His dark eyes lift and find mine. “The moment you hit.”
He turns and reaches for me. Long fingers extended, but not touching. Waiting for me to meet him.
I take it. I slip my hand into his palm and let his curl until I can no longer see mine.
“I didn’t want this,” he murmurs. “Not like this. I would have waited, but...” He pulls me to him. “I...”
I get it. Even without another word said, I get it; it may not have been the way he wanted me back, but he got me back.
“I’m not angry,” I tell him, honestly. “I’m sad that I won’t see my parents again, but...” I bring his knuckles to my cheek.
His free arm slides around my middle and I’m pulled against him. Folded into the layers of his cloak. His head lowers and I lift my face, expecting his lips and getting his brow against mine.
“I will make it up to you. I will spend my remaining existence making you happy.”
I brush the smooth curve of his cheek with my fingers and breathe in his familiar, warm scent.
“Can we move my car?” I ask, stealing a single peek at the red stain splashing across the snow from the taillight. “No one will find it down there and my parents will never know—”
“A couple on their way to a wedding will see the lights and stop. Your parents will be notified in a few hours,” he promises quietly. “They will be heartbroken and they will mourn, but,” he tips my face away from the sight so I’m trapped in his eyes instead, “your father will live for a long time. They will lean on each other and they will get through the loss together.”
It’s some comfort, I suppose.
“How do you know?”
The rough pads of his fingers brush my tears away.
“Because I would never let you suffer, Rina.”
I exhale something between a sob and sigh that only comes through tangled and weak.
“This is all so much,” I rasp. “It hasn’t been a full day and...”
“I know, but you are taking it all so well.”
I don’t have a choice, I want to tell him. I’m dead. Screaming and yelling at the heavens isn’t going to change that. Falling apart isn’t going to help. Being angry at him and making him feel helpless isn’t going to make me feel better. The only thing left is to take a deep breath and keep moving forward. Absorb each blow as it comes.
“Anything else?” I ask quietly, but with a tinge of dry humor when I add, “I’m not secretly an alien princess, am I?”
Vaelith chuckles. “Not yet, but you are my queen. The queen of Paludaris.”
I blow out a breath. “As long as we don’t go around probing people in the butt hole.”
His grin is slow and dirty. “Oh, we definitely do that.”
Against my will, I burst out laughing. Vaelith smirks and presses a kiss to my brow. He captures my fingers and moves us away from the wreck. Searon follows quietly behind us. His massive body is oddly nimble and graceful. I think how peculiar we must look to anyone driving past. Me in a filthy gown, a giant man made entirely of roots and vines, and an enormous wolf-cat taking an evening stroll through a blizzard. I can only imagine the kind of cryptid report we would make, especially given we’re at the feet of the Appalachian Mountains.
And, just like the first time, I spot the dull glow in the distance. The beckoning shimmer against the backdrop of darkness.
“Hey, that’s Aunt Laura’s house,” I blurt, pointing. “I thought it was so weird that I suddenly found it.”
“There’s nothing sudden about it. That house wanted you to find it. Wanted you trapped inside with all the other things living there now.”
I shudder and Vaelith gathers me up. I’m placed on Searon’s saddle with Vaelith climbing up behind me. His cloak is twisted around me in a secure cocoon, and I don’t bother telling him I’m not cold.
“What will happen to the house?” I ask, leaning into the solid comfort of his chest.
“As long as it remains, it will continue to fester and rot from the inside. Humans will buy it and terrible things will happen.”
