His jaw clenches. “I have been so horrible toward you. I-I blamed you…for everything, Quinton. I hated you with every fucking fiber of my being. And you… And you just took it.” His eyes well up with tears. “Why?”
“Because I knew you would blame yourself,” I say softly. “Because after that happened to your family… You’d… You’d lose yourself in the guilt. And you did for a time. And that was even without this knowledge.” I reach for his hand, gripping it, hoping he hears the honesty in my words. “I’d rather have you hate me, Damon, than hate yourself. I know you, and I know you’re muchmore sensitive than I am. You won’t admit it but you are.” I glance toward the staircase. “Emery needs us right now, Damon. We promised we’d be there for her. She… She thinks we love her only because of her heart. Alison’s heart. She thinks it was the cruel hand of fate that brought us all together.”
“Maybe it was,” Damon whispers, tilting his chin to the floor. “Maybe she’s right. The chances of?—”
“Regardless of chance and fate, Damon, we cannot let Emery believe her presence in our lives is an act of God or the universe,” I state. “I admit, I used to think that I’d been given another chance, another opportunity to weave a different path, but Emery isnotAlison. There is no part of her that isn’t her own. You know this too. Emery is unique. She’s not a replica or a consolation prize. She’s someone that was made for us. So maybe, in that sense, itwasfate. But not in the awful way you are both implying.”
Damon glances up at me. “You really do love her, don’t you?”
“I do,” I say, “More than I’ve ever loved any creature on God’s green earth. She fills me with so much joy, so much passion. It’s a feeling I have never experienced.Ever.”
Damon stares at me, his dark eyes swimming in mine. “I haven’t either.”
“Exactly, so we should be with her right now. She needs us to be with her,” I sigh, glancing heavenward. “She said she needs space but I?—”
“I used to say that too.” Damon’s gaze flicks at me, so vulnerable I hardly believe it’s his eyes. “When I was at my lowest, I pushed everyone away. It was easier to suffer in solitude.” He stands up. “But she’s suffering, nonetheless.” With a heavy sigh, he turns around. “Let’s go suffer together.”
We head upstairs, Damon leading the way toward the bedroom. Emery sits on the foot of the bed, an empty suitcaseopen on the floor. She stares into nothingness, lost in the turmoil of her dangerous thoughts.
"I was going to pack," she mutters, unable to look at either of us. "But then I realized nothing in the cabin is mine. It was here when we arrived. There's... There's nothing here that's mine." Her eyes well up with tears, her bottom lip quivering. "I have nothing."
Damon and I exchange a pained look. She's not just talking about clothes or belongings.
I take a few tentative steps forward, closing the gap between us, and then kneel in front of her. Cupping her hands in my own, I will her to look at me. A second passes and then another. But I break through. I find her beautiful green eyes.
"You have us, darling," I say, stroking her skin with the pad of my thumb. "You willalwayshave us."
A tear rolls down her cheek. "How? How can any of us get past this? We all…" She glances up at Damon. "We've all kept such harmful secrets. Love... Love doesn't tolerate lies."
Damon swallows, and he takes a moment before mustering the courage to step closer to us, his tone faltering and shaky as he says, "Some lies are forged through love. You." He looks at me. "Quin..." He swallows. "We all hid things for the sake of love."
“But it’s over now, Emery,” I say, conviction in my tone. “There is nothing left unsealed.”
Emery's gaze shifts between us, searching for something that might make sense of the chaos.
Damon steps closer once again and reaches out, placing a hand on Emery's shoulder. He squeezes. A subtle but powerful touch. "We’ll do better, Emery. From this moment on, we’ll do better.”
She looks at us, so vulnerable, so sad and beautiful, and then her attention shifts to me. "Areyouokay?”
She doesn’t need to elaborate. I know exactly what she’s asking me. I’ve spent my life trying to heal people. My goal was always to extend a person’s life, never take it. I should feel conflicted. But I don’t.
“She was going to kill you,” I say. “I’m comfortable with my decision.”
Emery swallows. “The things we do for love.”
“And I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” I whisper. “A thousand times over.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing,” she mutters, pulling away from me. “I… I want to go home.” Her shoulders slump over, chin tilted to her chest as she cries. “I just want to go home.”
That hurts my heart to hear. Because for me, at this very moment, home is right here.
With her.
And him.
THE ASCENSION
EMERY
