Read Online NOCTE (Nocte Trilogy #1) by Courtney Cole - Free Book Online

brother.”
    Dare smiles and holds up his hands.   “Calm down,” he says soothingly. “I was
just making an observation.   Not
everyone cares that much, family or not.”
    I stare at him.   “That’s a sad thought.   Why are you out here anyway?   In the dark?   Alone?”   I throw his words from earlier back at
him in an effort to change the subject.   He smiles in appreciation of my effort.  
    “Because I was bored.   And I thought I could see the stars
better from here.”
    He’s right.   We definitely can.   Up on the mountain, the trees block
them.  
    And he likes the stars?   Is it possible for him to get more
perfect?
    He points upward.
    “That’s Orion’s belt.   And that over there…. That’s Andromeda.   I don’t think we
can see Perseus tonight.” He pauses and stares down at me. “Do you know their
myth?”
    His voice is calm and soothing and as I
listen to him, I let myself drift away from my current problems and toward him,
toward his dark eyes and full lips and long hands.  
    I nod, remembering what I’d learned about
Andromeda last year in Astrology.   “Yes.   Andromeda’s mother
insulted Poseidon, and she was condemned to die by a sea monster, but Perseus
saved her and then married her.”
    He nods, pleased by my answer.   “Yes. And now they linger in the skies
to remind young lovers everywhere of the merits of undying love.”
    I snort.   “Yeah.   And then they had a corny movie made for
them that managed to butcher several different Greek myths at once.”
    Dare’s lip twitches. “Perhaps. But maybe
we can overlook that due to the underlying message of eternal love.”   His expression is droll and I can’t
decide if he’s being serious or just trying to be ironic or something, because the irony is lost on you.
    “That’s bullshit, you know,” I tell him,
rolling the metaphorical dice.   “Undying
love, I mean.   Nothing is undying. People
fall out of love or their chemistry dies or maybe they even die themselves.   Any way you look at it, love always dies
eventually.”
    I
should know. I’m Funeral Home Girl. I see it all the time.     
    Dare looks down at me incredulously.   “If you truly believe that, then you
believe that death controls us, or maybe even circumstance. That’s depressing,
Calla. We control ourselves.”
    He seems truly bothered and I stare at
him, at once nervous that I’ve disappointed him and certain that I’m right.
    I am the one surrounded by it all the time, after all…by death and bad
circumstances. I am the one whose
mother just died and I know that the world continues to turn like nothing ever
happened.
    “I don’t necessarily believe that death
controls us,” I amend carefully. “But you can’t argue that it wins in the long
run.   Every time.   Because we all die, Dare .   So death wins, not love.”
    He snorts.   “Tell that to Perseus and Andromeda.
They’re immortal in the sky.”
    I snort right back.   “They’re also not real.”
    Dare stares at me, willing me to see his
point of view and I’m suddenly confused about how we started out talking about
love and are now talking about death. Leave it to me to work that into
conversation.     
    “I’m sorry,” I offer.   “I guess it’s a hazard of living where I
do. Death is always present.”
    “Death is big,” Dare acknowledges. “But there are things bigger than that.   If there’s not, then this is all for
nothing.   Life is worth nothing. Putting yourself out there, and taking chances and all that.   All of that stuff is bollocks if it
can just disappear in the end.”
    I shrug and look away.   “I’m sorry.   I just believe in the right here and
right now.   That’s what we know and
that’s what we can count on. And I don’t like to think about the end.”
    Dare looks back at the sky, but he’s
still pensive.   “You seem rather
pessimistic today, Calla-Lily.”
    I swallow hard, because I do sound like a
shrew.