Molly is waiting at the doors to greet me.
"Welcome home, Buttercup!" she calls out in her singsong voice. "We missed you!" She puts her arms around me and squeezes me tight.
I don't ask where Cypher is. He's probably still upset with me. I don't blame him.
I head up to my room.
All of my things are here. They're still here, at Rosewood, exactly the way I left them. Almost exactly - my room has been tidied and cleaned while I've been gone. Things that I had tossed on the floor in my rush to get out of here have been folded and put in drawers or ironed and re-hung in the giant walk-in closet.
My walk-in closet. It's mine.
It doesn't feel like mine, anymore. I feel weirdly detached from this place. From everything.
I stand, looking out the window at the expansive gardens. An image of Goldie, lounging under the willow tree, pops into my head out of nowhere.
A shockwave goes through me.
I wait for the numbness to pass. I wait till I can breathe again. Then I imagine looking into his eyes. One brown; the other, blue.
The most beautiful boy in the whole wide world, I think. I used to tell him that. I used to say that to him when he was still alive.
And then I hear something I'm not expecting.
It's so clear, so distinctive, it's like it's right inside my ear:
"You're the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world."
A warmth spreads over me, like sunlight. There's suddenly a lump in my throat. I can hear him. Even though he's gone. I can still hear him. A tear falls to the carpet.
"I love, love, love you," I tell him.
There's no hesitation. His response is full of promise; his voice, reassuring.
"I'll come back to you."
YOU ARE READING
Gates of Fire And Gold
General FictionBook # 2 in The Lockworth Lottery series. Devon DaMaren had everything; fame, fortune, fashion, and a place in the Lockworth household. And she's thrown it all away in the name of love. But the Lockworths won't let her go so easily. Devon is beg...
