“Finally?” I had no idea what she meant.
“Yes, finally you have started your Task.”
It hit me. An angel. I faced an angel. This was exactly how James had described how the angel looked, before he went back in time. My entire world tilted on its axis as the realization penetrated.
“Please, please explain that better,” I begged her. I did not want to take any chances, and if I faced a being with all the answers, you’d better believe I was asking.
“As you’ve no doubt realized, James is a touch too selfless. He will agree to many things he shouldn’t in order to help others. It was his main downfall in the first life. He capitulated when he should have held firm. In your first lives, you indulged this behavior when you should have given him a firm slap to the head.”
Her words startled a laugh out of me. “So can I now? Slap him on the head when he’s being an idiot?”
“You certainly may.”
I would derive great joy from telling James I had carte blanche.
“Vuheia said I needed to protect him better, and I presume that is my Task, yes? Then was I right to make him king?”
“Yes to both. He must be king in order to attain Paradise again. You were right to step in and negotiate for multiple reasons. You didn’t in the first life, and it’s how his life took so many wrong turns; yours as well. I know you second-guessed yourself, Edwin, and though your decision was perhaps a touch selfish, it was also precisely what you needed to do.”
Relief didn’t begin to cover it. Ihadsecond-guessed, many times, but hearing her reassure me was priceless. “Thank you. Um, you said I’vestartedmy Task? So I’m not done? Crowning him king wasn’t all?”
“No, no, not anywhere near it. James, as you know, has a great many things to do. You are to be his protector and support. Do not let anyone use him for their own means. Stand fast when he needs you to.”
There was an age-old question of who shall guard the guardians? James was very much a guardian to this country. He needed someone to guard and protect him as well. How I was volunteered for this role, I didn’t quite understand, but it was likely because they knew I would love him. Love him enough to give him the support he needed.
“I promise you, I have his back.”
“We know you do. You always did, Edwin, which was why he loved you from the beginning. You were the only one who cared for James without wanting something in return.”
A startled “Oh” slipped from my lips. I’d wondered this many a time. It surprised me but also felt right? As if the puzzle piecethat had eluded me had finally slipped into place. It was nice to have an answer, too.
“Now, I’m going to give you a hint.” She held a finger to her lips, much like a child about to tell a secret and enjoy the moment. “Nimus is quite anxious for me to tell you this. After seeing what happened the first go-around and how it killed James in the end, we want to prevent that future. So Nimus is giving you the instructions necessary to avoid the same pitfall. There’s a particular tome you must find, translate, and use. James’s life—this country’s life—depends upon it. This is high priority.”
“I understand. Which tome?”
The words had barely left my mouth when I felt a deep impression, knew not only the title but the weight of the tome, like I actually held it in my hand. I even had a sense of where it was, deep in the bowels of the palace library. I sensed the content on some level, as well, and knew it held priceless information about summonings and demons.
She winked. “That’s all I will tell you. Reassure James you’re already on Task, will you? His prayers every night are repetitious and unnecessary.”
“Wait, is this my sole Task, then? Safeguarding him?”
“That’s how important he is.”
Anyone who had been dead drunk and had a friend rip a chair out from underneath them would understand how I felt. I couldn’t believe what she’d said, but on the other hand, I almost couldn’t focus on her message. Pure joy overtook all thought process. I had worried I would lose James upon our deaths, as I hadn’t a clue how to attain Paradise, so hearing I’d already discovered it was the best gift anyone could give me.
She unbent enough to add, “In every incarnation of your lives, you have loved him. He trusted you to safeguard him, to supporthim, when he needed it the most. So when he accepted his own Task this round, you demanded the Task of protecting James.”
Ifeltthat, like a shaft piercing my heart. I had always loved him. It was why, even though I’d never been lovers with him in our previous attempt, I’d stayed with him and supported him in every way I knew how. To know I’d failed him, that I hadn’t protected him as strongly as he’d needed me to? Devastation swamped me.
I would not make that mistake again.
People could come for James over my cold, rotting corpse.
“Thank you, for telling me.”
“I probably shouldn’t have, but,” here she gave me a saucy wink, “I think you needed to hear it. We are out of time, but just know, you’re precisely where you should be. Do not let any soul argue with you about that.”
In a blink, I was back in my body. I awoke refreshed, like I’d slept for hours, and indeed the morning sunlight streamed in through the gauzy curtains even now. I lay there for a moment, absorbing the visitation. I had no doubt it was real. Itfeltreal, unlike every other dream I’d had. Plus, I could still feel the weight of the tome in my hand. I knew precisely where it was in the library, in a section I’d never stepped foot in.
