Page 99 of The Shade of Things
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“What I’m goingto tell you isn’t an excuse, but it is why I reacted badly to you not being upfront with me.” Laurent sighed. “Where do I start?” He pressed his lips into a firm line with a sharp nod like he’d decided something. “Gabriel, Juliette’s father, is my brother-in-law.”
I frowned. “You have a sister?”
He shook his head.
“A brother married to his sister?”
He shook his head again.
The penny dropped and my eyes bugged out. “You’re married?!”
“I was.” He fidgeted, his eyes darting around the room, looking at anything except me.
Knowing him as I did, I had a horrible suspicion about what had happened, but I wanted to hear the story from him. “Tell me about her.”
His expression grew distant, his face imbued with a vulnerability he rarely showed, then he lit up with a soft smile. “Delphine was an annoying brat. She used to come visit her great-aunt every summer in Paris and I’d be stuck playing with her.”
“Tatiana?” I guessed.
He nodded. Good thing he wasn’t really related to Tatiana. “It was the cliché story that one day in our teens she showed up and I saw how beautiful she was.”
“You got together then?”
He chuckled. “No. I was a horrible teenager. Gangly, acne, angry. She rightfully wanted nothing to do with me.”
I smiled, but my heart was breaking. Not because he’d been in love or married. We all had pasts and my ex remained one of the most important people in my life. No, it was the wistfulness in Laurent’s voice and my terrible certainty where this was headed.
“We fell in love during university. Tatiana and Grandmère were delighted. Apparently, they’d been planning our wedding for years.” His lips twisted wryly, but his hand drifted down to his heart.
It stayed there a moment before he caught it, making a fist, which he dropped to his side.
“Was she a shifter as well?” I said.
“No. Delphine made things bloom.” His eyes met mine, and I hugged the pillow more tightly. Oh, Laurent. He took a deep breath. “After our wedding, she came with me when I challenged the alpha and won pack leader status. We were happy there.” His voice had become brusque, like he had to recite the facts stripped of all emotion to get through it.
I was well acquainted with that tactic.
“It was the largest European pack so things would get hectic, but about seven years ago, there was a dangerous conflict between a Croatian and Portuguese pack that sucked up all my time. Delphine hadn’t been sleeping well, but she didn’t want to add to my worries, so she didn’t say anything.” He spread his hands wide.
“She became enthralled,” I said softly.
“Oui.” His words came out huskily and he cleared his throat. “I suspected something was wrong and I kept asking her, but she said it was nothing. I only found out when—” He ran his thumb over his left ring finger.
“You don’t have to tell me.” I traced the play of sunlight over the line of his strong calves and his tanned olive skin. The rays lengthened, dancing up the deep red walls while I waited for him to say something, even change the topic, but when he just sat there, hunched into himself, I stood up.
His head snapped up and he stared at me with bleak eyes, his hand held out. “Don’t leave. I need to say this out loud.”
I sat back down, remembering another husband’s need to share a memory with me and how heartbreaking Zev’s tale of his wife’s death had been. I didn’t want to know anything beyond Delphine’s eventual possession, but I couldn’t leave Laurent if he’d never spoken about this with anyone. And knowing him, that was a real possibility, his emotions festering inside him.
My eyes damp, I blinked rapidly and took his hand, cupping my other hand over his almost desperate hold.
“I woke up one morning,” he said. “It was raining and Delphine adored the rain. She said that everyone always chose the sun but that was easy. Rain added richness, quenched the earth’s thirst. When I didn’t find her inside, I went out to the garden, expecting she’d be soaked, wearing some ridiculous grin because she never took proper care in the rain.” His leg bounced, his breath coming faster.
I stroked his hand.
“She lay under her favorite red oak tree. Her dress was twisted around her like a wet rag, and her hair spread out like vines, but she had the most peaceful look on her face. She’d”—his voice cracked—“stopped her own heart with her magic before she could become fully possessed.”
