*Josie*
Reeling from his declaration, I take a staggering step back and gawk in disbelief at Ethan. I expect him to burst out laughing any minute now, but he remains solemn, stoic. He has to be striving to trick me, to gain sympathy or forgiveness or something nefarious that I can’t identify. “But you have never even liked me.”
“Dear Goddess, if only that were true.” He sighs.
Striving to make sense of him, I continue to stare as he walks past me to the sideboard, pours scotch into a glass, brandy into another, and holds the one containing brandy toward me. Another way in which the brothers are so vastly different. Nathan never would have offered me spirits. Why did I think a journey to The dark countries would change his basic philosophies?
But I can’t take it, I can’t seem to force m
