Berith was sitting at the table, cleared of the salad course we hadn't touched nursing a glass of bourbon. I had somehow managed to redress by myself, reapplied the cosmetics to my face, and retouched my hair; looking as if nothing at all had occurred.

"Berith," I said, my voice sounding clipped as I stepped around him taking my seat that was once again across the table from him.

He sighed, lifting his head, staring at me, an apologetic look on his face. I felt his regret. Through our link as he opened himself up to me.

"Look, Nova, I—" he began but I held my hand up cutting him off.

"It is fine," I told him, trying to reign in my emotions; trying to make the statement true. My emotions were all over the place at the moment.

I filled up my glass trying to muster my best "I am serious" look.

Berith sighed, his brow furrowing together as he looked at me. "Nova, please let me say this."

It was my turn to sigh. Taking another drink from my glass I nodded.

He stood from his chair making his way towards me, kneeling as he turned my chair to face him. taking my hands in his and I fell into his deep stare. Lost; forgotten was the reason he was even trying to apologize.

"I am sorry about the way I reacted; I just lost control of my temper for a moment at the thought of him—" Berith paused squeezing my hands as he shut his eyes.

He wasn't mad at me. It had nothing to do with my answer or having the scars. He wanted to rip Andrew apart for what he had done.

I leaned forward touching my lips to his. "You have no reason to apologize. I understand."

He opened his eyes, smiling up at me, although it didn't quite connect. His eyes had returned to their normal, well, normal enough, shade, but the firelight had dimmed. Darkened. The spark that I had gotten used to was gone. And that, I was afraid, was my fault.

"Until we complete the bond we will always have moments like this; where we feel the link's demands, its overwhelming powers. Demanding we unite it. You can choose though, Nova. I would never force this on you. You are so very young, and I know you are really just getting used to your freedom and that you do not know things about your own life that you want to.."Berith reached up, sweeping a curl back into place, his fingers barely making contact with my skin, but I felt the pull. The urge. The need.

"And we will always feel that temptation. The need of it?"

He moved away from me taking his seat and drinking deeply from his glass before answering. The way he was staring at me with such intensity made me glance down at my lap. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Unless we kept our distance from one another; it will get harder to resist the longer we stay in each other's company. We will eventually have to complete the binding no matter our course."

I let his words wash over me, sink in so that I really understood the weight of the choice that I was now faced with.

Should we slow down?" I began, " I do not want you to regret this. If it isn't something you want then I will understand" Even saying those words left a bitter taste in my mouth. But was that the bond, or was that me?

Was there really a difference?

"It's not my regret that I am trying to avoid, Nova, but if it is something you want to think about," he paused downing the remainder of his bourbon. "I can escort you home if you wish."

He began to stand but I waved him to sit, panic laced my words "I dint mean that I wanted to cut our evening short or stop spending time together. Unless you would like for me to leave." I cocked my head to the side, studying him.

He smiled, taking his seat again, although the smile did not reach his eyes. "Of course not. Are you hungry?"

I refilled my glass, "Dinner would be lovely." I smiled at him, trying to convey exactly how I felt about him until I saw the light in his eyes return.

***** ***** ***** *****

I trudged down to the kitchen still not fully awake. When I arrived hiome last night Lila was out, so I didn't have a chance to talk to her before going to sleep. I had not returned home until after two in the morning. A late night indeed. I smiled at the thought.

Annette was in the kitchen with Mrs. Chamberlain; the cook, preparing household for the daily activities I presumed. Not that we required much in way of service.

After mumbling my 'good mornings' to everyone I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table. My mind flew over everything that had happened the previous night.

"So!" I heard Lila's cheerful voice ring out, "Tell me everything that happened!"

Yes, she was one of those cheerful morning persons; I however was not.

I shot daggers toward her, which only made her laugh as she took the seat across from me.

I nibbled at one of the croissants Mrs. Chamberlain had displayed in a small basket in the center of the table. I wasn't sure how much to share with Lila yet, although I wanted to tell her everything.

Call it paranoid, or blame it on my upbringing.

"Tell me," I began, setting the flaky pastry on my small plate, "how is it that you weren't affected by what Berith did at the pub? What are you exactly?"

Lila cocked her head to the side, a wry smile on her pretty lips.

"Nova, we are the same, you and I. And your Berith was like my . You and I; I suspect, are from the same place. Just as he and Berith. I assure you though, I only want to help you. To be your friend," she paused pullig a pretty silver case from her plush robe pocket offering me one of the cigarettes within it.

I accepted and soon the sweet smell of cloves permeated the room. Silver wisos of smoke danced between us a s I waited on her to continue.

"You have a tremendous power inside of you Nova. I recognized it from the moment we met. I am sorry I didn't find you before now. I know your time growing up with Delia and Andrew in that wretched home was greatly wasted."

"How did you—" I began but she cut me off.

"If Delia had not been such a close-minded daft cow and her husband – well, if they would have realized what you truly are I am afraid you would not be sitting here with me today." She flicked the ash from the sweet burning cigarette into a pretty crystal ash tray sitting between us.

What was she talking about? Had I told her their names? It seemed she was leading up to something with this story, however long winded it might be. I noticed the staff had made themselves scarce, and I wondered just how much they knew about their mistress.

"Nova you come from a long line of very powerful magic. I don't know how you ended up in the care of Delia. It is not customary for an of us to be raised outside of the community, to which we belong. You should have been raised, like I was. Learning to build your powers; control them; using them."

I looked at her with my eyebrow raised, what she was telling me sounded all too unreal. I took a deep drag from the cigarette, smoke filling my lungs, sipping at the coffee I was trying to find any words to describe how I was feeling. I wasn't really sure of that myself.

"And what does Berith have to do with all of this? And you still haven't explained how you weren't frozen with the rest of the bar? How is this possible? I thought you didn't have any family."

"I am sure Berith will explain everything if he hasn't already, concerning where he fits into all of this. Some of his powers do not affect some of us. But very few of us are immune to his magic. And no one is immune to all of his gifts. He is very powerful, and very special Nova. As for my saying that I do not have family; I meant my parents, my brother's; not other's from our community. I meant blood relatives."

Lila told me the last part with pain lacing her voice and I suddenly felt like an asshole for bringing up her family; for questioning her about it.

"Lila, I didn't mean...."my sentence trailed off.

She waved her hand snubbing out the cigarette and grabbing another. "It's okay. I know how all of this sounds. Would you mind coming somewhere with me today? There are some people I would like for you to meet."

I chewed on my lip and finished off the last of my coffee. I stood to get a refill, bringing the pot back to the table.

"Would you like a refill?" I asked Lila filling my own.

"Yes, thank you."

I returned to my seat, wrapping my fingers around the oversized mug. I felt the warmthfrom it seep into my fingertips.

Lila pulled a small silver flask from her pocket and unscrewed the top. She poured a splash into her mug and without asking did the same to mine.

I snorted a laugh.

"So about today?" She prompted as I fumbled for another cigarette from the pretty silver case.

"Where are we going exactly?" I questioned as I lit the end of the tobacco filled paper.

"It is a surprise," was all she said and I didn't have the heart to decline.

This woman took me into herhome, provided me with food and shelter without hesitation and asnt asked for anything in return. Even if all of this sounded crazy, I wanted to find out the truth; if she was right; and maybe even find out who my family was.

I smiled at her, "So, when do we leave?"

Lila squealed practically jumping out of her chair.

"We can get ready right after breakfast," she replied and called Mrs. Chamberlain back into the kitchen to finish just that.