The Immortal Quartet

Chapter 22

Wren

When we arrive in the dining room, William and James are already waiting for breakfast to be served; Alec, on the other hand, is still absent. The second I see William, he meets my gaze with a sort of anxiousness in his eyes.

Right, I need to deal with that first. While Viviana is busy catching up with Maria, I ball my fists and approach William, mentally preparing for the impending conversation.

"Come," I say, and he nods, following me without hesitation.

Back in my room, I put my hair up in a high ponytail and brace myself to face him.

"I am so sorry," William starts. "I was absolutely out of line and betrayed your trust in doing so. I admit, there was plenty of time for me to work through my apology, yet this is all I can come up with. I just hope you'll find it in you to forgive me—I don't think I'd be able to bear it if you started hating me."

"Whoa, hold your horses. Who said anything about hate?" I cross my arms over my chest. "Sure, you surprised me, and I was pretty stressed out over the whole thing. But after giving it some thought, well. I didn't particularly give you any time to explain yourself, now did I?"

Stuffing his hands in his pants pockets, he averts his eyes. "Be that as it may, I shouldn't have kissed you in the first place. No matter how weird that memory made me feel, my actions were unacceptable."

"What memory?"

"The one of James kissing you—I saw it as I held your hands. I can't really explain that feeling, but it came over me so suddenly it was overwhelming."

"Oh. Could it be that it made you jealous?"

"It's not what you think." He finally looks at me with urgency in his eyes, holding up his hands in defense. "It's not like I want to monopolize you or anything. I guess I meant to show you that, you know..." His voice gets smaller with every word. "That I'm an option too."

And I have no clue how to respond. What is that even supposed to mean? So instead of saying anything, I grab his hand and try to let all my feelings pour out as they are, completely unfiltered.

"Do you get it now?" I ask.

He presses a palm to his temple as though I gave him a headache. "Damn, that's a lot to process."

"Exactly," I say through clenched teeth. "I'd prefer to put the whole topic on the back burner until I figure out how to react to it. I get it, both you and James are interested in more than plain, old friendship. But the problem is that I don't know how I feel about romantic relationships, let alone whether I want to be in one or not. So can we please go back to normal?"

"Certainly, love." He sighs, and a small smile tugs at his lips. "Maybe I'll learn to properly express my feelings in the meantime."

"Ask James to teach you—he's so adept at it, it's kinda annoying."

William laughs and envelopes me in a hug. "I'm so happy right now. I missed you."

"It's only been a day." I chuckle. "But I'm glad we're done with all the drama."

"Yeah. Let's head back before Viviana grows impatient."

Once we enter the dining room, Viviana appears by my side, throwing an arm over my shoulders.

"You sure took your sweet time. Sit with me today," she says, kisses my cheek, and drags me to the table.

This woman scares me with all the optimism and excitement emanating from her.

As we take our seats—Viviana to my left, William to my right, and the two yet unnamed vampires already sitting in front of us—the rest of the bunch is already busy eating.