Page 55 of How I Met Your Murderer

Eric’s hand drifted down to my shoulder. Lifted, slightly, and toyed with the ends of my hair. “Unfinished business . . . from when I was alive?”

“That’s the idea,” I confirmed, though I wished it wasn’t so. I knew what he was driving at. “Much as I’d rather it be the list you started making last night. We could’ve gotten a dog and a cat. Adults, though—the grown ones need good homes, too.”

“One of each, huh?” Eric asked with a hint of playfulness, a gorgeous smile in his voice. “Because why choose?”

“Because why not make getting a pet as chaotic and unconventional as the rest of this?”

“The rest of what?” His smile hadn’t slipped, only softened, like he already understood what he was asking.

“Us.” I reached up and caught his hand, tangling our fingers together.

His skin still wasn’t overly warm, but like last night, there was no stinging cold.

As he stroked the palm of my hand with his thumb, he looked away, toward the castle—toward the woods and the hills that lay beyond. The wind tugged at his hair, and for a second he looked even more solid. Like the world was trying to hold onto him as much as I was.

“So we get the rest of the month, unless whatever’s hiding in the castle eats me before that list is complete.”

“Gary,” I muttered spitefully. “Aye, if that’s what it’s after.”

Eric nodded, but it wasn’t a happy nod. It was small and fragile, like he was trying to accept something he didn’t want, either. “Then that’s what we’ll do. And we’ll make it fun while we’re at it, so you always smile when you think of me. So you don’t forget me.”

“As if there’s any chance of that,” I said gruffly, my throat once again tightening on me. “Come here, then.”

He slid down from the wall and into my waiting arms, where I tucked him into my jacket right up against my chest. Held him close enough that he could feel my heartbeat, my arms wrapped around his slender waist. It certainly felt like I could hold him forever.

Turning slightly in my hold, he nuzzled my cheek. Left a few kisses there, butterfly-light, though somehow I knew I would always feel them.

As I started to catch his lips with mine, a low groan rolled through the castle walls—stones shifting, settling. Except it didn’t sound like settling.

It was too rhythmic.

Almost like breath.

Like something taking a deep exhale after too long holding itself still.

Eric shuddered, his hands tightening on my forearms. “Raff, what the fuck?” he whispered urgently. “Did you feel that, too?”

I nodded, recoiling from the castle and bringing Eric with me.

The castle shadows that dappled the courtyard rippled—not with movement, but with awareness. A slow, deliberate shifting, almost like pupils narrowing.

Gary—whatever it was—was listening. And it didn’t seem to like what it had heard.

Eric was trembling as he looked up at me, and there was something raw in his eyes. “Raff,” he said softly, “Are you sure you want to do this with me? We don’t know exactly what this thing is capable of, and you could just . . . go. I’d be so much less worried that way.”

“Not while you might be in danger, I can’t, so that’s the last I’ll be hearing of it,” I said plainly. Then I considered the other part of his question. He wasn’t really asking about the list, I knew that. He was asking if I could handle losing him. If I could walk him to the edge and let go, when right now my arms were wrapped so tightly around him that the answer seemed obvious.

Still, I nodded stiffly and lied for his sake. “And yes, I want to do this. I’m sure.”

His face crumpled just a little, but he quickly hid it. “Okay,” he whispered. “I trust you.”

And something in me broke open a little more.

Because I knew he meant it. Because he was looking at me like I was the only thing still anchoring him to the world. Because I kept falling for him a little more every day, and I wasn’t sure where that would leave me by the time he was ready to go.

Everything I did seemed to be enough for Eric. Somehow, even though I’d lost hurling, I was still good at something—good for him—and watching him light up because of me did something to me that I wasn’t brave enough to name out loud. And the wild part was how simple it was. Just being myself, just showing up, made him noticeably glow from within. That alone made me happier than I’d ever been in my life, and I wasn’t ready to lose my center all over again.

I forced myself to breathe, to focus. After all, we weren’t apart just yet. “We’ll start tonight after we make the rounds and keep asking questions of the other spirits—I still want to figure out what’s hiding in the castle if we can, and try to stop it. To keep everyone safe while we work on our list,” I told him. “From what I learned this morning, the thing that killed those animals might be an elemental.”