Chapter 20 CHAPTER 20
Chapter 20 CHAPTER 20
Bronte's POV
I sit in the dark library with Wuthering Heights open on my lap, reading the circled line over and over.
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
It's not just a message anymore, I realize. It's a conversation.
He left me Jane Eyre with a question about choosing happiness over dignity.
Now he's left me this, a statement about souls being the same.
He's telling me something he can't say out loud.
And I can answer the same way.
I stand up and move to the bookshelves, running my fingers along the spines until I find what I'm looking for.
Pride and Prejudice.
I pull it down and flip through the pages until I find the passage I want. I underline it lightly with the pencil he left on the table.
"You have bewitched me, body and soul."
I leave the book open on the table where he'll find it, positioned exactly how he positioned his, and I walk out of the library before I can change my mind.
Back in my room, I lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, wondering if he'll understand, wondering if he'll respond, wondering what I'm doing.
Sleep doesn't come for hours.
When morning finally arrives, I'm exhausted but I force myself out of bed and get dressed.
At breakfast, Alexander is already talking about the day's schedule, but I'm barely listening.
All I can think about is the library.
"Bronte?" Alexander's voice cuts through. "Did you hear me?"
"Sorry, what?"
"I said I have meetings all morning, but I'll be free this afternoon if you want to go over the guest list together."
"That sounds fine."
He looks at me with slight concern. "Are you feeling alright? You seem distracted."
"Just tired. I didn't sleep well again."
"Maybe you should rest today instead of helping with preparations."
"No, I'm fine. I want to help."
He squeezes my hand and goes back to his conversation with his beta.
The moment breakfast ends, I make an excuse about needing something from my room and slip away.
I head straight to the library.
The door is closed and I push it open slowly, my heart pounding.
The room is empty.
But on the table, Pride and Prejudice is gone.
In its place is a new book.
Romeo and Juliet.
I cross to it and look down at the marked page.
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
A smile tugs at my lips before I can stop it.
He understood.
And he answered.
I spend the rest of the morning going through the motions of helping with preparations, but my mind is in the library, thinking about what to leave next, what to say next in this silent conversation only we understand.
By afternoon, I've decided.
When I'm sure no one is watching, I slip into the library again.
I choose Sense and Sensibility this time, finding the page I want and underlining carefully.
"I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both."
I leave it on the table and go back to my day.
That evening, after dinner, I make another excuse and check the library again.
Sense and Sensibility is gone.
In its place: The Great Gatsby.
"He looked at her the way all women want to be looked at by a man."
This continues for the rest of the day and into the next morning.
Me leaving books, him responding, a silent conversation that says everything we can't say to each other's faces.
Nobody notices.
The pack members are too busy with preparations, Alexander is too focused on his meetings and pack business, Serena is too occupied with inserting herself into every decision.
Nobody notices except Irina.
She finds me in the library late afternoon, standing with a book in my hands, debating which passage to mark.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
I jump and nearly drop the book. "Nothing."
"That's not nothing." She closes the door behind her. "How long have you been coming here?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Bronte." She crosses to me and takes the book from my hands. "What is this?"
I don't answer.
She flips through the pages and finds the marked passage I was about to leave.
"I wish I knew how to quit you."
She looks up at me. "Is this what I think it is?"
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. This is—" She stops and looks at the table where several books are stacked. She picks up the top one and finds another marked page. Then another. "How long has this been going on?"
"A couple days."
"A couple days." She sits down on the couch. "You and Sebastian are having a conversation through books."
"We're not having a conversation. We're just—"
"Just what? Leaving each other love notes in classic literature?"
"They're not love notes."
"Then what are they?"
I don't have an answer for that.
Irina rubs her temples. "Bronte, this is dangerous. If Alexander finds out—"
"He won't. He doesn't come in here."
"But someone else might. Serena, a pack member, anyone." She stands up. "You need to stop this."
"I know."
"Then why aren't you?"
"Because it's the only way I can talk to him without everything falling apart."
She looks at me for a long moment, her expression softening. "Oh, Bronte. This is only going to make it worse."
"I know that too."
She doesn't say anything else, just pulls me into a hug before leaving me alone in the library.
I stand there for a moment, looking at the book in my hands, at the passage I was about to mark.
I should listen to Irina. I should stop this before it goes too far.
But instead, I mark the page and leave the book on the table.
That evening, after everyone has gone to bed, I come back one more time.
The book I left is gone.
And in its place is one final response.
I pick it up.
Jane Austen's Persuasion.
The marked passage makes my breath catch.
"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope."
I'm still standing there, the book trembling in my hands, when I hear the door open behind me.
I turn around.
Sebastian is standing in the doorway, watching me.
Neither of us moves.
Neither of us speaks.
We just stand there in the dim library, the books between us saying everything we can't.