“Got it,” Noah quickly agreed, not stupid enough to piss Cyrus off. Eden liked that although he was wary and respectful of her guardian, he still hadn’t removed his hand from her waist.
Eden was given a careful nod from her Princeps before he turned back to join Val and the Douglas’. She exhaled and slid Noah a questioning look. “So we’re really doing this?” The thought had her whole body humming with excitement but she also felt the weight of their decision upon her chest. She’d been hurt badly before by this guy. And if it was possible she thought maybe she cared about him even more than she did back then. What was that phrase? ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’. Not to mention there was Romany in their past.
Desperate for nothing to come between this momentous development between them, Eden threw the memory of the Neith back into the farthest corners of her brain. Hopefully Romany would never be a problem again. She just had to hope she never crossed paths with the murderous witch because she could see that being a potential setback in her and Noah’s… relationship?
“Stop,” Noah said, cupping her cheek with his rough palm. Eden hated that he could read her so well. What was that?! “We’re really doing this. And there will be no doubts, no backing out of it, and no worrying that it will fall apart.”
“You sound awfully sure for a guy who’s never done this before.” He grinned. “I have faith.”
Eden grimaced. “We’re Ankh, Noah. A relationship between us… isn’t that kind of major?” He laughed, a deep happy laugh that took her by surprise. Drawing her closer, Noah kissed her, still smiling, and she couldn’t help but smile between each soft, lush kiss. Eventually he pulled back just enough to whisper across her lips, “I can do forever if you can.”
Chapter Twenty One. Dude… do you love me?
“So, you seem happy…” Val commented softly as Eden poured them both a cup of coffee. For once, they were alone in the house. The Douglas’ were at work, Tobe at school, Mhairi had gone to an over-6os swimming club, and Noah and Cyrus were at the training centre, pretending to train as they tried to root out info on their suspected traitors. Eden had assumed once they’d killed the remaining soul eaters that Cyrus would announce they were leaving (a thought that made Eden incredibly sad) but he was determined to find out just who the traitor was. He didn’t want someone telling Arcos and her people that they were travelling back to the States. And with Christopher giving Cyrus a lead on who it might be, Eden was frustrated to be left out of the loop. She was pretty sure it was McLeish since he still treated her like crap, but Cyrus wouldn’t say anything. He just told her not to worry, that he had everything under control.
Eden slid Val her coffee thinking about her non-question. The truth was, despite how much was going on right now, she was happier than she’d ever been before. Other than some nightmares every now and then, her transition from Unforeseen to Ankh had gone amazingly, almost seamlessly. She loved the training, the fighting; her first kill had been this unbelievable moment of terror and awesomeness. Once she’d come down off the high and the whole Noah thing, Eden couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to have saved that girl’s life. And that’s what she got to do now. Six months ago she had been so scared of the future, of what the future meant for her — the fear that she would one day give into her hunger and hurt someone, or worse. That was not only over but she was facing a lifetime of the opposite. She had this mega-cool purpose, like one of the characters from her favourite manga. It was utterly cheesy… but she was like… a superhero.
“What? What is that ridiculous grin for?” Val asked smiling.
Eden shrugged. “I’m happy.” And with the happy came the guilt.
Stellan.
She pushed him away.
“Despite McLeish and the traitor?”
Yeah, despite McLeish and a lot of other things. The last week she’d suddenly realised that her time in Scotland was coming to an end, so she’d ambushed Tobe and Cameron whenever she could.
And they had fun. Like always. But Tobe was right. Cameron was still acting weird and he was a typical guy who didn’t want to talk about his feelings or whatever. Tobe was worried. Eden was worried. She really didn’t want to leave Edinburgh without knowing Tobe and Cameron were going to be alright. They were really great people and they had welcomed her, no questions asked. They had come to mean a lot to her.
Eden sighed. They had come to mean a lot to her.
OK. There was no way she was leaving Scotland without fixing things between those two. Eden snorted into her coffee. She was learning something new about herself every day. Apparently she really was a meddler. Immediately Eden thought about Mhairi; she was beginning to the see the resemblance between herself and Tobe’s Nana more and more every day.
“Things between you and Noah seem to be going well.”
Eden glanced up at Val and shot her a look for the mischievous twinkle in the Ankh’s eye. “Yes, they are.”
“That’s all? Come on. As Tobe would say… dish.”
Leaning against the counter in the kitchen, hugging the coffee mug to her chest, Eden tried desperately not to get all dreamy-eyed and gooey like those girls who swooned at their boyfriend’s feet back home. She hated those girls. She was so not turning into one of those girls. Yet… Noah made it pretty hard to resist the gooey, dreamy-eyed swooning. It hadn’t mattered where they were, over the last week if Noah could sneak in a kiss or two (or a full on makeout session) he would, pulling her into broom closets, taking advantage of an empty training room and slamming her to a mat (she still couldn’t get the better of him at hand to hand combat and he was definitely using that to his advantage) and kissing her breathless. It was exciting with Noah, and new, and something she never thought she would ever have in her life. It was her first big romance, and for once she actually felt like a normal — no, not normal — ‘human’ girl.
“It’s nice.” She smiled softly at Val.
Val frowned. “Nice? How… bland.”
“Hey, nice is HUGE considering where my life was six weeks ago, OK.” Val laughed. “I stand corrected then. I’m glad it’s nice. It has been nice here. I’ll be sad to go.”
“Me too. I’m going to miss the Douglas’ and Cameron. I became a brand new person here.
Someone I actually like. The kind of person I always wanted to be.” Eden worried her lip, suddenly anxious if things would change once they returned to the States.
“Eden.” Val reached for her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, her exotic eyes full of more understanding than anyone else would ever be able to give her. “Leaving here won’t change who you’ve become. Look at me… it’s thousands of years later and I like to think I’m still a decent person.”
That warmth she got in her chest when Cyrus made some fatherly comment lit up inside her as Val tried to comfort her. “Val, you’re a great person. I could never have gotten through this without you.”
“Yes you could have. But I’m glad I could help.”
Although it was true Eden was more content than she’d ever been, and true that she had gotten good at pushing her grief over Stellan into the background (although she could never escape him in her dreams), Eden was still holding onto him. She felt guilty for feeling happy with Noah and guilty for still feeling Stellan’s loss even though he had been a soul eater. Sometimes she felt like Val would be the only one who understood that… so she took a chance. “I miss him, Val.” Hearing the quiet heartbreak in Eden’s voice, Val froze. “Your brother?”