She glares at me, and her eyes shine a luminous green. They take my breath away.
She almost looksFae.“Fine,” she concedes, taking the bowl from my hands.
I stand and watch as she eats her porridge. I added a mixture of fruit to give it that extra sweetness, yet she still struggles.
She puts the bowl to one side, gazing at nothing. Her eyes are empty, and it’shappening… The abyss has returned to remind her of what she’s lost.
I bet she sees their faces. That’s how it was for me.
“You…have to find them again…” she whispers absentmindedly.
I raise a brow. “What?”
She looks up, eyes vacant. “You must find your mother and grandpa again and tell them how much you love them. It doesn’t matter that you ran away. None of that matters now… Don’t live with regrets, Tegwyn…”
My throat bobs as her words claw their way into my memories, making old wounds bleed yet again. Fuck, she’s right, and the guilt only tears me apart. But it’s not that simple. I can never go back. That life is over.
She closes her eyes, face crumbling with grief. “I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.”
I inhale a shaking breath. “N-no, you didn’t. You were right, but…it’s not that simple, I’m afraid.”
Ivy nods. “Because of Duke and Rosemary.”
I told her everything, of course. I thought it was the least I could do while she was grieving. It seems we had pretty similar childhoods. People treated her like an outcast, too. Yet in her case, it was because she had been an extremely beautiful young woman who liked to dream.
Ihatesmall-town mentality. You stick out like a sore thumb when you dare go against the grain.
I huff out a breath. “I did go back. Once...”
She looks up, eyes wide.
I continue. “About a year after I left the farm. I watched them from afar. Mother had a baby in her arms… It seemed like she’d moved on.”
I’ve never told anyone this story. Not until now. But I want her to get a glimpse into my past. See what makes me tick.
“The way Mother looked at that baby…I couldn’t take that away from her. If I’d knocked on that door, I would have brought all that old misery back. I had ruined her life. Made the whole town despise her.”
The memories come rushing back, but I push through the pain, going on. “That baby could have been my sister in another life, but I wasn’t going to ruinherfuture, either. I couldn’t do that to either of them.”
Finally, I glance her way, and my heart stops. She’s crying. For me… The tears streak down her cheeks as warmth trickles through my veins when I see that life returning to her eyes.
I smile, transporting myself back in time again. “She always wanted a daughter… Hence why they were better off without me. She finally got her happily ever after in the end.”
Ivy shuts her eyes, wiping away a tear. “Oh, Tegwyn…”
The smile leaves my face. “Such is life.”
She stands, taking my hands. Then she presses a kiss onto my lips. “It’s okay. You havemenow.”
I sigh, basking in her nearness. She’s coming back to me.
“For what it’s worth, I think your mother would have been happy to see you again, Tegwyn. People can surprise you.”
Don’t I know. Finally, we thread our fingers, and I spy the difference immediately. While her skin is soft, mine is coarse, yet in that moment, we are one. Two lost souls who found each other. She drags me to bed, and there we lie side by side. As she falls asleep, I watch her for some time, truly feeling like the luckiest creature in the world. Ivy is all the happiness and family I need in this life.
I wake that night to find the bed cold and empty and jerk upright. When I peer to my right, a deep chasm opens up inside my gut, sending me spiralling into the abyss.
Ivy. She’sgone.
