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“You beat the shit out of him because you remembered what he did, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“She’s sneaky, your mum, a true Dálaigh. What a way to get revenge,” he says with a wry grin.
“No,” I shake my head. “She wasn’t like that. All that anger was my own and had nothing to do with her. In fact, in the letter she asked me to remember whosavedme, not who killed her. She was trying to help me remember the boy who pulled me from the fire, not the one who lit it.”
He observes me for a moment, thinking. “And in our letter she told us our paths were always destined to cross. That our fates are intertwined,” he explains, cupping my hands in his and pressing a kiss against my knuckles. “She said that every action has a reaction, and every decision a consequence. She asked us to let you live, Christy…” His voice trails off as he bows his head in shame, his forehead pressing against my fists. “Your mother has been guiding us together, but at no point has she told us what our future will be. There has to be a reason for that.”
“There is. My mother feared that if she told me what she saw in my future that there would be repercussions for me, and she didn’t want to risk Fate’s wrath.”
Konrad nods. “Then that’s a good enough reason not to tell me what you saw. I’ve already hurt you, I refuse to hurt you further by being selfish.”
“But I—”
“No. I don’t want to know what’s coming, Christy. I just want to live in this moment with you for as long as I am granted the pleasure,” he says, cupping my cheek gently. “Christ knows I don’t deserve it, but I will take whatever time there is left apologising for every wrongdoing I’ve committed against you.” Leaning down, he presses a gentle kiss against my mouth. “I’m sorry for hurting you. There won’t be a moment that I don’t feel guilt, regret. I’m sorry. Truly.” His thumb finds my bottom lip as he pulls back. “I don’t need to see the future to know I need to be with you here in the present.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” I mutter as he gently slides his thumb against my parted lips, silencing me.
“I know exactly what I’m saying, Christy. I’m not a fool, Leon might be burying his head in the sand and avoiding the very real fact that your family will come for you, but I’m not. They will come, and we will pay, I have no doubts about that. So please, let me take whatever time we have left and savour every moment of it.”
With a heavy heart, I nod my head. “Okay.”
After another half an hour of silent reflection, the forest begins to thin out and more sunlight streams through the canopy overhead, covering the forest floor with dappled light.
“We’re here,” Konrad says, pointing to a gap in the trees further ahead which sits a wooden cabin in a small clearing. “This is the place.”
The cabin is made of dark wood and has a low-pitched roof covered in ivy that creeps across its entirety. Long grass grows up the sides of the building, and what once was a deck is now just broken wood overtaken by weeds. There are no windows, and the door is hanging off its hinges as though someone has kicked it in. It’s everything nightmares are made of.
No, it’s where nightmares were endured.
My skin instantly covers in goosebumps as my stomach churns violently at the oppressive darkness that emanates from within the cabin. My body’s reaction is instant and brutal.
“I’m going to be sick,” I say, twisting my body away from Konrad before projectile vomiting.
“Christy, what is it? Is this your period or the vision?” Konrad asks, rubbing my back as I empty the contents of my stomach.
“Neither,” I manage to choke out, my eyes watering as I slowly find the strength to stand upright. “Don’t you feel that?
“Feel what?”
“The evil that seeps from that place. It’s so strong, so overwhelming,” I whisper.
He reaches for me, pulling me against his chest and hugging me tightly, his hand cupping the back of my head. “Not anymore, not now when I have you.”
