Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Forty-Two

When I awoke, I was alone in Jacobi’s bed. For a moment, I thought I had imagined our reunion or dreamed it up upon wishful thinking. This thought was quickly squandered when I promptly sat up and spotted him across the room. He was sitting at his desk, slowly twirling a new figurine in his fingers while gazing at a blank space on the wall.

I lifted my knees to my chest, watching him curiously as his mind wandered and I wondered what was flitting behind those darkened eyes. Was he thinking about Corentine? Was he remembering Adelaide’s death? I could imagine being alive for hundreds of years only added thousands of bad memories to reflect on in the quiet moments of your life.

With momentary hesitation, I moved from my spot on the bed, taking with me a thin slip of the bed sheets. I carefully made my way to Jacobi’s form, pausing just beside him to slowly run my hand through the strands of his hair affectionately. He closed his eyes in response, but didn’t pull or push me away. I took this as a good sign and slid onto his lap comfortably, snuggling against him and resting my head against his chest.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked quietly. Jacobi shrugged half-heartedly, not intent on actually responding. I shifted my head from his chest and looked up at his face as he focused on some unknown thought in the distance. After watching him for a bit, he finally lowered his gaze to mine carefully. “Is it Corentine?”

Jacobi reached to trace his fingers over my bared throat absently.

“I got close to finding her,” He informed me simply, though I knew there was anguish behind the fact. He got close, but he didn’t find her. “She left me something.” With that statement, his gaze moved from my throat to my eyes in deep thought.

“What was it?” I inquired curiously.

“Darsana told me about your sight,” Jacobi deflected abruptly, his fingers tracing my jawline back to the locks of my hair which he twisted between his fingers. I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to tell him in response to that news, so I took note from him and shrugged mildly. The smallest smile tugged at his lips, but fell as his thoughts were pulled back once again. “You told me a long time ago that Adelaide left me a letter and I thought… I don’t even know what I thought. Maybe I thought your father told you to say that, to dig the knife in deeper…”

I blinked at him.

“I… I didn’t-“ I began, but he placed his fingers over my lips to silence me, shaking his head just once.

“I know,” Jacobi replied in a hushed voice, “I know because when I got close to finding Corentine, she threw me off by leaving me this…” He shifted then, causing me to sit up straighter in his lap. I turned my head to look at what he pulled from a drawer in his desk. Then I gasped as a familiar envelope with the name Cobi etched across it appeared in Jacobi’s grip, each letter carefully lined by the hands of Adelaide as clear as I had seen it in my dreams. I gapped at it, stunned but curious all at once, before looking back at Jacobi’s darkened features.

“She took it?” I asked uncertainly.

“Corentine must have seen it and taken it, probably because her mate’s last words weren’t addressed to her and it bothered her…” Jacobi muttered, looking away from me to glare at the letter almost bitterly. I knew he wasn’t angry at Corentine for taking the letter. After all, it was the last thing written by the woman she loved, so it was understandable. I had a feeling what angered him was what was written in the letter itself.

“Did you read it?” I bit my lip, already knowing the answer. Jacobi scoffed, though I knew he wasn’t trying to mock my question.

“Only about a million times, Lysa. And it makes no sense. It’s as if Adelaide had a complete lapse of sanity and decided to go kill herself for the entertainment value,” He growled in frustration. Then he abruptly opened the envelope and began to pull out the rather short letter. “Go on and read it. Tell me if it makes any sense to you.”