Chapter 227

Agnes

I surfaced from the water, gasping as I reached for the edge of the pool. My clothes clung to my body, weighing me down as I hauled myself halfway out of the water. Another close call. The fire had barely escaped my palms before the water extinguished it, thankfully, but if I had just been a few seconds slower…

Despite the heat still coursing through my veins, the very thought of our house going up in flames again made me shudder.

For a moment I just hung there, half in and half out of the pool, catching my breath. What the hell was happening to me lately? Why did I feel this surge of fire whenever I looked into Lena’s eyes? I’d grown somewhat used to the familiar heat building up, but this… this was instantaneous. Like every time I looked at her, a switch would flip and I’d nearly burn us all to a crisp.

For now, I chalked it up to anxiety. Maybe the stress was finally catching up to me. And Lena… She had been nothing but kind and helpful since she arrived, but maybe I was just unused to having a new person in my space and it was making my abilities act out.

With a deep sigh, I pushed myself out of the water then climbed to my feet, water cascading from my soaked clothes and forming puddles on the floor. I peeled off my wet clothes, quickly toweled off, and changed into a dry t-shirt and sweatpants.

Once I was dry, I made my way upstairs. My heart rate was slower now, my hands no longer burning. I would have to explain to Lena that I’d had a sudden headache or something. It was certainly a lame excuse, but it was a lot better than the truth. Or so I hoped.

As I reached the main floor, a small voice called out, “Mommy! Lena got hurt!”

I hurried into the living room to find Thea standing over Lena, who was sitting in one of the armchairs. Lena was holding her arm against her chest.

“Mommy, you bumped into Lena and she fell over!” Thea said, pointing.

My stomach dropped. “Oh, Goddess, Lena, I’m so sorry,” I breathed, my hand flying up to cover my mouth in shock. “Are you hurt?”

Lena looked up at me with a pained smile. I tried to avoid looking directly into her eyes, which made me feel like a paranoid wreck. “Oh, it’s nothing serious. I think I just twisted my wrist a little when I fell, that’s all,” she said.

“Let me look.” Cursing myself inwardly, I knelt beside her chair to examine her wrist. It was already starting to swell, and an ugly bruise was forming where she must have hit the wall. I gently took her arm, and she winced as I turned it to get a better look. It wasn’t broken, thankfully, but it was definitely sprained.

“Thea, honey, can you go to the kitchen and get the ice pack from the freezer? The blue one?” I asked, and Thea nodded eagerly, happy to help.

Once she was gone, I turned back to Lena. “Lena, I am so, so sorry. I was… I wasn’t feeling well, and I was in such a rush to get to the bathroom…”

“It’s okay, Agnes,” Lena said. “Really. Accidents happen.”

But this wasn’t really an accident. This was me, running away from a problem I couldn’t explain, and hurting someone else in the process.

“Still, I should have been more careful,” I insisted.

Thea returned with the ice pack, and I carefully placed it on Lena’s wrist. “Hold it there for a bit. I’ll get the first aid kit.”

I retrieved the kit from the hall closet and returned to wrap Lena’s wrist in a compression bandage. As I worked, Thea peppered us with questions.

“Is Lena’s arm broken? Will she have to go to the hospital? Can I sign her cast?”

“It’s not broken, sweetie,” I assured her. “Just sprained. Lena will be fine in a few days.”

“That’s right,” Lena agreed, giving Thea a warm smile despite her pain. “And you’re being such a good helper.”

Once I’d wrapped the wrist securely, I helped Lena to her feet. “You should rest. I can handle Thea for the rest of the day.”

“I’m okay to keep working,” Lena protested.

“Absolutely not,” I said firmly. “You’re injured because of me. The least I can do is give you the rest of the day off.”

Lena finally acquiesced, and I walked her to her room. “Let me know if you need anything,” I said, offering what I hoped was a comforting smile. “And… seriously, Lena. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Agnes,” Lena said with a small chuckle as she opened her bedroom door. She glanced up at me, and our eyes met. I tensed, waiting for another surge of heat—although admittedly I didn’t look away, if only to see if anything happened.

But nothing happened. It really must have been anxiety, or maybe just a weird fluke.

I spent the rest of the day with Thea, trying to keep her occupied while periodically checking on Lena. The guilt gnawed at me every time I saw Lena’s bandaged wrist, but she insisted she was fine, just sore.

I wished I could tell her the truth. Explain why I’d been in such a rush, why I’d knocked her down without stopping to help. But as much as I liked Lena, I didn’t know if I could trust her enough yet with this secret.

By the time Elijah came home, Thea was in bed, and I was lounging on our bed waiting for him. He looked tired as he loosened his tie and kicked off his shoes.

“How was your day?” he asked as he hung up his jacket.

“Oh, you know,” I replied, dog-earing the page in the book I was reading and setting it aside. “The usual. Except I accidentally injured our nanny.”

Elijah paused in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt. “What?”

I explained what had happened. Elijah listened without interrupting, but his face turned more and more grave as I went on.

“She’s okay,” I finished. “Just a sprained wrist. But I feel terrible.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Elijah said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You were trying to prevent something worse from happening.”

“I know, but…” I sighed, rubbing my face. “Maybe we should consider telling her the truth. Once we’re certain we can trust her, of course. But she’s living in this house, caring for our daughter. She has a right to know if I might accidentally burn the place down. Plus, she did ask about Thea’s special abilities… If she’s going to be Thea’s nanny, then maybe she deserves a warning.”

Elijah frowned, considering. “It’s a big risk.”

“Bigger than leaving her in the dark on a matter that could affect our child?”

Elijah was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right. But let’s wait until after we find the artifact. If it works, and your fire abilities become more manageable, maybe we won’t need to tell her at all.”

I nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Are you okay, though?” he asked, his eyes searching mine. “These outbursts seem to be getting more frequent.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him, although I wasn’t entirely convinced myself. “Just anxious to put all this behind us.”

Elijah smiled and leaned in to kiss me softly. “We will. I promise.”

His kiss soothed something in me, and I knew that I needed him. Without thinking, I gripped the collar of his button-down, tugging him closer to deepen the kiss. He moaned softly into my mouth, his hands catching him from falling onto me.

“Now?” he murmured, pulling back just enough to meet my gaze. “You’re sure you’re up for—”

“Now.”

Elijah certainly didn’t argue with that; if anything, my sudden need just made him even more eager, and he gently sucked my lower lip into his mouth, raising goosebumps along my body.

Smiling against his mouth, I pulled him closer, and we both fell back onto the mattress in a tangle of limbs.