I grasped his hand, and suddenly, I saw it all.
The pain he’d endured.His loss.Miles had lost many people he loved.
I saw the loneliness that nearly took his life.Until he scrolled past one comment, on a random Reddit thread.
Until he found her.
She saved his life that night, and he never told her.
Day by day it became easier, because he had her.To talk to, to listen to.I saw every moment, cherished for what it meant to him.
I saw with the utmost clarity how much he loved Mercedes, still, even in this space of in-between.
But I could also see the road ahead of him.The future and everything that hadn’t happened yet, but was destined to.All the things he would accomplish both on his own and with her by his side.
I saw their friendship blooming once more in the aftermath of the accident, and evolving into the love they were always meant to have.
And that was enough for me, to know that they would be happy.Safe and loved.
That’s all anyone really wanted for their children, wasn’t it?
I knew Mercy was notmine.But for the briefest moment in time, I loved her like she was.
She taught mehowto love.
I was going to miss her terribly, until my last breath.
And then the world would go on without me.No one mourned a demon, after all.
Miles looked up at me with glassy eyes as he thanked me, just before he disappeared into his body.
The machines went haywire and doctors flew into the room.One yelled that he was crashing out, and they shocked him.
His heartbeat quickened.They shocked him again.
I watched as he awakened, gagging through the tube forced in his mouth.His hands reached out for me, but I knew he could not see me.
But for the briefest moment, I indulged him, not quite ready to let him go, either.
I pressed my palm against his, and he grasped me, his fist falling as he sucked in a breath of air.
The doctors wheeled him out of the room, rushing him somewhere else.
But I knew in my heart, he would be all right.I had faith.
I sauntered down the hall, toward Mercy’s room.She was awake, surrounded by doctors and a man I recognized, if only from her visions.
Her father.
Valory held herself in the corner of the room, shaking.Wings trembling.
Her gaze met mine and the minute she saw me, she ran to me.
She ran to my arms, her wings encasing me as she buried her face in my chest.My wings wrapped around her as my arms did the same.
“She can’t see me,” she cried.
I let my fingers stroke her silky hair.Her sweet funnel cake scent invaded my lungs.
