Page 46 of Where the Light No Longer Follows

“That he would haunt each and every soul with Gabriel’s help and slay them for him.”

“What souls?”

“Of those that hurt you,” Luke told her.

He was there when she returned to Asphodel, right across the river—a river that felt like a thousand worlds apart as more seconds passed.

“You now know,” he said.

“I do.”

“What is your judgement, my ruin? Am I to be spared for what I have done?”

“And what have you done?” she asked, crossing the bridge to his side and kneeling beside him.

He raised a hand to her face, letting his finger ghost down her nose, her eyes, her lips. “Found you too late.”

For the first time, Silene longed, burned to be touched. Her insides seared from desire to climb into his lap and bury herself in his chest. She’d finally picked her next grave, and the earth was so gentle to her this time. But somehow this time…she was afraid. She was so afraid, out of her mind with fear that she would not remember the earth she was buried in.

Silene found the need, the utter desperation to lean into his hands and let him do it, no matter the cost, but to her unfortunate luck, he pulled away.

“I’ve come to realise that I do not regret the life I had. It is the life my little brother loved me in,” Silene admitted. “But I know I will regret the next one. Neither of you will be in it. I will remember neither of you either.”

“Silene—”

“Please,” she begged, and he stood, shaking his head. “You cannot leave me. You still have not given me my last demand.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “Fishing? You’re really thinking about fishing at this moment?”

“I have no other tricks up my sleeve, Gabriel. How do I fool time any other way?”

“You will be happy, my ruin. You will be so happy, I promise you.”

How could he not know? How could he not know that she was happy now?

Eleven o' Clock

One last demand. That was all that kept her in his reach. One he was forced to not delay any longer. He couldn’t. If any more time passed, he’d do something that might hurt her. He’d hold on to her. He’d refuse to let go of her. And he couldn’t hold on to her. He had to let her go.

He knocked on the glass window of her kitchen framing her like painting in an art gallery, and she spun in his direction. Something akin to an earthquake raked his body when she pressed a hand to the window and gave him something he had not imagined her ever giving him even in his wildest dreams—a smile so radiant she could outshine any sun.

It felt as if something was dragging barbed wire through his insides as he lifted his fingers and pressed them against the cold glass, over hers.

Her little careful smile grew as she watched their hands join, it bloomed into a grin, and for the first time in his existence, he learnt what spring felt like to humans.

Leaning closer, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to the glass.

Tears streaked down his face as he leaned in, too, wishing he could love closely without hurting those he loved.

They stood there, both on each side of the window, their brows pressed together, gazing at one another until her lips moved to form words that sealed so many fates.

It’s okay.

Was it though?

Pushing away from the window, she got up and came outside, stopping the closest she’d ever been to him and handing him the end of a ribbon, before dragging him to sit on the grass where she’d laid a blanket. “Azriel might throw a fit again if he sees you here again.”

“He doesn’t scare me.”