“Ah, so stubbornness is in your blood.”
“What little blood I have left.”
“Don’t speak like that, please,” he said as he followed her inside.
“I’m sorry.” Vi drifted up the stairs, setting her pack and saddlebags down heavily.
Two arms closed tightly around her. They stood in the center of the room, Taavin at her back, clutching her tightly. He buried his face into her shoulder, kissing her neck lightly.
“Don’t be sorry,” he whispered. “Just be with me.”
“Because you’ll be gone soon,” she breathed. His grip tightened further but he didn’t say anything. The silence was unbearable. “I know I’ve chosen this. But I’m not ready, Taavin. I’m not ready to lose you.”
“You never will be.”
She twisted, keeping his arms around her. Vi grabbed his face with both her hands, smoothing her fingertips up the cheekbones and browline that she knew so well she could carve it from memory. “If I let you go now, I’ll be alone,” she barely managed to say around the lump in her throat. She closed her eyes, keeping the distinct prickle of tears safely behind her lids. “I can’t do this alone.”
Taavin leaned forward, kissing her gently. It was another postponement of the inevitable, but Vi gave into it. The less she had to think about what the next days would hold, the better. For all she knew, this was the last time she could lose herself in the weight of Taavin’s body over hers.
He took a step, forcing her to take one backwards. They shuffled to the bed. Taavin’s hands slid up her sides, pulling the loose tunic she wore with them. Vi raised her arms over her head, allowing him to undress her.
Her back on the bed, Vi beckoned him atop her. She trailed her fingers down the expanse of his skin and then back up to his face. The man was magic—magic in his bones, magic in the way he moved. This was what she wanted to give herself to, forever. Every shift of their bodies was fire and life, the last brilliant burst before their own flames would be extinguished.
If they were meant to burn, then they burned together.
“In another world,” he breathed heavily, pressing his forehead against hers. “I would’ve married you.”
Vi laughed, then responded, equally breathy, “The crown princess of Solaris and the Voice of Yargen… Do you think it would’ve worked?”
“Of course.” He nipped at her earlobe and then kissed down her neck to her collarbone. “It would’ve united two continents. Our union would’ve shocked and changed the world.”
Fantasizing about such a thing was pain and delight in equal measure. Vi closed her eyes and imagined it as his fingers laced with hers. She imagined she made love to a husband. She imagined their union was one the world could know about—that their lives were their own.
The daydreams continued as he lay next to her, Vi’s head on his chest. She traced the lines of his muscles, drawing different ways to connect them as though they were glyphs yet to be discovered. Taavin kissed her forehead from time to time. His own fingers moved lazily on her bare back.
Dawn had come and she was ready to spend the day with him. She was ready to have eternity with him, but all they had was a few short hours before nightfall. As the day continued its relentless march, Vi finally pulled herself from the bed. She sat with her back to Taavin, the watch heavy around her throat.
“It’s time. I feel it.” Just as she’d felt it the last time Vhalla had come to the curiosity shop.
Taavin stood, moving before her. He hadn’t bothered dressing; Vi savored every inch of his glorious frame.
“I’ll be the one to return my consciousness.” He held out his hand. “All you need to do is give me the watch.”
Vi lifted her hands to her neck, slowly unfastening the clasp. The token was heavy with the weight of destiny. She held it over his waiting palm, her hand trembling.
In the end, he didn’t make her do anything. Taavin closed his fingers around the watch, taking it gently from her. Vi looked up at him, silently begging him not to do this.
There was no other choice. This was the end for them. She’d known it was coming all along, and yet she still spent every minute breaking inside.
“If you succeed and the world isn’t rebuilt again. If you somehow make it on the other side alive… See this watch still finds its way to the next Taavin.” His emerald eyes met hers. “Give him his memories.” Taavin cupped her cheek, his fingers in her hair at the nape of her neck. “Let all of me return to you, Vi.”
“I will,” she lied—the most beautiful lie of her life. She’d seen Yargen’s vision. Time for time. The goddess would have her body and return to this world. Taavin’s collective memories, everything that made him Taavin, would be locked in a watch, and Vi would be lost forever as a castaway from a bygone world. “I love you, Taavin.”
“And I love you, Vi Solaris. I always have, and I always will. My life was never complete until the moment you returned to it. You gave me meaning. You gave me my past and my future.” He bent over and claimed her mouth hungrily. She grabbed his shoulders, digging her fingertips into his soft skin. When he pulled away, Vi let out a soft whimper, one he ignored. “It’s time.”
She stood, watching as he stepped back. Taavin held the watch, his lips murmuring fast and low. The only words she could make out were “Narro hath loreth,” to imprint a communication mark.
There were a thousand words she wanted to say. A thousand more times she wanted to tell him she loved him. She was the ninety-third Vi to let him go, but this time hurt more than any of the others. She didn’t need to look into the past to know that.
