The color of Sephtis’s eyes.
“Nothing’s okay, Caiden. It hasn’t been since you died… and now… shit, I thought maybe it could be, even though everything has been so fucked up. It’s like I’m being punished for wanting to be happy without you.”
The soft slap on my arm took me by surprise, and my gaze darted up.
“So self-centered. You really think the entire world revolves around your grief? Come on, Cole…” The chiding in his tone didn’t sting because I could feel the warmth behind it. I could hear the soft tremble of tears in his voice. “Sometimes thingshappen. I had to go, and you had to stay. Now you have to do the scariest shit you’ve ever done. You need to let me go so you can go get him.”
Let him go? I didn’t know if I could do that.
“I… Caiden. I don’t know how.” How did you let go of the person who felt like they were all the parts of you you’d loved the most? And how was I supposed to saveanyonefrom Death?
I was pretty sure he could read my mind in this place, because he brought a hand up and wiped one of the tears that had slipped from beneath my lashes. “You really need to believe in yourself as much as I’ve always believed in you. As much as I still believe in you now.”
He wasn’t doing a good job of quelling my tears, but my lips did finally quirk into the softest of smiles. “I don’t know why you did. You were always getting me out of trouble.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “And here I am, doing it again. Shouldn’t that be enough proof that Death isn’t as cool as he thinks he is?”
“What?”
“If you want to defeat Death, you can’t play by his rules. Your soulmate isyours. You were brought together by something so far beyondDeath—something he’s jealous of, honestly,and something he doesn’t understand. He can’t control it, even though he wants to. You just have to be brave enough to tempt Fate. Disrupt the balance.” Caiden pressed a kiss to my temple and closed my fingers around something soft and warm. “This should be all the proof you need.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I could feel him slipping away.
Or maybe I was waking up. Either way, panic surged through my chest and I clung to him tighter.
“Wait. Caiden, wait. Please. Please, stay with me. Let mestay.” Just saying it made him feel more solid, like I could holdon to him and stayhereif I really wanted. But where would that leave everything else? Where would that leave Sephtis?
“You have to let me go, Cole. Death will always have a hold on you if you have one foot in his door while you’re calling my name.”
I didn’t know how to let him go—I didn’t want to…
But somewhere in the back of my mind, I could still hear Sephtis’s voice, and I could feel the way Caiden was gently pushing me away. Pushing me toward thoughts of golden eyes glowing like the sun.
“You’re all the best parts of me, Caiden.” My voice broke on his name, because this was it. The goodbye I never got to give, and the last time I could say his name and blame myself for not being there. “I love you.”
“I love you too, little brother. Now go live for us both.”
The feel of his hand over my heart was a warmth that chased me as I opened my eyes.
My fist was pressed to the place his had been, and when I opened my clenched fingers, there was a single red petal that glowed with an ethereal light.
Proof…
A soft, shining piece of Caiden’s soul held in the palm of my hand.
And now it was up to me to do my part—it was up to me to upset the balance.
Chapter 30
Sephtis
The tasteof my confession was still on my tongue when we appeared beside the Lake. I hadn’t been sure where Death would take me, but we were there in the trees on the edge of the shore, and for some reason, all I could think of was the way Cole had kissed me when I’d taken him into the water…
The way his mouth on mine had changed everything about me.
“It’s really a disappointment, Sephtis. You truly were one of the best.” Death leaned in, pressing his hand to my chest. I noticed that his fingers went right through the red line, as though he couldn’t see it at all. “To think that one of my first would be the one who found a way to betray me.” He shook his head back and forth, and the white ring of light in his eyes flared. “And all for some… human… who you could never have hoped to keep to begin with.”
I’d never thought about the fact that I couldn’tkeepCole. Not forever.
