Emerald Eyes

Chapter 8 - The Comfort

The rich flavors burst onto my tongue, mixed with a fine minerality and complex earthiness, and my taste buds immediately relish in them.

Textural. Potent. Elegant.

No wonder Liam's praising it so much. It was the best cup of tea I've ever tasted.

"Yes," I say, already warm from one sip. "Quite well."

"Then yes, I am." His eyes dance with amusement as I sigh with contentment.

"You're truly enjoying yerself, sweetheart."

I feel my face glow crimson, but the tea is simply too exquisite and I can't contain my reaction and delight.

"It's not my fault," I say, slightly embarrassed. "It's just too good."

"It's adorable." He carefully brushes a thumb over my flushed cheek.

Warmth curls low in my stomach.

Even this grumpy, brooding Liam has found a way to grow on me the past few days. But sweet, playful Liam? Argh. I'm doomed.

"Wow. You were right. This is amazing." I relax, sitting on the bed.

"I'm always right, sweetheart," Liam teases.

I roll my eyes at him, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. "Surely not always?"

A deep rumbling chuckle emanates from his throat. "That is the Alexandra I was waiting for to come out. The kitty with claws."

"Thank you," I mutter. "I'm sorry about earlier. The... Shriek. I don't know what happened, I haven't..."

"That's okay. I was the one who startled ye sitting in your bedroom unannounced in the first place." Liam sits next to me, and a pleasant warmth that emanates from his body makes me want to scoot over even closer.

"I think I'm just..." I am unsure whether to tell him all this, but then the avalanche of words and feelings starts and I am powerless to stop it. I need to say it and he is the only one here. The only one who can understand me. "I am just not used to not being in control. Not having this... stability like I do at work. At the hospital, there is a wound, a malady... and there is a way to heal it."

"And here we are in a problem, and you aren't sure how to solve it. Or if we will be able to solve it." He finishes my thought.

"Yes. exactly." I swallow, embarrassment washing over me for having admitted such a silly weakness.

"It's normal to feel that way. It's not yer fault, Alexandra. You are so new to this world. A world ye shouldn't have been dragged into in the first place." Those soft green eyes caress my face. "If anything, it's mine. I should have dug deeper. I should have figured out Kieran had a backup plan. I guess he one-upped me," he growls.

His anger dredges up every emotion and memory from that meeting and pours them into the pit of my stomach.

The shock. The disbelief. The fucking rage at both my father and mother who'd had the nerve to play a pretense role my whole life and lie to me.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

My mother lied to me.

My mother lied to me, and I trusted her my whole life.

Tears crowd my throat, but I force them back even as a crushing sense of loneliness invades me.

In the space of a week, so many things have happened.

I'd lost my late grandmother, but in a way, I'd lost my mother too.

The version of the mother I knew. The only thing I had left was myself.