Spice of Love - Completed

Chapter 8

"When will you be back?" questioned Emily eagerly.

"I have return tickets Em, my dates are fixed," explained Lucy. "I will be back next week."

"It's a shame about your very first Valentine's Day," said Em next.

"It was never going to be anything great anyway, with Jace over there and I, here," shrugged Lucy tiredly.

"Yeah, but spending it in a coffin..." Em turned to shake her head at Cat who only rolled her eyes back at her.

"It's not her fault, she was six-foot under, Em," reproached Cat before turning back to her phone. She cast a worried eye over Lucy's pale, withdrawn features in the video call. "Are you really alright, Luce?"

Lucy sighed. "It's all very strange here at first, Cat. Knyte was not at all anything like what I expected. But now I can't imagine life without him. I will miss him so bad."

"Of course, you will. He's a rockstar," chipped in Em, unhelpfully. This time both her sisters rewarded her with eye rolls.

"I miss you guys," muttered Lucy, a soft smile lifting the corner of her lips.

"We miss you too, Luce," cried Em and Cat instantly.

"What about Blaise? What's he like?" asked Cat. "How's he taking all this new-found family?"

"He's floundering," whispered Lucy. "But I think he wants to embrace this. I think he's wonderful."

"Of course, he is. He's my brother," declared Em. "And he's hot."

"Emily!" Both Cat and Lucy cried out simultaneously.

But Em only shrugged nonchalantly.

Cat shook her head at her twin and then turned back to Lucy. "Take care, Luce and see that you bring yourself home in one piece," Cat added vehemently. "And Blaise too, bring our only brother home to us." Em reached out to clasp Cat's hand. Cat blinked back the unexpected moisture in her eyes and squeezed Em's hand thankfully.

They hung up soon after. The daily catch-ups with their sister were reassuring, but Cat longed for the reassuring presence of her elder sister. She was finally willing to admit she was floundering terribly out of her depths where Sadiq was concerned. The panic was beginning to set in, and it was brought on by Sadiq's huskily murmured words the night before. When wrapped up in each other's arms, he brushed his lips against her ear and whispered, "You were made for me."

Cat shivered at the memory of those words, knowing that they spelt her downfall. Everything she hoped for, all her dreams for her future, all were reduced to embers with those few well-meaning words. She was not one for the whimsical, she did not believe in the divine or the possibility that she had been put on this earth, meant for another. But Sadiq had a way of shaking the very foundations she stood upon and that more than anything was starting to frighten the living daylights out of her. She was actually starting to long for the truth to his words. Truth she knew did not exist. She was meant for no one.

"A brother, Cat," exclaimed Emily beside her in awe. "What will that be like?"

Cat could only shake her head. She was too bewildered by so much else to contemplate the wonders to come. She clenched her teeth to grit against the sudden wash of emotions. Then again, perhaps a brother was exactly whom she needed. A brother would be a welcome relief. A shoulder to lean on. To help her unburden her mountain of lies.

*****

"What are you saying, Sadiq?" The feminine voice at the other end of the line implored worryingly.