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* * *
The doorto Bronywyn’s home is wide open, immediately putting me on edge. She never leaves her door open; she’s too careful. I shove inside and damn near lose my head.
There, sitting in the center of her plush bed, wearing nothing but a nightshirt, Bronywyn stares into the fire, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. “What happened?” I rush inside, slamming the door shut behind me and falling to my knees beside the bed.
She doesn’t speak, doesn’t look at me, just continues staring into the orange flames as though I’m not even here.
“Bronywyn.” Reaching up, I cup her cheek with my palm and turn her toward me. Tear-filled emerald eyes meet mine, and the fissures in my heart open wider. “Who did this to you? What happened?”
“Elijah.”
Rage burns hot and I shove to my feet. “Brother or not, if he touched you—”
“It’s not like that.” She shakes her head. “He’s too good of a man to hurt me that way.”
I breathe deeply, urging my anger to abate as I kneel once more. “Then what happened?”
“He left.”
Brows furrowed in confusion, I repeat what she said. “He left.”
“Yes. Apologized for what he’d done, for the bloodlust. He said it’s not who he wishes to be and took off.”
“He left you.”
Her bottom lip quivers. “Are you not listening to me? He tossed me aside, Tarnley. As though I am nothing.”
My thoughts briefly drift to my conversation with him earlier. He’d seemed more clear-headed than I’ve ever seen him. But then what type of fool would walk away from the woman before me? “Elijah is troubled, Bronywyn. You know that.”
“I do.”
“Then you must understand that he is searching for himself. I’ve known it since the moment he turned me. He blames himself for her death, and that blame has been eating away at him.”
She nods, but the tears continue. “I always knew I was not his ending,” she whispers. “But I’d still hoped to try.”
“You will be an ending for someone, Bronywyn Walsh. You are the loveliest woman I’ve ever known. A treasure to be sure.”
A ghost of a smile passes over her lips. “You are always so kind to me. I don’t know why.”
Because I am in love with you,I long to say. But instead, I simply smile. “You deserve nothing but the best. A long, happy, joyful life.”
“I will be leaving this place tomorrow,” she whispers, and those fissures shatter what is left of the muscle beating within my chest.
“Where will you go?”
“I’m not sure. But I want to give you this.” She extends her arm and begins to untie the leather bracelet fixed there. She hands it to me. “So you’ll never forget me. It was my mother’s.”
“I will never forget you, Bronywyn. How does one forget sunshine?”
Color rushes to her cheeks. “Please take it, and perhaps one day our paths will cross again.”
“They will,” I assure her as my fingers grip the supple leather. I cradle the bracelet in my palm as though it’s a precious gem. To me, it’s the most valuable thing I will ever hold within my hands. I look up and meet her gaze. Though, one day, I do hope to hold the woman before me.
* * *
It wasanother thirty years before I saw her again. And by then, I’d met and mated Allison. Bronywyn has been a constant in my life since the moment I woke as a vampire. And ever since I nearly died in her clinic two decades ago, I’ve been trying to get her to see just how much she means to me.
How much I love her.
Is it possible I’ve finally run out of time?
