“I’m exhausted.”
“Okay.” Maybe she wouldn’t have to say anything else. That one word kept working.
“No, it’s not okay. I’ve never been tired like this, and my back and shoulders feel like I went over a cliff. I’m not supposed to feel this way. I just want to sleep and take some of those pills—what do mortals call them? Medicine.”
“I have some ibuprofen.”
“No, well, I mean yes… maybe, but what I’m saying is: I’ve lost everything. I’m basically mortal. I don’t think the Fates trust me to take your life this time, so they’ve taken away my powers. I’m mortal, Hannah.”
Her heart pounded with a dozen emotions all at once. He was dark and intense, and she loved him. She wanted to be with him, to lay in bed like this, and to wake up together in the morning. And they no longer had his immortality making their lifespans a problem.
But… he had deep grooves in his cheeks—that weren’t from smiling, and his face was as serious as the morning after Christmas. His expression made all the giddy joy in her stomach shrivel up and die.
“You don’t want to be mortal,” she whispered.
“Of course I don’t.”
Her limbs started shaking again, and she blinked back tears. “No, of course not.” Her voice shivered—weak and fragile. She was that snowflake ornament he’d just shaken to pieces.
He brushed at her cheek with the pad of his thumb, wiping at a stupid tear that had fallen. “Don’t be scared. I will do everything to keep you safe.”
She shook her head. “Maybe if things go as they were meant to a year ago… maybe you’ll go back to being immortal and get your powers back.”
She met his gaze. It would be okay. It’d be like giving her life for him, and that was worth it.
He leaned in and cradled her head in his hands. “Hannah, I only want to be immortal to keep you safe.” His lips brushed her forehead.
Oh.
She cleared her throat of tears. “What if I was fine, but you were still mortal?”
He shrugged.
Reaching up, she tipped his chin down so that his gaze met hers. “No, really, would you hate being mortal if I was safe?”
One half of his mouth tipped up. “Well, this pain isn’t as fun as the commercials make it look, and I actually might need sleep, but I think I could handle it.”
“You’d grow old.”
“With you.”
They both smiled.
“I can have dinner sent to our rooms,” she offered.
“I’d like that.”
“Then, I can kiss all your pains better.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Will that actually work?”
“Probably not. But I also have ibuprofen.”
“In that case, we should probably try both… just to be sure.”
That night, he was the one who fell asleep first, and he did it long before the movie was over.
She stayed awake, lightly tracing the lines of his face and memorizing how he looked. If everything went wrong, she wanted these moments to keep. If only she could freeze time.
When midnight turned on the digital clock near the bed, she slipped from beneath the covers and away from his warm body and went to the window. He spoke of Fates and Father Time, but she didn’t know enough to even know who she should ask a favor of, but she had to ask.
As she slid her locket back and forth on the chain, she whispered at the cold winter night, “I never got a doll for Christmas, even though I asked Santa for one every year for six years, but I’ve been good despite that. If anyone is owed one good thing—after a lifetime of disappointments and bad luck, you owe me this. You owe me a changed fate.” She swallowed. “If for no other reason than I love him… and because you tried to kill me with a falling star.” Whether it was meant to mock her or just a coincidence, a shooting star streaked across the night sky.
Sighing, she rested her head against the window. Maybe she should have pleaded a little more. Maybe even begged. But, to be honest, begging would’ve killed her… and it sounded like it could stand in line for that.
CHAPTER TEN
He woke up inch-by-warm-inch. Hannah was stretched out beside him, almost across him. This was his new favorite way to wake up. No wonder she’d been in a good mood the last few mornings when she’d woken up beside him. It felt good.
He turned and groaned as every single one of his muscles screamed out at him. He had a rather nasty bruise on his back to show for yesterday. It was the bruise that had finally convinced him what his lack of powers had failed to do. He was mortal… and a helluva time for that to happen.
“What?” Hannah bolted up in bed. “What’s wrong?” She leaned over him. “Are you okay?”
“No. I think I’m dying.” Then, he grinned. “So, you must be an angel.”
She raised her eyebrows as a smile slipped across those beautiful lips of hers. “I’m definitely no angel.” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait, so you’ve never felt pain before?”
He shook his head. Pain was for mortals… and immortals who fought fate apparently.
Dropping down, Hannah pressed her mouth against his neck… and bit. He arched against her and pulled her closer. His breath was all pants and gasps until her teeth let go seven mortal seconds later.
Hannah lifted her head. She couldn’t quite pull off innocent as she asked, “Did you like that?”
Did he like that? His father or any of his brothers could show up now and take him and he’d die happy. Did he like that? He had no idea that pain could be so supremely erotic. No wonder mortals put up with the rest of it. Maybe pain didn’t suck.
“It was… interesting.”
She propped her hands on his chest and placed her chin on top of them. “Interesting, huh? How many chocolate oranges have you had this week?”
“Counting the one I saved for today?” It was a good thing he’d summoned an extra one because his ability to summon things was gone as of last night. They might have to start buying chocolate oranges.
“Mm hm.”
“Nine, but you shared the first one, and banging them is a large part of why I like them.”
“So, would you say you find biting just as interesting as chocolate oranges?”
“Possibly more, but it’s hard to judge anything from a single… experience… a single taste. Do you like biting?”
She grinned, and their gazes held. “We’re both getting coal in next year’s stockings,” she said.
“I hope so.” He really hoped they’d both be around for stockings and, yes, merit receiving coal. As they looked into each other’s eyes, he was reminded of that silly show he’d watched on TV on Christmas Eve. The male mortal had said this was the first Christmas he’d ever known what the season was about and that the female mortal had brought hope into his life. Zeit shared that sentiment. He wouldn’t say it of course—only an imbecile would say that out loud.
She leaned over him, and her hair tickled his collarbone where it brushed his skin. “Too sore to leave the room? I can have breakfast brought up.”
If they started off the day this way, his jaw would be sore again from smiling. He opened his mouth wide and rubbed his cheek.
She raised her eyebrows.
“My face hurt yesterday from smiling.”
“Well, you’re having to deal with all sorts of misery, aren’t you?”
Dipping her face down, she kissed his cheek and then ran her lips along his skin up to the corner of his mouth. Her tongue traced the edge, making him groan, and pull her mouth to his. Hannah smiled against his mouth as she teased him with short open-mouthed kisses. When she grabbed his lower lip between her teeth, Zeit rolled her over onto her back despite his protesting muscles. He’d given her the upper hand for far too long.
Her expression was wholly unrepentant.
“You are…” And then that niggling picture coalesced in his head, and he stopped. Damn.
“What? What is it?” Her body shifted from soft and welcomi
ng to alert right away.
He shook his head as he pushed up off her and sat on the edge of the bed. He’d expected it. The clock had been ticking on this moment for a year.
Coming up behind him, Hannah wrapped her arms around his neck. “What?”
“I have my mortal sacrifice. Hannah Lyons. Room 117. This lodge. Midnight tonight. It’s the same as it was a year ago.” He rubbed both his hands down his face.
“What happens if you don’t do it?”
“I’m not going to do it.” She had to know that. There was no “if.”
“What happens?”
The Fates were not happy, and someone else would be sent. He sensed it as solidly as the information that played through his head like a song on repeat. He’d hated this aspect of New Year’s Eve already. All day, he spent anxious for it to end so the replay could be over. Usually he crossed planes to get where he needed early, and then summoned a music player and earphones. It was part of the reason he listened to music and went to concerts all year—to gather a day’s worth of music.
“Someone will be coming tonight. But I won’t let them get to you.”
“Will you be able to stop them?”
“Yes.” He was going to try—and then offer an exchange if all else failed. Hannah would see the new year no matter what. Twisting, he grabbed her and dragged her onto his lap. “It’ll be fine.”
She put her hands on his cheeks. “I don’t believe you, so I vote we make the naughty list in advance.”
“Maybe after some more of your mortal medicine.”
“And breakfast.”
Mmm. “We will need lots of energy.”
She reached into the table beside the bed and pulled out a pen. Uncapping it, she wrote “ZEIT” in big block letters on her hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Now, you’ll have two things with your name on them that belong to you.”
He kissed her until she bit him, and then he kissed her some more.
At fifteen minutes before midnight, her body was so taut with stress she’d shatter if someone bumped into her.
“You were doing much better before they announced the time,” Zeit said, bending down to kiss her neck.
He’d been teaching her how to dance—and Zeit’s version of dancing was a shade shy of indecent. On previous nights, there hadn’t been kids around, but there was now and tonight’s tamer dancing wasn’t enough to distract her. Hugging her tight, Zeit edged them off the dance floor toward the large fireplace. When they reached it, he tucked them into a nearby corner.
“It’ll be fine.”
She loved that Zeit was as freaked out as she was, but was putting on a brave façade. Actually, she just flat-out loved him. “I wish you could still stop time because I swear it’s sped up.”
He sighed.
“No. You will not feel guilty because you don’t have superpowers.” She hugged him. “Zeit, no matter what—you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
He dropped his chin onto her head. “I feel the same way.” He sniffed. “That gingerbread bath bomb smells much better on your skin than on mine. If my father or brothers get close enough to smell me, they might kill me out of pity.”
“That’s not funny.” It was a little funny, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with joking about death when he’d called her on it. “Besides, don’t your muscles feel better?”
“Maybe.”
“Tomorrow, I was thinking of extending my stay here at the lodge by a few more days. I have vacation time coming. We could share a room.”
Despite the noise of the party around them, she heard him sigh again. She hoped he’d play along. Making plans might stop her heart from racing. “That sounds good.”
“I mean, I’m not sure how you pay for things to know if it even matters…”
“I have a bank account… well, a joint bank account with all of my brothers. We don’t have that many expenses so it’s grown. We could buy a country at this point.” He said it so casually.
“Oh.”
He’d been scanning the room, and suddenly pushed off the wall, and stepped in front of her. With his hand behind him, he trapped her up against his back.
An older version of Zeit walked toward them.
“Hello, Father,” Zeit said, reaching out a hand. The two men clasped forearms rather than shaking hands.
“Good to see you. This must be your Hannah?”
Zeit held her from stepping forward to greet him. “You can’t take her.”
Father Time was dressed like Zeit—dark clothing with a long black trench coat. Zeit’s father tilted his head. “We are servants to Time, my son—to the Fates.”
“I don’t care. I’m no longer their puppet. They’re not getting her lifetime.”
“Someone must pay the Fates.”
“Not Hannah.”
“One life for many.”
Zeit shook his head. “It’s not even. We’re wrong. Hannah is worth a thousand of every other mortal around.”
His father smiled. “Well, that sounds like an objective opinion.”
“One minute until midnight,” Mrs. Cowper called.
Hannah held her breath and pressed against Zeit’s back.
Father Time held out both his hands. “Someone must pay the Fates.”
“I will. My life for hers,” Zeit said.
“No!” Hannah said, trying to get out from behind him. Zeit held her fast. “No, no, take me.”
“Hannah, it’s fine.” He nodded at his father. “Take me. Take my life.”
“No!” She shoved at him. “No.” He wouldn’t let her by, and it was like she wasn’t even speaking. Father Time was only watching his son. “Nooooo,” she moaned as tears started streaming from her eyes. “No. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.”
Neither man acknowledged her.
“You’re sure?” Father Time asked.
“Yes.” He was going to die right in front of her. “But Hannah’s lifetime is never held in the balance again.”
“Of course not,” Father Time said.
“Zeit, no.” She pressed her face against his back. This couldn’t be happening.
Zeit turned to her, tipping her chin up with a finger. “Hannah, it’s my choice.”
She shook her head. “No, Zeit. Just let him take me. Please.”
He shook his head again. Then, he leaned down and kissed her softly before he whispered against her mouth, “I love you.”
The sharp bite of loss exhausted her. She couldn’t even tell him that she loved him too. It was too hard.
The crowd counted down as Zeit turned back to his father and moved her behind him again.
Father Time reached out a hand and pressed it against Zeit’s chest.
There was nothing she could do other than close her eyes and hold on to Zeit.
“Five… four… three… two… one.”
She clenched her eyes closed.
This couldn’t be happening.
It couldn’t be.
And as she pressed herself against Zeit—all around her people cheered and bells rang all around them—as others rang in the New Year.
The New Year she’d spend without the man she loved.
She kept waiting for Zeit to go slack and fall over—just like that man last year.
Then, she heard the rumble of his voice in his chest as Zeit said, “I don’t understand.”
What? Her eyes flew open.
Father Time stood in front of Zeit with a smile on his mouth, and his hands clasped in front of him. “It’s done. You’re mortal, my son. Your lifetimes other than this one—in return for Hannah’s.”
“What?” Zeit asked on an exhale.
His father shrugged. “It’s what the mortals call a loophole. The Fates knew one of their servants might be out of reach if you discovered a way to keep her alive, but your immortality is yours to give, and I knew with a taste of mortality for a few days you’d make the right choice.”
<
br /> “I like biting,” Zeit said suddenly, making her blush.
His father laughed.
“But no one will harm Hannah?”
“Her life has been paid for—as has yours. The only power that can take either one of you is time itself.” He held out his hand, and the two men clasped forearms again. “Have a wonderful life, Zeit.”
Then, Father Time said to Hannah, “I’m sorry you never received a doll, but I hope this makes up for it.”
She blinked, and his father was gone, and they were surrounded by a room full of cheering and hugging people who’d begun singing “Auld Lang Syne”.
Zeit turned back to her, blinking and shaking his head.
She grabbed his face with her hands. “Don’t you ever do that again, you crazy man!”
Laughing, he dipped his head to kiss her. “I love you, Hannah.”
“I love you too,” she murmured against his lips.
“I guess this means…” He jerked his head up and then spun, jumping toward the fireplace to catch the little blond kid mid-trip before the six-year-old fell into the spiked fireplace grate. As Zeit pulled him away, Mrs. Cowper’s bell rolled off the mantelpiece and bounced, ringing loudly.
Hannah grinned. Apparently, the old thing about an angel getting his wings wasn’t so far off.
Zeit set the boy on his feet with a stern admonishment to find his parents. As he turned back to her, Zeit said, “I don’t think I’ve seen him with any adults this entire time. If we have kids, I hope we’ll keep better track of them than that.”
The thought of having kids with him made her heart pound. Zeit would be a fantastic dad. “At least you were paying attention.”
He shook his head. “Apparently, I still have some sight. I’m not off the hook for improving mortal’s fate.”
“So you’re going to be all of Boise’s guardian angel?”
He pulled her into his arms. “In my spare time… maybe. I’ll be the only angel getting coal at Christmas.”
“Back to earning a spot on the naughty list?”
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