Samhain (Midsummer #2)

Prologue

CARTER

NOW

I t was a sham marriage.

I knew that. They’d both told me. We’d promised each other honesty, and I believed them. That didn’t stop the throbbing ache in my chest. I used to have a heart there, once upon a time. Now, I only had a hole and a leaking sieve.

I should be there .

I sipped my scotch. It went down smooth and sweet, burning my stomach with enough agony to remind me I was alive, even after everything that’s happened.

“It’s the wedding event of the season, Mark,” said the talking head on the TV, her blond hair bouncing as she stood in front of the Washington estate. “Any moment, Alexei Fairfax will take his place in front of the altar. We’re told five minutes after that, Ivy will walk down the aisle. I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of her wedding dress, and it is to die for.”

What a way to put it. I snorted as I took another drink.

How long had I loved her? How many times had I held her in my arms while she fell apart? Being here, watching it on TV instead of in person, well…I didn’t know which was worse. I had endured this and much more for them, but publicly holding my tongue while they made vows to each other they’d already made to Miri and me took an act of God.

I’m not worthy. Not yet.

“You know, René Calvert designed this dress himself,” said the other presenter, Mark. “It took over two million dollars in diamonds.”

Jesus.

I bet Ivy hated it. She’d rather get married in hot garbage than walk down the aisle in some pretentious sparkling number that weighed a thousand pounds.

I took another drink and winced against my breaking heart, now racing at the mention of a countdown. Lex and Ivy would soon make legal what we had made symbolic in the woods four years ago, and like an itch that wouldn’t go away, my fingers went to the scars on my right palm.

Matching scars, ones we all shared.

Until the end.

We’d promised a lot of things that night. Even more in the nights after it. So many promises we shattered to pieces. And despite that, I never suspected we’d end up here. Spread to the farthest parts of the earth. Drowning our sorrows in liquor and hopelessness and existential dread.

I thought of Miri. What was she doing to ease the pain of today?

Christ, we’d been dreading it for so long now that a part of me was relieved to finally stare it down.

My phone rang, my eldest sister calling for the hundredth time. My family knew how I felt about Ivy, how much today would wreck me despite the years between us. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to them. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone. I let it go to voicemail. Again. It didn’t surprise me when I got a nasty text message after that threatening to leak embarrassing baby pictures of me if I didn’t answer.

Go ahead.

I didn’t care. I didn’t care about much anymore—not since it happened. Not since this ridiculous curse brought us together and tore us apart.

As long as she was leaving me shitty voicemails, she was safe. They were all safe.

My phone buzzed one more time, but the name on the screen made my dead heart give half a thump.

Juliet.

“Hey, you,” I said when I answered.

She greeted me with a sigh. “Hello, Romeo.”

I smiled at the nickname. “I’m glad you called. Where are you?”

“Oh, you know. Locked in my ivory tower.”

Code for her family was around. “Are you watching?”

“Of course.” Another dramatic sigh. Typical Miri. “I’m sure she looks bloody amazing. And he probably looks like my prince of darkness. It’s absolutely horrid.”

“Did you talk to her?” No sense in elaborating. There could only be one her between Miri and me.

“No,” she said, followed by a pause. “Have you?”

“No. Neither of them.”

“I suppose we deserve this. You and me, for our sins.”

“Don’t do that to yourself.” I knew what sins she meant, and of the three of us, I was the only one who knew what Miri had kept to herself. “We’re in this together. All of us.”

“All of us,” she said with a sarcastic laugh. “Christ, we’re pathetic.”

“Have you rethought my proposal?” I asked again. “Do I need to show up on my valiant steed for you to finally listen to me?”

“I can’t, Romeo,” she said before another long pause and a much lower, “It’s not safe.”

“None of this is safe; that’s the point. You know what’s about to happen. You know we need to be together.”

“That doesn’t change anything.”

“Juliet,” I said. “Marry me. I can come get you in twenty minutes.” I was still in London. I could still put the plan into action.

She let out a sad chuckle. “Now, there’s a silly idea.”

“I’m serious.”

“Ivy would kill me,” she said. “She would kill you, too.”

“They have each other. All we have is us.”

She made another sigh. “I have to go. They’re always listening. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

I almost begged her to come to me, to spend this night, the worst night of our lives, together like we used to. Like the good old days. That was how we could be safe. We were stronger together, the four of us. But it wouldn’t do any good.

Her family had sequestered her away from the public eye. Freedom would mean goodbye forever, and Miri didn’t know who she was if she wasn’t part of her family.

“Be well, Juliet.”

“You too, Romeo. I love you.”

“I love you.” I meant the words with every fiber in my being. The love I shared with Miri wasn’t the same as what I felt for Ivy, nor would it match the intensity with which I burned for Lex. But it was there all the same, vibrant and everlasting.

“Wait, what’s this?” the talking head said, catching my attention as I hung up. “I’m being told now that Ivy and Lex are missing. No one can find them in the marital suites.”

I shot to my feet, alarm ricocheting down my spine.

Son of a bitch.

My phone rang again.