I touched the spot in my chest. “Why are they the only ones who can decide?”
He shrugged. “They are pure of heart and have no ill intent toward anyone. If they’ve chosen to resurrect someone, they’ve seen the lines of fate and have still deemed them worthy.”
Cernunnos still didn’t know what happened to Fee or what she’d done. Or what lived inside me.
Or maybe he did. He seemed to know everything else. Honestly, I was too tired to care.
“What if I do something? If I kill my mother, the spell breaks, and Sarah dies again.”
“No. She disappears, and her soul goes back to wherever souls go when their bodies die.”
“And Ethan?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “He will lose her all over again. There is no happy ending for this, Moira. As much as I wish it wasn’t so, he will relive her death all over again.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” I moved away from Cernunnos and took our coffee cups to the kitchen. “I’m going to bed if you don’t mind.”
His expression sharpened. “And I am not invited.”
I smiled sadly. “Not tonight.”
He inclined his head. “I expected as much. Is this to be the end then?”
“I like you. Maybe even more than like you.” My hands shook as I rinsed our mugs out. “But I don’t like being manipulated. Even if you thought you were helping.”
His expression went blank. “I cannot be anything other than what I am.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m not angry at you. I’m just tired. If you cannot help me, then I’ll do it myself. And I’d like to do it alone.”
“Not alone,” he said, his eyes beginning to swirl. “Without me. There is a difference.”
I nodded. “There is. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“No need. I understand.” He rose and walked over, stopping within inches of me. Cernunnos brushed his thumb over my lips. “You know how to reach me.”
In a flash of emerald and golden light, he disappeared.
I went straight to bed and face-planted, not even bothering to turn off my lamp.
Chapter
Seventeen
Idreamed of wild things and love. Ethan lay beside me, his long fingers stroking my bare shoulder. Contentment bloomed inside me, my heart so full it felt like it might burst.
We lay together for what felt like hours, curled together in an unfamiliar bed in a room I’d never seen before. But it didn’t matter.
We were together.
I buried my nose in his chest and inhaled, making Ethan laugh.
“Weirdo,” he said fondly.
“You smell like the woods,” I murmured.
The scenery changed. We stood in the woods. Faint light trickled through the trees. Ethan and I faced each other, several feet apart.
“You did this,” he said.
