The City of Two Halves

✽Chapter 16✽

The drive home was drastically different than the drive to, first of all, Ashton being mostly unscathed and the least tired, was driving with the other three in the back seat. Second of all the cool night air was replaced with a crisp morning rain and blood red clouds as the sun rose over the horizon.

Grace was in the far left seat, she had taken her shoes off and was dozing with her hands holding onto Dorian's. He was sitting in the middle and had fallen asleep on Grace's shoulder with her head resting on top of his, Dorian's back was facing Cerena who was on the far left. She was cleaning blood off Dorian's back with unscented makeup wipes, pulling out the occasional shard of glass.

Nobody said anything as the clouds turned from red to pink, Grace allowed the light to consume her body and hold her complete attention, she did not even stir when Dorian awoke.

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When they were back in the apartment Ashton and Cerena sat down in the living room with some coffee and Grace took Dorian to his room to deal with his wounds.

Dorian's room was coloured in a range of different cosy browns with the occasional mahogany, on the left wall there was a map of the city with pins and string detailing it and in front was a small desk covered in neatly stacked papers. A canvas stood on an easel with a rough sketch of the city skyline on it, blots of dark colours covered a couple of the buildings. His bed was on the right and next to it was a large chest of drawers with a couple of scarves piled on it, they walked towards the bed and Dorian sat down with his back facing Grace.

She silently patches up Dorian's back, every so often he feels her fingertips grazing his back. Her hand runs slowly down the largest cut and she says, "That glass did a number on you, why didn't you tell me?" He doesn't answer, lost in his thoughts about Crawdad, his parents and finally about Grace

He thought about telling her, he thought long and hard and then he hears Grace say, "You don't have to tell me anything you know," he turns around and notices the cuts on her arms and then he begins to feel guilty, how could he not notice? Dorian stares for a while before saying, "Can I?" she nods and he starts to patch her up.

Even though they have lived together for some time, Dorian couldn't think of any bad memory with Grace, she cared about him in a genuine way, a way you don't often find in the large city of Polfast. When he sat alone in his room and hated everything about himself, he knew one door down was a person that made him feel whole, made him feel understood and cared about. When he stood with the rain beating down on him, he knew she would be there, dancing around him and jumping in puddles. When they went on dangerous missions, she would always be there, covering him and protecting him above all else.

But he wasn't good enough, or at least he thought so. He saw the way random strangers looked at Grace, the way they would talk to her and he compared it to himself. They all had so much to offer her and what did he have? The answer was his best. He could offer Grace the very best of himself, his mind, body and soul alike, he would try for her and he would always try his best.

On a cold April night, they were walking home from a bar and the rain had started earlier than they thought. He had stopped to watch it and that night, for the first time when Grace extended her hand to ask for a dance he accepted. They danced through the midnight rain, kicking puddles of water up as their feet moved and even though they were drenched to their bones, they never felt the cold.

Now with just inches between them, he felt comfortable with her, as if she could see every part of him, broken and together, and she just accepted it.

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Grace had decided to stay with him for a while, just until he fell asleep and it gave her time to think. They lay about a foot apart, any closer and she worried her tired mind would make a bad decision, she thinks about the only thing she can do in moments like these, Dorian. When Dorian first moved in, Grace was terrified that she would fall for him and in retrospect the fact that she even thought that meant Grace already had a crush on him.

He would pay attention to her in a way that no guy had before, he would listen to her struggles, offer advice when she asked and seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to her. She found herself thinking about him romantically before she could admit she was falling and when he did move in, she started to fall even faster.

His eyes always lit up when he was talking to her, he was a little awkward when he asked for things and she fell for it all, the way he talked, how he laughed and his sense of humour and the way he would talk to her about everything and anything no matter how absurd or strange it was.

One cold night in April they had gone out drinking, drunk and starry-eyed Grace had watched him laugh at her accidentally bumping into the table and spilling their drinks. That night tipsy Grace had admitted something to herself, something sober Grace wouldn't admit for months to come, that she had fallen head over heels for Dorian Worthington and there was no force in the world that could change it.

But she couldn't tell him, life was too good, she had Dorian and he was happy, or more, he seemed happy and she couldn't ruin it for him, Grace just couldn't.

Finally Dorian had fallen asleep and with a heavy heart, Grace got up and quietly shut the door behind her.

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"Can we solve the mystery yet?" Ashton asks,

"No, not tonight," Cerena replies,

"Huh?? Why not?"

"Because you ignorant dog, Dorian needs time,"

"I'm not a dog, I'm a werewolf and you only just told me what happened between them, Crawdad's a shitty dude who screwed his parents over,"

"Could you speak any louder?" Cerena hisses as Grace enters the room, she sits down quietly and pours herself some coffee.

She sips her coffee quietly and asks, "So now we have the amulet, what do we do?"

Cerena starts, "From what I understand, this amulet should lead us to a clue and the clue should lead us to another and so on,"

"At the end of our wild goose chase we should be able to use the amulet as a key for the treasure," Ashton says,

"I see," Grace says, "But what's the first clue?"

"Not sure, but I think it would help if we knew something about the stone itself,"

"I need to pick up some flour tomorrow so I'll check out some crystal stores too."

In saying this very sentence Grace solidified her fate, a fate soon to be revealed.

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