“She supposedly thinks we’re dead.”
“Yes. Let’s hope it stays that way.” On that ominous note, Liam rose from the grass, offering a hand to help me up. I took it, standing up and tilting my face up to meet his gaze once more.
“Where will you go after this?” I asked.
“I have been ordered to resume my duties, as I knew I must.” The finality in his words pressed down on me like a physical weight, tightening my chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“Will I see you again?” I asked, fighting to keep the tremor from my voice.
“This is not goodbye for us, Gray. I assure you. But it may be some time before we see each other again.”
“But… I don’t understand. Can’t you visit as Liam? Like you used to?”
“Not as Liam, I’m afraid. If I return to you on the material plane at all, it shall be in my raven form.” He cupped my cheeks, his black gloves like spider webs against my skin. “Pray that I do not return, for if you see my raven by your side, know that I am there only to escort the departed soul of someone you love.”
“I don’t want to go back without you,” I breathed, my eyes falling closed over tears. I was losing him all over again. “I’m not done being mad at you yet. And I’m not done forgiving you.”
“Your words have given me more hope than you can imagine.”
“Then why do I feel like thisisgoodbye? Why does it feel like… like you’re dying?”
“Vita mutatur, non tollitur.” He lowered his mouth to mine, pressing a soft kiss to my lips that unleashed a shower of sparks between us.
“Please don’t go,” I whispered when he pulled away.
“I must.” He stroked my cheeks, a few remaining sparks still lingering. “Though I didn’t understand it at the time, this was always the only possible outcome for me, Gray. But your story has many, many volumes before you reach your final outcome, and most of them have not yet been written.”
I nodded, and he released my face, the bright blue of his eyes fading as I slowly drifted back to consciousness.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on Elena’s couch, still clutching the Tarot card to my chest.
This one wasn’t the Death card, though.
It was the Star. A card of healing and renewal.
A card of hope.
Twenty-Six
Emilio
If ever there was a sight for sore eyes, it was her.
The moment I walked in the door and spotted her on Elena’s couch, curled up with her new Tarot cards and a mug of tea, her legs wrapped in a blanket, my heart nearly stopped.
She was beautiful. She was here. She was whole.
Ever since she’d been taken from us at the safe house, I’d dreamed of this moment. Having her back. Safe. She’d been in Raven’s Cape for days, back in my care, but I still couldn’t get used to it.
And after today, when I saw the carnage on the beach and thought she’d been hurt…
I clenched my fists, wishing I could have torn those hunters apart myself. It was a wonder I let the ones we’d captured live.
If we hadn’t needed their intel, I don’t think I would have.
Gray sipped her tea, thumbing to a new card in her deck. She hadn’t heard me yet, and I took a minute to watch her, to soak it all in, memorizing the image.
I could come home to this every night for a thousand years and never get tired of it…
