After he was gone? His world?
What world?
The swirl of emotion was too much for me to untangle, but that fear radiated outward. Toafter.
And I didn’t understand it. I didn’t know why he was concerned about that after when he wouldn’t be here to feel it.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t leave the most important parts of me shattered. But I think maybe you’re here to pick them up. To hold them… That’s why we dreamed up this field, right? The flowers weren’t here before you came.”
I didn’t understand what he was saying—I wasn’t sure if he did either. I could see it on his face, in his eyes. Even though I was keeping him here, his soul was already starting to drift.
“Please…” The painful swirl of emotions in my chest was impossible, all-consuming. Maybe I was having trouble following him because I was trulyfeelingfor the first time and it was too much—something I’d never been made to handle.
Maybe this had all been some great mistake, but it feltright. He lifted his head and smiled as I thought the word, leaning closer until I could taste the ghost of his confessions against my skin in a whisper I shouldn’t have been able tofeelat all.
“It’s okay.” His voice was low, his breath warm against my cool lips. “I’m ready. You don’t understand what it means… that you’re here… that you’re… feeling this with me. That you can be here… after.”
After.
Why did he keep saying after? I couldn’t control what happened to his soul once I gave him to Death—I didn’t know when he’d come back.
I wouldn’t be able to find him…
Unless…
Unless we were connected.
Death didn’t break the bonds of a soulmate. He just realigned them to wait for their next life.
“Go on,” he whispered. His eyes fluttered shut as he pressed forward. “I think it’s time. Just promise me you’ll be here when it’s over. Promise you’ll see the best part of me and love it.”
Love? I didn’t know what I was feeling—I didn’t know what lovewas. I just knew I needed moretime.
Time.
“I promise.” I just didn’t knowwhatI was promising. When this wasover, I’d be ferrying him to the afterlife. There wouldn’t be a here or there. There wouldn’t be pieces of him I could hold or love or see.
“Good…” He opened his eyes and smiled, then pressed his lips to mine—Caiden stole the chaste kiss I was selfishly withholding, the touch that would let him rest.
It made me gasp and jerk awake from his dream.
“Wren.” My voice was ragged and desperate as I came back to myself. Caiden was still beneath me, pale and pretty, with his soul hovering just beneath his skin and his Vitality pressing all along his edges, ready for me to take both.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t change what was about to happen. Either I could take him, or his soul would leave his body without guidance and the hounds would find him and drag him back to the Lake. “Wren, draw an arrow.”
I couldn’t stop this, but I could… I could do something. Connected. If we were connected, maybe thingscouldbe different. The panic clawing all along my body was strange and foreign to me. It was clouding my thoughts, making everything sohardto process as it stretched outward and searched for something to anchor me in place.
Emotions.
Reapers weren’t made for emotions.
“What’s wrong?” Wren’s dark brows drew together. “He’s already going, Sephtis.”
“Draw an arrow. Shoot me. Shoot us both.”
There was a moment of confusion, and then his expression went blank. I think he was trying to hide the sympathy, but I could see it swirling just beneath his gaze.
