I only just manage to finish before Valdemar launches himself up and pushes me back onto the bed, pinning my arms on either side of my head.
“What the fuck have you done?” he screams, his face contorted in rage.
“Exactly what I wanted to do,” I tell him as he takes my hand that still grips the knife and holds it firmly, angling it towards the open wound on his chest.
Valdemar secures his grip, readying himself to fall on the blade. Struggling, I push myself up and try to pull the blade from him, but he’s too strong.
Something drips into my body, a tingling sensation like warm water trickling through my veins and seeping into my extremities.
“Do you know how much harder this will be now? You will never be able to kill me once the Oath takes hold. It has to be now,” he pleads.
But I already feel it, the heat upon my skin, the surge of his emotions enveloping me. He feels it too. So much so that he can’t quite bring himself to thrust the blade into his chest.
Gritting his teeth, he tries to lean forwards onto the knife.
“Wait!” I yell, and he stops, like he’s physically unable to ignore my command. “Look.” I nod over his shoulder. He follows my gaze.
Ed is next to the bed, his image shimmering in tiny squares, as if the signal is bad. He’s looking around, patting his body.
“I can see him,” Valdemar says.
For a second, I’m confused, but then I remember Valdemar telling me that as he pointed the gun at my brother in the casino, he saw what Ed saw and received the vision as if Ed had handed his gift to him for the briefest of moments. Is that what’s happened here? Is Valdemar receiving my gift and seeing the world through my eyes?
We watch as a woman materialises through the closed door. Her long black hair hangs damp around her shoulders, her white dress clings to her body, and water drips onto the floor as she makes her way over to the bed.
Ed sees her.
It’s the strangest thing, like watching a silent film as they find each other, their embrace like a carefully choreographed dance that is beautiful and mesmerising. Annabel’s clothes are drying, her hair is curling, and a pink tinge appears on her cheeks. Ed’s bullet hole melts away, the blood disappears from his clothes, and his sad face finally looks serene, just like my mother’s.
My heart erupts as they hold one another, gazing into each other’s eyes, a sense of peace descending upon the room. I’m not sure how long they remain in each other’s arms, but eventually they break apart and turn to face us, Ed standing behind Annabel, one arm wrapped around her waist, his other hand resting on her shoulder, just like my mother and father did yesterday in my kitchen.
I don’t hear their words, but I don’t need to.
Thank you.
I swipe at a stray tearasthey smile before vanishing into thin air.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
“It worked.”The words slip out as Ed and Annabel dissolve, the room suddenly feeling less crowded.
“What do you mean, it worked?” Valdemar snaps. “You say it like you had no idea what you were doing.”
“I didn’t. Not really,” I confess.
“Fuck.” Valdemar drops my hand and the knife along with it and leans back on his heels, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and finger.
“It worked,” I repeat with a little more force. “It released Ed, and now he’s found Annabel. You’re both free.”
Dropping his arm, he glares at me, and a strange feeling washes through me. Anger, distress—but these emotions aren’t mine. I’m relieved and overjoyed that my brother has found his true love and is now happy in the afterlife. The other emotions I feel are his—Valdemar’s. It has to be the bond already working its magic, filling me with… him.
“He is free, angel. Ed is free. Butyouare not.”
Gulping hard, I blink, trying to see past the temper that’s erupted on his face and now tingles beneath my skin.
“You’ve bound us, angel. Do you even know what that means?”
“Yes. Yes, I know what it means. I’m not a fucking child. But what was the alternative? If I’d done nothing, then Ed would still be tethered to you in eternal unhappiness, and if I’d chosen yours and Ed’s idea, then I would be sat here now, holding on to your dead fucking body.”
