Great and Precious Things

by Rebecca Yarros

Those eyes had always screwed me over. People who didn’t know him well called them soulless, and I’d rolled my eyes and let them think what they would. Those eyes were so full that there simply wasn’t room for any lighter colors, already saturated with every emotion he never let himself show.

Willow was so untouchable that she didn’t even go on the untouchable list. She went on the unthinkable one. And yet, here I was…thinking.

“I never hooked up with Cam for a reason. He only had eyes for one Bradley girl, and it wasn’t me.” There was zero teasing in her tone or expression. “Wh-What?” I sputtered. That was definitely not the answer I’d expected. “Think about it. You’re the only girl who’s lasted more than five minutes in his orbit. He may have glanced at other girls, but he only saw you.”

Depending on anyone else is what will get you, Cam. You have to be self-sufficient in every area of your life.

They were the fucking storybook, and I was the fire-breathing dragon. And sure, I’d burned shit to the ground, but never them. Never him. Never her.

“It’s beautiful, in its own little, dangerous way,” she remarked, her helmet resting between my spine and right shoulder blade. “Most everything that can hurt you is.”

I hadn’t realized how anxious I’d been until the anxiety left. She was safe. She was warm. She was here.

“I never figured you for a hot chocolate guy.” “I’m a sucker for sweet things,”

I wanted to paint this moment, to capture this exact feeling as I watched him at peace. A peace I knew would vanish the moment he opened his eyes and the world beat its way in.

He was magnetic, which certainly repelled some, but never me. No, he drew me in like gravity, an undeniable, irrefutable force that anchored my world. A decade apart had taught me that I’d never break free of him, not really. It didn’t matter where I lived—gravity existed and held my feet to the earth. It didn’t matter who I dated—I’d always be drawn to Cam.

His shirt drifted up, revealing so many abs. So. So. So many abs. It was like they’d brought friends along to play or something, because that many ridges couldn’t be normal. Nope. He was inhuman.

“Because breakfast equals marriage?” I joked. “Because letting someone do things for you, letting someone care for you, gives them power. Power’s not something I give away.”

We were a mile past electric. Past combustible. Past chemistry or anything that could be explained by science. We simply fit, like two halves of completely different shapes that somehow clicked and became whole and new.

“I have a hard time staying away from you,” I admitted. I could offer her the same honesty she gave me. I owed her at least that much. “Always have. Darkness is drawn to the light, right? And there’s nothing brighter in this town than you.”

“It was always you, Cam.” She closed the inches between us, resting her hands on my chest, on the heart she didn’t realize only beat because hers did. “I’ve loved you since forever. I’ve been in love with you since I was old enough to understand what that meant. No one else ever had a shot of getting close. How could they, when you took my heart with you?”

“All great and precious things are lonely.”

“I said that word carried a man’s greatness if he wanted to take advantage of it.” “I remember Sam Hamilton felt good about it.” “It set him free,” said Lee. “It gave him the right to be a man, separate from every other man.” “That’s lonely.” “All great and precious things are lonely.”

“I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart. I guess a loving woman is indestructible.”