She was staring at me, the stars behind her shimmering like a halo around her.
“I feel that if you left this earth, the stars would die, and the flame within me would smother along with them. I would stayby your side, even in death, until I, too, started to decay where I stood. I would gladly feed the birds, the bugs, and become foliage as nature intended, right beside you.”
“Silas . . .”
“I know where our deal stands, but I wanted to ask you the right way.”
I slowly reached for the lapel pocket of my coat, producing a small, shimmering item.
“Please, Alina.” I held her face close with one hand, our foreheads touching, my thumb brushing over her cheek. She was so warm, so alive. I closed my eyes because I was afraid to look at her. I held the item between us. “Be mine.”
I waited, my mother’s ring pinched between my fingers, my heart on display like a flayed man.
“Will you ask me to do it?”
“Do what?” I opened my eyes, our heads still touching, but her eyes were on the ring before they held my gaze.
“To turn.”
I didn’t want to offend, but I laughed. “I could never make you do anything.”
“Why haven’t you asked me to turn?”
I let out a long breath and leaned my head back, resting it in the snow. “I know you well enough to know that if you wanted to turn, you would have asked me already.”
There was a pause, then she moved.
When I looked again, she had slipped her finger through the ring, her face hovering so close to mine. “Then yes, you have me.”
Something overcame me, and I wrapped my arms around her tightly, holding her head against me. I feared I would suffocate her within my grip, but I didn’t care. I thought it would never come, where I could hold the only thing that mattered to me.
I kissed her, softly at first, then harder again, and again, unable to contain my excitement. I was only elated that she kissed me back, that I was met with laughs, and her hugging me tighter instead of pushing me away.
May we never be rid of each other for as long as we live.
52
THE FIXER
“What happened?”
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Was that a gunshot?” another asked.
“We have to call for Alina!”
“With what telephone in her possession?” I snapped at the girl.
“Watch it,” Phoebe snapped at me, smacking her coat to rid it of snow.
“You answer the questions, then,” I nearly snarled, pushing past the crowd steadily forming at the door. My body was heavy as it finally sank into one of the parlor chairs. All I could do was rub my temples, to imagine this was the last problem I’d have to deal with tonight.
“Do you think there will be more tonight?”
I glanced up at the new voice.
Mary stood next to my chair, staring at the hearth, at the crackling fire. This wasn’t a question of panic, but a tone of proactiveness I had only seen in a few, aside from Alina so far. She seemed stoic, focused.
