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"Evie! I'm. . . wow, why am I so bruised?"
"Shut up," I said, grabbing his head and pulling him in for a kiss. It was freezing and we were on the ground but I didn't care, couldn't care, not when I could touch my Lend and he was awake to touch me, too. I knew I'd missed it, but it wasn't until now that it hit me just how empty and desperate it had felt to be separated from him like that.
"Maybe," he said, between tracing my neck with kisses, "we could go inside?"
"Maybe," I agreed, not getting up.
"Or maybe," Reth said, his voice dripping with disgust, "Evelyn could come with me to determine how best to fulfill her end of the deal. "
Lend lifted a hand off me and held it in the air. I couldn't see what he was doing with it, but I had a good idea, and I heartily approved.
"See what I meant about the ability to focus?" Reth snapped. "You two are ridiculous. " He was out of breath he was so angry. He stalked past us toward the trees, and then he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
"Reth?" I sat up, watching him, waiting for him to get up. It was a trick. Right? He was manipulating me again, or. . .
I stood up and ran to him, turning him over so I could see his face. His eyes were closed, his mouth drawn tight, and sweat was beading on his forehead.
Sweat. Faeries did not sweat.
"Something's really wrong with him!" My voice was high with panic. All the things I'd noticed-the change in his soul, his heartbeat, even the way he walked and his voice being different-I thought he was kidding when he said he wasn't dying yet.
I put my hand over his heart, letting out a relieved breath as I felt it beating, too fast by far but still steady. "Reth?"
His huge golden eyes fluttered open. "Perhaps I should have taken the couch. "
A laugh choked in my throat. "You're not okay. "
"No, as I told you, I am not. "
"What's wrong with you?"
His eyes didn't leave mine, but they, too, were different. Before, they'd always felt like depthless pools. Now they seemed shallow, dim.
"I'm dying, Evelyn. "
Chapter Thirty-Three
KIND OF A BIG DEAL
You're dying?" I shrieked.
Reth sat up and brushed off his clothes. "It's not an issue. " Lend offered a hand to help him stand, which Reth ignored.
"Actually," Lend said, "dying is kind of a big deal. Especially for an immortal faerie. "
"I already told you," Reth said, only looking at me. "This will be fixed when you open the gate and we go through together. My connection to eternity will be restored and this will all be a horrible memory. Now come on. " He tried to project calm, but the same quivering, fraying-around-the-edges look his soul had was reflected in his face.
I stared incredulously as he stalked into the forest, pausing once to lean against a tree and catch his breath before continuing without looking back.
"Well, no pressure now. Not only does every paranormal in the world need me to open the gate so they can go home, but Reth will die soon if I don't. "
Lend squeezed my hand reassuringly as we started walking after my fastly failing faerie. "You'll figure it out. I know you will. What was he saying about going through together?"
I willed my eyes to roll, but everything felt so serious and heavy that I couldn't muster the sarcastic energy. "He thinks I'm going to decide to go through with him. " Which reminded me that Lend and I hadn't had a conversation we needed to. One I really, really didn't want to. I stopped, pulling his hand so he'd face me. "Lend, I-Your mom, she said they were going to take all the paranormals. And I know she includes you in that group. What are you. . . I mean, they're going to be gone. All of them. Forever. Every immortal creature on the earth. " He'd told me he wouldn't go through, but he had to have been thinking about it. He needed to think about it. For a few brief seconds I was tempted to take Reth up on his offer of eternity, if only to spare Lend the agony of choosing between his two worlds.
But no. This was my home. This was who I was, and what I loved most about loving Lend was that I didn't have to lose myself to be with him. Being with him meant I found myself. I wasn't going to try and become something entirely new.
"Not every immortal creature. I don't think they're taking vampires," Lend answered, avoiding my eyes and digging into the frozen dirt with his shoe.
