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"I can't-" His face twisted somewhere between anger and sadness. "I can't believe you didn't tell me. Why?"
I couldn't stand to look at his face, so I studied the blanket of dead leaves on the ground. "You're the most important person in my life, the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I kind of hate that, how much I love you. Because I've been left a lot in my life, and loving you meant that it'd happen again. The thought of watching you drift away, become someone like your mom who couldn't love me anymore-it's easier to get it over with sooner. It won't kill me now, I don't think, but it might later. And I'm sorry, I should have told you, but I thought if you didn't know we could make it work somehow. You always made me feel warm, forget the emptiness. It was selfish, and it wasn't fair of me. Everyone deserves to know what they are. "
"Evie-you-GAH!" Lend shouted, and I looked up at him, surprised. He had both hands clenched into fists and was staring up at the sky. After a few seconds he looked back at me, all the anger gone from his face. "I'm not an immortal. "
"But I saw-"
"I know what you saw, and I'm sure you were right, but being immortal doesn't make me an immortal. Don't treat me like I'm my mom. She's always been that way-she can't be any other way. She doesn't grow, she doesn't change. Are you saying that I'm the same?"
"Of course not!"
"Then don't act like I have no choice! I've never wanted that life, that world. And I know I'll have to decide what to do someday, but bleep, Evie, I'm eighteen! I don't have to face forever for a long time yet. "
"But you will, eventually. "
He rolled his eyes. "You act like I'm gonna pack my bags and jump in the nearest river next week. Which would be a terrible idea because I have a huge paper due. That isn't my world. This is. And I'm going to live out my life the way I want to. Which is by getting a degree, and making leaps and strides in cryptozoology, and having kids, and being ridiculously conventional aside from helping take care of paranormal creatures and being able to shape-shift. And I am going to do all that, every minute of it, with the girl that I love, who is going to promise to always be truthful with me about everything from now on so that I can actually be there for her. "
I blinked back tears. This was exactly what I wanted to hear, what I hadn't dared hope I would hear. But he didn't know. How could he be sure? "What if you change your mind? I don't even know how long I'm going to live. "
He stepped forward to close the distance between us as he rested his forehead against mine. "The only life I want is one with you. I don't understand this gap you see between us, but can't you meet me somewhere in the middle?"
"The middle of what?"
"I don't know, the middle of tomorrow and forever, the middle of life and death, the middle of normal and paranormal. Where we've always been. "
I bit my lip, nodding against his forehead. "There's a place for us there, right?"
"Always. " He put his lips to mine, sealing our own little spot in the world. Together.
