Henry had committed the ultimate sin in the immortal world.
“And Charlie and Jane . . . how?” I couldn’t quite think of how I wanted to finish the sentence.
“No, they were both unaware of his intentions because it was all so impulsive. Not even Lillian or myself could detect the threat.” It was somewhat better to know that Charlie and Jane hadn’t betrayed the Alexanders as well. Somewhat. I wished desperately that I had been conscious so that I didn’t have to force Liam to relive the moment.
“I have a hard time believing they would help you kill Henry even when they found out what he had done. That would be like you having to kill Patrick or William.”
“It was Jane that carried the most hope for Henry.” Liam tilted his head in pity. “Not that Charlie didn’t carry just as much love for his brother. It was more that he was able to accept the inevitable.”
“Did they see you kill him?” I asked.
“No, they split from us when we started the search for you.” His eyes left mine a moment. “When they met our trail, it was too late.”
I pitied both siblings. I couldn’t even imagine the thought of arriving to that. No matter that Henry had betrayed us, it still didn’t seem fair for them.
“When Jane saw the green flame, it took Grace’s power to numb her loss.”
“Won’t the feeling come back now that Grace isn’t around her?” I asked.
“Yes, but with Charlie it will become easier.”
There was something unnerving about his words, almost as if he felt some of his own pity, knowing just how hard it would be. I could see the emerald glow of surreal disbelief, how he wished things had ended differently.
“Will new roamers be sent to join them?”
“Someday, but only Marius knows the answer to that.”
My mind couldn’t help imagining Jane’s sour demeanor, how intimidating and off-putting her personality had been. How would it be now if new immortals came into her life? Though I couldn’t say she was my favorite, that didn’t seem fair either. It was like Liam being forced to accept new adoptive parents after losing Patrick and Mary simultaneously. But I had to remember that I was looking at this as a human would. That was the problem.
From there, I couldn’t say I envied the immortal’s eternal existence, not if they were forced to still live with the very human experience of loss. I paused for a second at that sad result, knowing I was somewhat to blame. I tried to think of something else but the thought never really left me.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Liam grinned and shifted his eyes to his hands and back to me.
“Half past nine,” he said.
I looked at him confounded. “In the morning?”
“Yes.”
I squinted. “What day is it?”
Liam simply swiped the back of my hand with his thumb. Uh-oh, I thought.
“February 3rd,” he said.
My brow rose involuntarily with surprise. “It’s been four days?”
It was already Thursday and I hadn’t shown up for school or at home. His left eyebrow arched at my concern.
“Patrick can modify human memory, you know,” Liam said.
“Oh,” I said. Oh right. I paused, suddenly realizing the power Patrick really had. He could make anyone think anything.
I felt the relief of letting the tension drop from my body. The stiffness was already enough to carry. At least until I thought about Patrick, thought how easy it would have been to modify my memory.
“Would you ever consider . . . ”
My eyes hesitantly traveled upward, fearing what they would find. I wasn’t so naive as to think that it wasn’t a good option for both Liam and I. But not all good things were what we needed. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the expected agreement in his brightened glow I found. It was resistance to the idea. He moved his right hand to palm the side of my cheek with radiating warmth.
“I never could and I never will unless it’s what you want.” I shook my head. “Then as long as you want me by your side, I will be here.”
“Does now count?” I asked.
His lips curved before I watched his body swiftly move to lie parallel to mine. With the gained strength I could muster, I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the tightness of each attached muscle under his skin. For now, I would leave it be and enjoy the grains of sand left with Liam.
“Anyway, we can stretch this time off?” I air-quoted with my index and middle fingers, making him chuckle along with my exhaled amusement. I loved to hear him laugh in that lighthearted way. I simply loved everything about him. “I don’t think it was very fair that the days I’ve been with you I was unconscious.”
“I think that can be arranged,” Liam said before turning his neck to kiss my lips. It seemed I wasn’t the only one carrying this held in desire. I felt my hands follow the turning of my body as they clung to the sides of his face, as if I were welcoming him back from war. My lips were equally divine and passionate.
Of course, I could feel each weak muscle scream at me in agony as I moved my arms slowly around his neck, leaning further into his body. But I had been away from him for four days and I couldn’t control my desire.
Liam helped by letting my body lie back flat as he shifted atop me without the slightest hint of pressure. I couldn’t help but exhale at the feeling of perfection as I entwined my fingers in his hair. Both our breathing increased with the passion of our embrace. It wasn’t but a moment later that he pulled away, rolling off, leaving me breathless and wanting more. I sighed, placing my hand to my chest, trying to slow my heart from bursting through my ribs.
“You need to rest,” he said. He leaned on his elbow to kiss my forehead before shifting back to a sitting position. “Would you like something for the soreness?” Liam asked. He began to move off the bed.
I grabbed his arm before he stood completely.
“No, please don’t go.” I held his gaze with pleading eyes. “Just stay with me. I promise I'll rest, and I’ll let you give me any painkiller you want.”
“Okay,” he said in his soft, calm voice.
I let go of his arm to see that one second he was there and in the next he was gone. But before I could let the disappointment settle, he was walking back over to the bed with something in his hand.
I sat motionless as he bent to pick me up and lay me completely under the silk sheets and dark comforter. Now that I could see his right hand, I noticed a syringe. Naturally I turned my head to the right to avoid having to watch it pierce my skin, while Liam wiped the crease between my bicep and forearm with a cold swipe of alcohol. I grimaced, not at the small pinch of the needle but at what followed. The administered painkiller entered my bloodstream with a thickened sting.
Once he placed a taped cotton swab over my crease, I turned my head back to watch as he adjusted himself on top of the comforter next to me. I began to feel a warm blissful lift. It was like lying on a cloud beside Liam. I didn’t want to fall asleep, but my eyes fluttered from exhaustion. Liam smiled as the back of his hand lightly traced the outline of my jaw.
I too smiled as I gazed into his eyes with all the strength I could muster. My hand lifted to rest on his face along with the whisper of my words.
“I love you,” I said.
I let my lids close, unable to fight their urge to shut any longer. As I slowly drifted to toward sleep, I heard Liam’s soft voice in my ear.
“You will have my heart long after you have left this earth, Emma Morgan.” I felt his fingertips trace my skin. “And though I cannot follow, I will hope for a day when our fates bring us back together. But for now, my love, you can sleep and know that I will be here when you wake.”
I felt his tender kiss through the threads of my hair. My body was too worn by fatigue to wake. I was only fading into the warm comfort of sleep, but how much in that moment I wished he could read my mind. I wanted to say so much, to let him know that he too had my heart, that I could hold him forever and it
still wouldn’t be long enough. That I would always be bound to wherever he was.
But how many options did that leave me? Even though I wished to deny it, Jane’s words still rang true. Liam would be forced to watch me die. It was what he was. It was what I was. I risked an even shorter life by loving him. How wise it would be for me to walk away, to live a normal life, or to have my memory erased and start over again.
But I couldn’t steer away from Liam even if I tried. I only knew what I had to accept. And if that meant an early death, so be it. I would die young, and I was okay with that. Whether Liam or even Sean could accept that was a different story. Only time could tell.
I felt Liam tighten his arms around me as if he had heard every thought.
Now, I didn’t know everything. I couldn’t recite things with a photographic memory. I couldn’t remember the leader of every country. But I did know when a 205-year-old immortal was afraid. I could feel it in his hold on me. It was as if he was afraid to let me go, like he knew that we only had so much time left together.
Good thing that made two of us.
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