The floor above them started to give way, raining carnage and flames all around them. Cosette ignored it all, as she laid her head on Davien’s chest. Just a few more minutes with him, that’s all she wanted.
Just a few more minutes . . .
~ ~ ~
Davien struggled beneath the rubble of the beast, the corpse that had tied him to eternal damnation. He knew that he was no longer cursed; he could feel the change in him, the separation from the creature that had been a part of him for so long.
So why was he still here, trapped in this abyss of . . . nothingness?
He called out, but he knew no one could hear him. He was in the midst of unending darkness. No one else was here.
It was as if he didn’t even exist anymore.
He ran a hand through his hair. He had to calm down, think rationally. What had happened to put him here? If he could only remember, perhaps he could reverse the process.
He closed his eyes and thought of that last moment.
He was in the foyer at Shadowlawn, the fire that Lilin had caused laying ruin to everything that it touched. She had him in her grasp while Cosette begged for his life. He remembered looking through the eyes of the creature—before any further thought was snuffed out.
Before he was murdered.
He fell to his knees, a roar of pure rage ripping from him as he faced the truth. There was no going back from this place. He was in purgatory, forced to wait for the hour of reckoning. He was free from the beast, from the vicious curse that had been placed upon him—only to lose Cosette in the process.
He cried out, shouting at the injustice, before a grief like no other settled into the area where his beating heart had once been. Nothing remained now but a hollow shell. He whispered Cosette’s name over and over. It was a benediction, a prayer, as if somehow she could deliver him from the depths of this sickening despair.
There was nothing.
Davien didn’t know how much time had passed, immersed in his misery. “Cosette, I know you can’t hear me,” he whispered at last. “But I have to tell you that I love you. Nothing in my life mattered until you appeared. I fought against it as long as I could. I was a fool. I know that now. Please forgive me. For everything.” He swallowed. “I’ll never forget you. Dead or alive, you will be with me. Always.”
Suddenly, his eyes burned, as if he had never seen the beautiful glow of light before. It wasn’t until he blinked and saw Cosette lying on his chest, the image of the fire surrounding them, did he realize it wasn’t the light that hurt his eyes.
But the heat from the blaze as it closed in, ready to consume them with their greedy flames.
He opened his mouth to speak, to warn her of the peril they were in, but it came out as a pitiful sounding croak. But it was enough for her to lift her head and look at him in astonishment.
~ ~ ~
“You’re alive,” Cosette breathed. She scrambled to her feet as another section of the ceiling caved in. She gasped and covered her head with her arms.
“I may not be for long, unless we get out of here,” he said hoarsely, his throat cracking. He stood on slightly unsteady feet, grabbed her hand, and together they stumbled toward the door—just as an ominous crack sounded from behind.
“Run!” Davien shouted giving Cosette a firm shove as the last section of the floor above them broke away and came crashing down. They made their way outside just seconds before a smoldering timber would have effectively blocked off their retreat.
“Don’t stop! Keep going!” he yelled as they flew across the lawn, stopping only when they reached the tall, iron railing that enclosed the estate. They collapsed against the fence, the cool, clean air that hit their lungs setting off a round of coughing, their bodies working to expel the torturous fumes they had narrowly escaped.
Charlotte appeared, throwing her arms around Cosette. “I thought ye were dead!” she scolded, although her voice was suspiciously torn with unspent emotion. “Dinna ever scare me like that again!” She pulled back to stare at Davien. “An’ yeweredead. How did ye manage this?” She waved a hand to encompass his frame.
Davien grinned as he wearily leaned back against the iron. Cosette was quite sure it was the only thing holding him upright at the moment. His focus was on her as he said tenderly, “Death can not come between us.”
Cosette felt her cheeks warm as she looked into those dark eyes. There was no sign of the swirling beast that she had come to expect, only the clear look of overwhelming devotion.
Davien seemed to reluctantly tear his gaze from her as he looked back at Charlotte. “Where’s Quinn?”
“He went t’ get help,” Charlotte said. But as the center of the manor fell inside of itself, flames shooting upward to mingle with the bright light of day, leaving only the skeletal remains of the crumbling stone structure behind, she winced. “But I’m afraid there’s little that can be salvaged at this point.”
“Indeed,” Davien murmured as he witnessed his ancestral home burn down to the ground.
About that time they heard the distant shriek of horns and bells, the sounds of approaching carriages and horses of the fire brigand as they thundered through the streets of western London. Before long, pandemonium would descend upon them.
