the secret of distance

Chapter 19

Notes:

"Where are the people?" resumed the little prince at last. "It's a little lonely in the desert..."

"It is lonely when you're among people, too," said the snake.

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Hope stands in Alaric's office, leaning against a wall with a bored expression on her face as she waits for him to come back.

Well, she's not exactly bored, just trying to make herself look like it. Her eyes betray her, glancing off to Josie every few seconds and lingering for far longer.

The siphoner is sitting in one of the chairs in front of Alaric's desk. Her back is to Hope, and the tribrid can't help but feel like that's on purpose.

Josie's sister is sitting right next to her, but the two aren't talking much. Alaric had instructed the three of them to wait here while he showed Landon, Rafael, and Clarke—Hope finally remembered his name—to their room. He had claimed it was only so that they could settle down after their long trip and relax for at least a couple of moments.

Hope, on the other hand, hasn't been in this fucking office for more than five minutes, but it somehow feels like she's hours away.

Josie and Lizzie had already been inside when Hope knocked, but neither had bothered to open the locked door for her, so she had been forced to use a spell to do it on her own.

Before then, Alaric had made her take care of the Faerie Hound. She had carried it to one of the cells in the werewolf transformation chamber all by herself, while Alaric had done...

Well, he had done God knows what. Played around with boys half his age? Acted as a tour guide? Hope has no fucking clue. If she thinks about it, she really doesn't care all that much, too consumed with thoughts of her soulmate to even think about the girl's father.

She doesn't know where she went wrong.

Josie and her had been fine last night. They had slept together in Hope's room like they usually do, had breakfast together like they usually do, Josie had let Hope walk her to her classes like she usually does, they had even eaten lunch together like they usually do. She just—

She doesn't know where she went wrong.

But, if she's being honest, she does. The tribrid had humiliated Josie in front of her fellow classmates, had treated her like an inconvenience—like a burden—and now she's suffering the consequences for it.

Josie has every right to ignore her now. To shut her out. That doesn't mean Hope wants her to. Damn it. She just wants to turn time back to last night, where she had held Josie and had been held in return. Where Hope knew for certain that Josie loved her back and was okay with being in a relationship with her.

Now. Well. She has no idea, now.

Sighing, Hope kicks off the wall and comes up behind Josie, keeping her movements slow enough to give the other girl time to move away.

A beat passes. Hope pauses all the same. She watches as Josie goes rigid, the muscles of her shoulders tensing as she keeps her chin held high and back straight. Another beat passes.

Hope's heart pounds thickly in her chest, dreading the moment Josie gets up and leaves. When she doesn't, the tribrid leans down and places her hand atop Josie's own where it lies on the arm of the chair, just to get her attention.

The delicate nerves jump underneath her touch, and she revels in the warmth of blood just beneath the skin. Josie's skin is always so soft, and there will never be a day Hope doesn't appreciate it.