The second I finished breakfast, I’d retrieve it. I needed to understand how and why the contents were so vital to our future.
James stirred at my back. His eyelids fluttered and love swept through me once more. It was hard not to find him loveable when his hair was wild and pillow creases marked his cheek. He was so soft and touchable in moments like these.
“Morning, dearest.” I snuggled in against his chest, and his arms closed around me.
“Mmm, morning,” he murmured.
“Are you awake enough to talk?”
“Barely.”
Well, I knew a surefire way to wake him quickly. “An angel visited me last night.”
One, two, three—James abruptly raised up on one elbow, spluttering.
See? Fully awake.
Being married meant he was mine now to pester as I pleased.
“Not kidding,” I assured him. His jaw worked but he could only make croaking sounds. “In no particular order, she came to tell me this: One, you can relax and stop praying about me finding my Task. I’m on it, and as long as we keep on track, I can ascend to Paradise with you.”
“Thank Vuheia.” He collapsed against the bed again, snugging me back in. “You’ve no idea how worried I was.”
“I do know, in fact, as an angel told me point-blank to get you to quit.”
“Ha, point. So what’s your Task?”
“My Task, in essence, is you.”
James froze, barely breathing. “Me?”
“You.” I tilted my head back to see his eyes. “Safeguarding and supporting you. Vuheia warned me before that I wasn’t protecting you, and I only now fully realize what she meant. You’re bad about standing up for yourself, my darling. Even when you’re actively trying to be better about setting boundaries, you’re just too soft with people. You need someone at your side who can be mean and put you as the first priority, hence me. I failed to protect you in the first life—she didn’t say as much, but allowing you to marry Valentina and leaving you at the whims of your foster family was what I should have protected you from. I realize it would have been harder then, as we weren’t married, but I’d found a way to do it in this life too without us being married. I failed you before. I feel…awful about that, honestly.”
James shook his head, jaw working under his emotions, his eyes too bright, and I had a feeling those awful memories had darted through his mind. He sucked in a harsh breath and hugged me hard against him. “I…I mean, I can’t say I didn’t suffer because of them, but what could you have done? It was an impossible position to be in.”
Still, I clearly could have done it. We weren’t given impossible Tasks. Difficult, yes, impossible, no. I didn’t fully understand why I had hesitated so badly that I’d screwed up the first go-around. I had the power now to fully do my duty, and by all the gods, I’d do precisely that.
“I let the limitations of my position reign over me in the first life. This time, I did not. This time, I chose you above all else. I will always choose you above all else.”
James’s breath hitched and shuddered against my neck, his whole body curling into mine. Tears dampened my skin where his head burrowed in, and I hugged him back with all the strength I possessed, pouring my love into him.
“I apparently need to be the mean one in this relationship,” I teased after a few moments, rubbing a hand up and down his spine while he composed himself. “You’re too nice for your own good.”
James huffed a watery laugh and pulled back to kiss me softly. “You can be as mean as you like.”
“As if I need your permission.” Eyes twinkling, I kissed him back. “That wasn’t the only thing she told me.”
James sat back enough to give me breathing room. “You were told more than your Task, then? I’m almost alarmed. What else was said?”
“First, a confirmation. I did love you in our previous life.”
He smiled bittersweetly. We both regretted not saying something to each other, not taking that final step. I hopedour regret faded with time. We had each other now, and would continue in the future, and that was what we must focus on.
Only I wasn’t done. “She also informed me that in every incarnation of our lives, I have loved you.”
Oh, that startled him for sure. I’d never seen such an absolutely stunned expression on his face before, his mouth working, but only croaked gobbledygook coming out. It was really rather funny and I grinned at him without meaning to.
“She also told me that I volunteered to be your protector. I chose you as my Task.”
