Ah, that scowl. One of my favorite Miranda expressions because it pushed out that bottom lip.
“Just when I got a good crack at trying to live,” I said wryly. “And I was getting kind of good at it too.”
I bit off the last word as my head snapped back, and the pain doubled everywhere at once. I was slowing him down, but Aten was going supernova no matter what I did.
"You can't bring me back again," I warned her, my voice raspy and hoarse from holding it together. "You can't let him out again. If you do, he’ll come straight for you. For Jamal and Mama Jean."
"I know," she whispered, reluctant acceptance shining in her eyes. Both our hearts were breaking with the weight of the impossible choice. It was either the entire world or me. And she had to fulfill her duty. It’s what she did. It’s who she was. And I wouldn’t have her any other way.
Maybe I’d have her on that arcade joystick one more time though. I made strange, cracking sounds as I amused and aroused myself in my last moments.
“I wish we had more time,” she confessed with a trembling voice.
I struggled to maintain any semblance of levity as my body threatened to implode from the intense pressure raging inside me. “Time is overrated.”
I’d had a near eon of it and it was wasted without Miranda in it. Timothy’s warning had sunk into my bones. My future was borrowed time with Miranda and it would have never been enough. The prospect of walking this earth for all eternity without her was too unbearable to comprehend. It was better this way.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said with a lopsided smile. “Afterall, you are a badass.”
“Truth or dare,” she said, tears streaming down her face as her body shook almost violently.
That threw me. “Truth?”
“I love you.”
If I weren’t already burning from the inside out, I would be now. "I love you, too," I managed to whisper. "But the game is over, sweetheart.”
The steam only thickened and molten fingers reached out from my inside. Aten was making his way out of me.
I wanted her to shut her eyes. I didn’t want her to watch what she was about to do, but in true Miranda form, she stared straight into my eyes as she plunged the blade through my body and into Aten’s.
A different, sharper pain sliced through me as death blackened the edges of my vision, and the bright burning sensation went out like the flick of a light switch.
Chapter 36
The Beast
Death felt a lot like living, or so I thought as my eyes fluttered open in Grim's penthouse. Someone had a death grip on my hand and I felt strange, different. Like my senses had been muted and I no longer held that internal thrum of power I’d always known.
“Welcome back,” I heard Grim’s voice from over my shoulder.
I didn’t turn to look at him. Not when a certain cat-eyed goddess sat at my side, staring at me like I was some kind of miracle.
“Miss me, sweetheart?” I grinned.
Then Miranda threw herself on me. I wrapped my arms around her even as I sat both of us up on the couch.
“I thought I killed you.” Her words were muffled into my shoulder.
Vivien gave me the thumbs up and dragged Grim out of the room, leaving us alone.
I held Miranda, rocking her back and forth, giving her soothing hushes even as I inhaled her scent like it was oxygen.
She pulled away to meet my gaze, tears shining in her eyes. I brushed away a tear that trailed down her cheek with my thumb. I was awed to see her vulnerable enough to cry not only in front of me, but over me.
“Is Aten...” I was still dazed and confused by waking up.
“He’s dead,” she assured me. “Or rather, he’s trapped in Bob again.”
