Swimmer’s build,I thought, admiring the broad shoulders and narrow waist, his muscles much more defined in the tight shirt.
“Something tells me you’ve spent a lot of time here,” I said, pushing the blond swoop of hair out of his eyes. It was silky and warm, and I wanted to run both hands through it, but restrained myself. “It suits you.”
“It suits Liam Colebrook, maybe,” he said, offering a sad smile. “He loved the beach. Loved being in the water, surfing, swimming, diving, tasting the salt on his lips. All of it.”
I nodded, not sure what to say to that. The more time I spent with him, the harder it was to remember that he wasn’t human, wasn’t just a really sweet guy I’d met on a quick getaway to California or Hawaii or some other beautiful, oceanfront paradise.
He was Death.
Again, I wondered how he did it. How he transitioned back and forth so often. How he’d existed for an eternity without any loved ones or memories or touchstones to anchor him to a specific time and place. To people.
I wanted to ask him if it was freeing, not being burdened by the pain of loss, not being caught up in the cycle of human emotion. But when I looked into his eyes now, a very human sadness peeked out from behind his usual otherworldly expression.
“This place… It’s beautiful, yes. But it isn’t real,” he said, turning his face toward the sea. “No more than any place in the realm. It exists inside of us. Outside of us. Alongside us. Because of us. Everywhere and nowhere, all at once and not at all.”
“Nowthere’sthe Liam we all know and love.” I smiled to lighten the mood and sat down on the beach, pushing my feet into the sparkling sand. The few beaches I’d visited in Oregon and Washington had been rocky and cool, but this beach felt like spun sugar set out in the sun. “You know, I think I kind of missed you.”
This got a smile, and he sat down next to me, close enough that our bare arms brushed. “And I you.”
A seagull cried overhead, and I closed my eyes, losing myself in the moment. For one brief, glorious second, I could almost believe that Ihadjust met Liam on the beach. That we’d come here to hang out, to talk about life, to make each other laugh as the waves rushed toward us, then away.
I nudged a little closer to him, my skin warm where our arms touched. I heard his sharp intake of breath as my knee brushed along his leg, but he didn’t move away.
“I didn’t mean to venture so far from the cave,” I said, wondering if he’d been searching for me long. “I stepped out for some air, and I ended up… somewhere else.”
“You passed through the Orchard of Echoes,” he said.
“Orchard of Echoes, huh? Do they have a Yelp listing? Because that place sucked. They getnostars.”
“No, I would think not. It preys on your fears and regrets,” he continued, “slowly driving you mad with guilt. For all those who enter its paths, there are only two possible outcomes: escape, or insanity. You escaped.”
“All I did was walk away.”
“Indeed, that is all onecando. Holding on to regrets, letting our fears consume us, allowing our minds to twist them into hundreds of painful scenarios and imagined punishments—that is the path to insanity. Most who enter the orchard never realize they already know the way out, and it isn’t magic or a hidden door or riddle to solve. It’s simply letting go.”
A chill raced across my skin, and I leaned forward, hugging my knees to my chest. I didn’t want to think about the Orchard anymore.
Liam reached over and squeezed my arm. “I’m proud of you, Gray.”
His touch was warm and solid, an anchor on the shore. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I turned and looked into the ancient gaze of the only friend I had in the realm.
My heart stuttered, then expanded, almost as if it was making room for something more.
“You were gone a long time,” I said. “I was worried about you.”
“Less than half a day on the material plane,” he said. “But I know it was long for you. I hated leaving you. But I did manage to locate your—”
“The guys?” I sat up with a start. “Is everyone okay?”
“You’ll be pleased to know that your vampire, your demon guardian, and your wolf have been accounted for.”
“Define ‘accounted for’. Be specific.” I needed to know where they were. That they really were okay.
“I found them together in Raven’s Cape,” he said, and my heart practically sighed with relief. “Sheltering with a female wolf and her pack.”
A hot, unexpected flare of jealousy cut through the relief, but I swallowed it back. It didn’t matter who they were with. As long as she was on our side, the only thing I could feel for her was gratitude.
“She’s Detective Alvarez’s sister, if I’m not mistaken,” he added, mischief glinting in his eyes. His serious expression turned into a smile, then all-out laughter, the skin around his eyes crinkling in the sun. “I see that last bit of knowledge brings you some comfort.”
