I’d given it all up for a chance to hold Caiden’s hand and let him know I wastherewith him.
When the soul finally dispersed, I shivered and turned my eyes down to the body on the ground. His Vitality hovered just beneath his skin, and I pressed my fingers to the wound on his chest to let it pool into my body.
Death wouldn’t care too much about the soul, but he’d be angry if I left the Vitality behind.
After it settled into my chest, I turned to the woman. She was already dead, already going cold. When I called her soul, her eyes were soft… and Ifelther fear turn into relief when she noticed what had happened to her killer.
“I’m glad,” she murmured before taking my hand… and I knew.
Ikneweverything about my world had changed.
I hadbloodon my hands, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I wasn’t sure where to go… but somehow, I knew what I was going to do before I’d even done it. I ended up in Cole’s room, watching his restless form as he tossed and turned. On the edge of my vision, I could see the hazy agony of his dream.
Caiden dead. Me standing over him like some dark shadow. The way he’d shoved me after, the way Wren had pulled me from the room when I’d refused to let him shoot his arrow.
On the bed, Cole thrashed, a low whimper escaping trembling lips… and like I was drawn on strings, I made my way across the room. My fingers were crimson when they pressed to his chest… and his were pale when they rose and took mine in his sleep. His body stilled, his mind calming.
And I wondered if there would ever be a time when either of us would feel this peace while he was awake.
Even if it was just in his dreams, I realized I was in trouble, because I didn’t think I could leave him alone.
One Year Later
Chapter 5
Cole
It had been a year,and I could still feel the ache in my chest when I looked in the mirror and saw my familiar face. If I pressed my hand to the glass, I could almost pretend that Caiden was still here.
My reflection, my twin. All the best parts of me.
I didn’t have the light blue of his eyes, or the soft curls in his hair, but he was there.
He looked back at me every time I looked at myself, and every time I couldn’t help but feel that the universe had picked the wrong twin.
Caiden should have lived—he was so much more than me. So much sweeter, full of so much life.
Kind. Loving. Talented.
And I…
I wrenched my eyes from the mirror angrily, the pain in my chest too much to see looking back at me.
I was nothing compared to him. He was going to be ateacher. He was going to make a difference.
I was just some guy who worked on cars. I had none of his kindness, none of the light that had seemed to live just beneath his skin.
I’d lost all of it the day I walked into his hospital room and saw that man standing over him.
The man.
I still didn’t know who he was—the hospital insisted I’d just imagined him, that security footage hadn’t picked up anyone coming in or out of the room.
I didn’t care.
I’d seen him. He was standing there by Caiden’s bed, and the expression on his face when he looked at me—broken and confused and almost horrified—told me everything I needed to know.
He’d done something.
