For whatever reason, that settled him somewhat. Not enough for him to think this was okay, but enough for him to get his priorities in line. With his free arm, he turned her to face away from him, his left arm curling loosely around her neck. He pulled her back to his chest, her heart just off-center of his.
“Close your eyes for me,” he pleaded. He couldn’t live with the thought of her seeing what he had to do.
“I love you,” she whispered as she rested her head to his shoulder. “With all that I am.”
Tears sprung forth, but Eclipse slammed his eyes shut. Pressing his lips to her temple, he swallowed the sob that threatened, lifting the dagger. Even with his eyes closed, he could sense exactly where she stood, the precise spot where her heart was. His training and experience had prepared him with the knowledge of how much pressure was necessary to go through flesh and bone, to penetrate that delicate organ that kept her alive.
“Close your eyes,sezari!” The words burst from his mouth.
His chest burned, his eyes opening as he glanced at the clock once more.
“I love you,” he breathed against her temple.
His throat closed up as his arm pulled back. Thank the Lord Almighty, he would not remember the moment of impact, when he drove that blade clean through her chest and into her heart. His mind would forever block out Orianna’s horrific scream, the way she had reached for the forearm holding her as Eclipse lowered her to the floor. He would never relive the bloom of her blood as it drained out of her and onto the ground beneath them.
No, what Eclipse would remember for eternity was the cold that settled over him, an arctic blast that turned his blood to ice and his bones to stone. It was the punishment he deserved for what he’d done. It consumed him completely when Orianna took her last ragged breath, her eyes pleading with him as though he could save her from this.
And when those beautiful blue eyes closed once and for all, Eclipse, and everyone else in Darkness, would remember the tortured roar that screamed up from deep in the Earth and rocked the very foundation of the mansions that kept them sheltered.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Orianna’s eyes flew open and she squintedinto the soft white that surrounded her. It was everywhere, from the walls to the billowy curtains that formed a canopy over the bed with its white comforter and pillows.
When she sat up, she expected to see angels, but there was no one in the room with her. Not that she could tell anyway. There was no sound, not air being driven through vents, not subtle creaks of a house settling, no footsteps, no bird song out the window. Nothing.
But it was a peaceful nothing. A calm quiet she’d never experienced before.
Her hand shifted to the wound over her heart, expecting to find blood gushing from the hole that had been carved into her chest, but it wasn’t there. There was no evidence that evil blade had ever plunged through her. It was as though it had never happened.
Forcing her legs over the edge of the bed, she pushed herself to sitting, peering around, taking it all in. She appeared to be completely alone, but there wasn’t an emptiness associated with it. As though someone was still with her, watching over her.
“Hello?” she called out, her bare feet moving over the marble floor. It was surprisingly comfortable, not cold the way it was at the mansion. Even with the windows open, the breeze fluttering through, it was the perfect temperature.
Hoping something would clue her in as to where she’d gone, she started for the open window.
“Orianna?”
That familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. Orianna’s hand went to her mouth as she slowly pivoted. “Amber?”
A soft smile pulled at her sister’s mouth. “In the flesh.”
Orianna frowned, tears instantly springing to her eyes. “I … but … wh—”
“It’s okay,” Amber said, moving closer. She reached out and took the hand Orianna still had covering her mouth. “I’m here.”
And that was the moment fear settled in. If Amber was here, and what Barin said was true, that meant…
“Where are we?”
“Heaven.”
The implications of that hit Orianna square in the chest. She’d come to terms with the fact her sister was dead, but … well, truth was, dead was merely a term. It had never meant anything. Sort of like,Amber is smart, orAmber is mad. Merely an adjective:Amber is dead. Easier to accept that way, or in her case, easier to pretend it didn’t mean what it did. She had never thought of it in the verb tense: Amber died.
Yet here she was. In Heaven.
“But I’ve been looking for you,” Orianna told her.
“I know. I’ve been watching you for the past year.”
