Chapter Thirty-Seven
There was darkness.And there was a woman.
She spoke to him. A rambling dialogue interspersed with the occasional huff of irritation or snort of quiet laughter.
The melody of her voice rising and falling unsettled him as much as it soothed him. It held him in the darkness, and it beckoned him toward the light. It was the voice of a siren, dragging him to the rocks. Beautiful and otherworldly, bathed in soft light, the ocean bubbling and roiling around her. She was a fantasy and a dream, both utterly intoxicating and utterly impossible.
Sometimes she cried. Those were the worst times. He could hear the desolation of her grief. The misery that gripped her. But he couldn’t see her or touch her. And she didn’t hear him when he called.
He swam through the darkness for a time, floating in the currents that tugged at him and tried to drag him down. But he never sank. Something gripped him. Held him. And ever so slowly, he drifted toward the surface.
There was pain there. Sharp and bright. And there was… Ellie.
God. There was Ellie. And she was in danger.
He flew into consciousness, choking on the tubes in his throat, fighting to escape the needle taped to his arm. Machines blared alarms, and bright lights burned his vision. Someone pushed him back, but he bucked against them. He had to get to her.
Someone tugged the tube, pulling the tape off his cheek and then drawing it out, and he gagged as it scraped his throat, choking and swallowing hard. Panic shoved his heart rate up until it thundered in his ears as he flailed for purchase.
“Ellie!” he rasped. Fuck. His muscles were so weak. The astringent smell of hospital disinfectant assaulted him. But then she was there, pushing through the nurses, grabbing his hand and forcing herself closer. And he could hear her precious voice over all the noise, or perhaps despite it. Perhaps he would have heard her all the way from hell.
“Josh! Josh, I’m here.” Her hand grasped his and her beloved, tear-streaked face was beside him, and then she was cradling him, her arms around him as she rocked him.
“I heard you.” His voice grated over his raw throat, but he had to tell her. “I heard you, and I came back.”
She wrapped herself tighter around him. “I love you. God. I love you so much. I thought I’d lost you.”
“I love you, too,” he croaked. “Iwaslost, but you found me. I’ll always come back to you, Ellie.” He swallowed against the ache in his throat. He almost didn’t want to ask, but he had to know. “Nissy?”
“She’ll be fine.” Ellie pulled out her phone and showed him a video from the vet: Nissy with a bandaged chest, lying in a basket, paw dangling, her favorite toys around her, looking into the camera with amber eyes.
And somehow, that was what broke him. He sobbed helplessly, clinging to Ellie as they wept and then laughed and then wept again. And then she called for Donna and Liam, andeveryone was there. He was surrounded by love.Theywere surrounded by love.
She was real and he was real. She loved him and he loved her. And nothing else in the world mattered.
Epilogue
There were a thousand glittering lights.Purple and red spotlights flashed, a huge monitor array blazed with car chases, sword fights, gun battles, and magic, and gleaming champagne bubbles rose and popped. But Josh only saw Ellie.
He leaned back in his chair and watched as she strode across the stage wearing a floor-length shimmering silver dress held up by two tiny straps he was looking forward to sliding down her smooth shoulders later, a stunning silver-and-diamond pendant shaped like Arwen’s Evenstar around her neck, and combat boots. She would have gone barefoot and brought Nissy if she could.
She looked out across the room to meet his eyes and grinned. God, he loved her.
And then she held out her hand and called Victoria and Duane to the stage to stand with her, to share the spotlight and the accolades.
From the moment they got the news, she’d been sharing the glory. She’d told everyone that they won Game of the Year together, and they would collect their awards together too. Because that was Ellie’s way.
He knew her acceptance speech well enough that he could concentrate on watching her as the words rose and fell.
She was everything—the courageous warrior battling the shadowy fae to save her lover, the wild and brilliant witch seducing her orc and uniting a kingdom, the siren surrounded by the frothing ocean, and so much more. She was his friend. Her mind was so full of curiosity and ideas that it never failed to challenge and delight him. She had glued his family together. She was the woman who had pulled him back from the darkness and given him hope. She was his lover. She was the other half of his soul.
On the stage, Ellie flung her arm around Vic, and the two women rocked together, beaming and laughing.
Victoria still flinched at loud noises and sometimes seemed oddly fearful of dark corners and shadowy nooks, even with Warren in jail far away. The investigators Ellie hired had found enough evidence to help the police put him away for years. But Vic was slowly starting to smile again and even graciously accepted Ellie’s help with putting a deposit down to secure her house.
Josh took a sip of his champagne as Liam caught his eye from across the table where he sat with their mum. Liam was wearing a wool and silk twill tuxedo—Josh had no idea what that meant, but Liam had told him at least three times—and his mum was in sky-high heels and a plum velvet dress embroidered with hundreds of tiny beads. They’d gone all out with their sparkling evening wear, even though Ellie had told them several times that most people would be wearing jeans and leather jackets.
Ellie still hadn’t heard from her father. He never called again after she’d decided not to sell her game. And Josh knew it still hurt her. But it didn’t stop her from loving freely and openheartedly. And she adored his mum just as much as Donna adored her.
