I take a deep breath. I know what I have to do.
My scythe is in my hand without me consciously drawing on it, telling me I’m making the only decision I can in these circumstances. I press my hand to the woman’s arm, pushing all the contentment and peace I can muster into her.
“Come on, it’s time to let go. Let’s get you home.”
That’s all it takes, that and the barest of touches with my scythe’s blade and the soul separates, morphing into a bright blue orb that rests in my palm.
Echo blinks at me, her eyes wide and shiny.
“I think maybe we were meant to come here today, Soren. Even if we didn’t find Wren.”
For someone that says she’s been raging against fate and destiny for years, Echo sure has a lot of faith in certain things slotting into place exactly as they should. I can’t argue with her, not now that I’ve found my soulmate in the most unlikely of circumstances.
We’re both quiet as we return to the village and find Brogan waiting anxiously. His eyes widen as he sees the orb in my hand.
“It’s not Wren,” I tell him and see the exact moment my words hit home. His shoulders slump, tension leaking out of them and he nods. Once I explain to him what happened, he’s already in action.
“I’ll tell someone that there’s a body on the hill,” he says.
Always the loyal friend, doing the hard jobs without question. I squeeze his shoulder with my free hand.
“Look after our girl for me,” he says quietly and then turns to Echo, whispering something in her ear. I’m pretty sure I hear him repeating the same instructions to her.
Once he’s disappeared down the street, the two of us fall into silence again. Until Echo goes up on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to my lips. It’s quick and chaste, but I feel warmth and electricity surging through me and lighting me up inside as her soft lips meet mine.
“Sorry. Maybe that’s disrespectful to her, but I couldn’t stop myself if I tried,” she whispers against my lips.
I stay silent, my mouth paralysed as my mind goes off like a firework, as though every synapse in my brain has lit up all at once.
Holy fucking shit. If that’s what happens after a single kiss, what’s going to happen to me when things go further and I get my hands on my mate’s delectable body?
I have a feeling I’m in trouble here.
13
Echo
Way to go, Echo. You might as well have ridden the handsome reaper right in front of that woman’s corpse.
Talk about disrespectful.
Talk about scaring the absolute dickens out of my poor innocent reaper by throwing myself at him.
Like I told Soren, after the day we’ve just had, after he supported me against my sister when she was mid-toxic outburst. Then looked so dang hopeful about finding Wren and was so incredibly gentle with that poor woman, how could I stop myself from latching onto his lips like they held all the answers to life’s mysteries?
I respect him so much right now. It’s not even real. And there’s an almost overwhelming level of like and affection running through me toward this reaper.
To think that I found him rude and standoffish and an asshole seems crazy now. Far closer to the truth is that he’s a little awkward, he gets uncomfortable, and he shuts down and then he comes across as cold and maybe says some stuff that makes him seem assholish.
I see him, though.
Once Brogan returns, we head back to the garden, and Soren goes to deposit the soul with all the others. Brogan and I then head for Camellia’s hut to see if she’s had any word on details of their superfans that might have had something to do with Wren’s disappearance.
“You know, I kinda think you’ve been doing the same thing as Wren and Cam with your tours,” Brogan says.
“How do you mean?”
He shrugs, throwing his arm around my shoulders and tugging me into him. “You’ve been giving people a dose of their possible afterlife. Who knows, you might have changed their destiny without even meaning to.”
