raised an
eyebrow. “How’s that?”

“You know, since
you’ve been around the family, I believe your true personality has really been
coming out. You’re not as quiet as you’d have people believe.”

Selene merely
shrugged. “I thought I’d explained that side of me was learned. Nurture versus
nature so to speak.”

“Well, I like
this sassy side of you,” Ellie declared.

“Hmmm… jury is
still out for me,” Selene replied. “And I’m guessing that after our last
meeting, your brother definitely isn’t so fond of it.” She looked down and
absently flipped the pages of her notebook.

“You might find
that Griffin isn’t as upset as you think,” Ellie said. “Anyway, Lucy, Hugh,
Charlotte, and Dexter are all going out to dinner tonight. And the rest of us
are going dancing. You can’t be on your own. So you’re going dancing.”

“I’ve seen what
girls wear when they go out to the clubs,” Selene said. “I don’t have anything suitable.”

“You and I are
about the same size,” Ellie answered immediately. “So that excuse won’t work,
either.”

Adelaide appeared
in the doorway. “As far as I can tell, you’ve done nothing but study since you
came here. It’s time you had a little fun in your life.”

“Yeah,” Nate
added as he snuggled his arm around Adelaide’s waist. “You deserve to boogie.”
He dramatically shook his rear around, and everyone chuckled.

“Okay….” Selene
threw up her hands. “I surrender. Dress me up, slap some makeup on me, and let’s
get this party started.”

Selene had never
felt so self-conscious in her life. Lila had managed to talk her into wearing a
tiny white skirt with a striking purple top, which looked modest enough from
the front, but the back was nearly non-existent, only staying put because of a
few well-placed strands that crisscrossed her shoulders. Thank goodness she had
long hair.

She followed her
friends into the club and could barely hear anything over the booming of the
music. Somehow they’d managed to commandeer a table large enough for all of
them. Once they sat down, Selene glanced around and noticed several
appreciative stares. Alex, Ramsey, and Nate left to get drinks while she and
the girls got settled.

“What do you
think?” Adelaide yelled over the music.

“I don’t know
yet. It’s too loud to think!” Selene shouted back.

“Well, let’s get
you on the dance floor, girl!” Lila grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

Once on the
dance floor, Selene carefully imitated what the other girls were doing.
Apparently the goal was to either join with a group of girls, dancing as
provocatively as you could, or to dance with a guy, in which case there was a
lot more provocative movement going on, but directed at that particular guy.
Selene found dancing to be incredibly liberating. The beat got into her blood,
and after a while she was throwing aside her own ingrained inhibitions and
wiggling her hips along with all the other girls on the floor.

Eventually the song
changed, but she and the girls stayed out on the floor. Random guys came up to
them, trying to get in close, but they’d just laugh them off and turn their
backs each time. Sweat started to curl the hair at her temples, making Selene
glad she’d worn so little clothing. Otherwise she’d be sweltering.

After a while
she needed a break. She was sitting at the table sipping her ice water when a
shiver of apprehension shimmied down her spine… followed by a sense of dread.

She casually
turned her head to gaze around the club, pretending to be taking in the scene.
But as far as she could tell, there was no one there who shouldn’t be there, or
at least no one who seemed obviously put of place. Just throngs of club-goers
lost in their own worlds, not paying attention to her at all.

Selene mentally
scolded herself for her paranoia, but it was understandable. It was almost
second nature after Gideon’s long reign and the years he’d spent watching every
single thing she said and did.

She was just
forcing her muscles to relax, when a large male hand landed in front of her on
the table. “Wanna dance?” Griffin asked. His lips were so close to her ear, she
could feel his breath stir her hair.

Selene hid her surprise
as she gracefully rose from her chair and placed her hand in his, secretly
reveling in the warmth and strength that radiated through that one small point
of contact. Griffin followed her to the dance floor, as they threaded their way
through people and tables. As they reached their destination, Griffin turned
her to face him, then released her hand. Together they started moving, not
touching, just dancing. Griffin didn’t move much at first, clearly a little
uncomfortable with the public display. But his eyes never left her, and Selene
couldn’t look away.

Something took
over inside her, and she started dancing just for him. The more she moved, the
hotter Griffin’s gaze became, until only the two of them were there, together
in their own little world. Like when she visited him in his dreams. The people
around them seemed to just fade away. As though he were unable to resist,
Griffin stepped up to her and placed a hand at her hip. At the contact she
stilled, and they stood for a moment, just looking at each other. Then they
started moving. Together.