Page 103 of My Faire Lady

“Yes.” A small laugh comes from between her lips, and she nods. “Okay, yes.”

My heart hammers in my chest, fingers trembling slightly as I pinch the cork on the vial. Frankie didn’t elaborate on how to restore the memories. She only mentioned they’d know what to do on their own, but only if the owner was willing to accept them back. Holding my breath, I pull the cork from the top, and the memories lift from the tube, floating in the air like an incandescent cloud. It hovers, and Lottie’s doe eyes find mine, widening.

Her hand reaches for mine, and our fingers tangle. I memorize the way her hand fits in mine, and step closer, breathing her in. If she asks me to leave, this is the closest we’ll ever be again.

The memories swirl through the air, cartwheeling over themselves, and press against her skin, disappearing into her temple. Her fingers squeeze mine, and the pupils of her eyes widen, swallowing the outer reaches of her irises. A smile pulls at her lips, then it falters, and a single tear slips from her eyes.

I wipe it away with the pad of my thumb. “Lot?”

Her breath hitches, and she lifts a hand to my jaw, cradling it in her palm. “Scarlet?” She studies me. “How? How are you here?”

A choked laugh comes from my throat, and I throw my arm around her waist, pulling her against me. I bury my face into her hair as tears pour from my eyes. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been cleaved in half, separated in two without her. And the way she said my name, the way it rolled off her tongue with such familiarity, stitched the pieces back together.

“I saved the magic,” I say, pulling back far enough to cup her face. “It’s free now, and so am I.”

Her eyes shift between mine, and my chest pinches at the hurt etched into them.

“I was ready to do anything—to push my life to the side to be with you,” she whispers, her voice gravelly. “And you said I didn’t belong there.”

“I regret ever saying that.” I tilt her head until our eyes meet. “But don’t, for one minute, think that it’s because I didn’t want you. I wanted you every day since the first day I saw you. And I still do, if you’ll have me.”

She presses her forehead to mine, and heartbeats pass by in silence, my pulse pounding in my ears.

“When the hydra was pulling away my memories, I watched myself fall in love with you,” she says. “I watched the moment you broke my heart. I relived it all, and now I am again, for the third time.”

I press my eyes shut, fighting back the tears.

She lifts my chin with a finger. “But I’d relive it over and over if it means I’ll never forget your name again.”

My eyes blink open, and the wisps of magic twining through my ribcage tighten, squeezing my bones together. I don’t deserve her—this beautiful, inspiring woman who can find it in herself to forgive me despite how I hurt and betrayed her. To see me for who I am, even when I couldn’t.

“I’m so sorry,” I breathe, wrapping a hand around the nape of her neck. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Fog twists around us, passing through the hairline gap between our mouths. But it’s too much. Too far. I want to breathe her air, hear her thoughts, feel what it’s like to beat within her heart. I want to hold her hands until her skin thins and wrinkles form around the corners of her eyes. I want the privilege of watching her hair turn grey with time.

I want her forever.

“You’re finally free,” she whispers against my lips. “You could have gone anywhere, and you came to me?”

Unbidden, my magic slips from my skin and passes under hers. She pulls in a deep breath, and a peaceful smile pulls at her lips as a blush sweeps into her cheeks.

I brush my thumb across the hinge of her jaw. “You’re my twin flame, Lottie. Anywhere you go, I’ll be.”

She closes the distance between us and presses her lips to mine. It’s soft, gentle, like we’re reintroducing ourselves, reacquainting. But there’s something deeper behind it—this feeling that we’ve known each other in every lifetime, that even if we hadn’t met at the faire, or if her memories were lost forever, fate would bring us together.

Our kiss breaks, but she doesn’t drop her hands from my face. She traces the curve of my scar. “And anywhere you’ll be, I’ll go.”

EPILOGUE

“Don’t you dare use your magic to see through my hands,” Lottie hisses into my ear, her hands cupped over my eyes as she guides me out of the car.

I wrap a hand around her upper arm, balancing against her as I step forward. “Don’t we need to get Kelsey from the airport in an hour?”

“She can wait.”

My scarf falls from my neck, and Lottie spares a hand, wrapping it tight around my bare skin. She slows to a stop, but doesn’t drop her hands.

Leaning over my shoulder, she presses her lips to the skin just below my ear. “Now you can look.”