But if she was in here—able to see me in this place between life and death...
My chest tightened as I let her tears soak my ash-covered tunic. “What happened?” I whispered into her hair.
“I hit my head… I might be dying. What an embarrassing way for an immortal to go,” she whimpered.
I squeezed her tighter. “They’ll heal you,” I reassured her and myself as her fingers dug into my tunic.
“How are you here?” She clung to me; her presence shattered my ability to hold back my tears—half elated to see her and fully heartbroken that we’d soon part again.
“I’m under the Sethe curse. I don’t know if I’ll be coming home. I’m so sorry, Elsedora.”
“You won’t need to be sorry.” She reeled back, meeting my gaze with fiery persistence. “Because youarecoming home.”
I shook my head and soothed, “When Lark and Dritan woke, they left the stone behind. They’re safe.”
Offering her a weak smile, I held her face between my palms—my burns were gone, the remnants of Caym’s treachery gone with them. Night turned to day, and the ruins of Lamoreaux smoldered behind her.
She would find peace without me. She had to.
My thumbs rubbed away her tears.
“Then, give it to me,” she demanded, hands roaming to my breeches pockets to retrieve it herself. “It worked once.”
My brows rose as I took in this last moment with her—her cheeks flushed with determination. My beautiful wildflower, too stubborn to be tamed.
“What worked?” I asked, goading the truth from her.
“Ikissed you before you woke, too,” she blurted out, palming the stone. “You don’t get to raise a white flag now—not when we are so close to having everything we’ve dreamed of.”
I chuckled, reveling in those words.
If it was the last thing spoken to me, I’d hold on to it like a precious gift. I’d stay here in these orchards where her sentiments would echo for an eternity of sleep or whatever came next for me.
“I am not surprised…” I answered. “There is no one truer to my heart, Elsedora. But the stone still may not work for us. If it doesn’t, then you need to go back without me.”
She shot me a smug smirk, the same one that she’d graced me with so many times, making my cheeks heat through that mirror.
“Well… there is a simple way to find out.”
She brought the stone to her lips, then pulled me forward by my tunic.
And I melted into her kiss.
Chapter 73
Emmerick
Two long days had passed since I’d opened my eyes and turned to see Elsedora, still asleep, beside me in bed at Lamoreaux.
Lark and Dritan had brought us both there after the battle ended.
El’s injuries prevented her from waking, and sullen visitors came and went. Fen and Asterie. Sybilla and Krait. My parents—all three of them. I could barely acknowledge their presence, because my attention never wandered from Elsedora.
She lay there, propped up on down pillows, with a serene expression of rest.
“Is she improving?” I asked Wyeth.
The petite woman redressed the wound above Elsedora’s right ear as I tapped my boot on the dark wood floor beside her.
