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“The dress suits you,” he says.
I glance down at the white summer dress with tiny red rosebuds that I’m wearing. “Uh, thanks. But…”
“It’s going to be okay, Lake.” He produces one red rose and sets it on the table before me. “Alwar will show. He made a vow to protect you with his life.”
“What do you mean? And why areyouhere?” I can’t remember, but I think I always expect Bard to come, but it’s Alwar who shows up.
“Alwar won’t turn his back on you, Lake. Not if you trust him.”
“What’s going to happen?” I ask.
“Just remember what I said.” Gabrio disappears into the crowded sidewalk filled with young Parisians dressed like they’re on a runway. Hats, handbags, heels, and fine suits.
I gasp and take a deep breath, my eyelids flying open. I’m on a bed inside a room with a towering stone ceiling. A fire crackles to my right, partially masking the sound of two male voices several feet away.
I slowly turn my head to find Alwar and the white wispy form of Bard having a heated discussion.
“But how is this possible?” Alwar asks. “It is unheard of.”
“I do not know, Alwar. I can only tell you what is—even if I do not understand it.”
“Oh shit.” I cough. “Am I seriously still alive?”A fucking disappointment.“I was hoping to skip the whole apocalypse bullshit.”
Alwar and Bard’s ghostly form turn in my direction.
“I will return later.” Alwar leaves the room.
Bard’s haunting face locks on me. My heart pounds with excitement. A part of me still loves him, even if I don’t fully understand what he’s become.
He suddenly appears inches from my face, staring me down like the ghost of a wild animal. He leans in closer and sniffs.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“I am trying to remember.”
“What?”
“Why I cannot stay away from you.” He sniffs me again.
I close my eyes for a long moment. “Maybe for the same reason I can’t let you go.”
“I feel you even when you are not near,” he says, sounding angry about it. “I feel how much you need me. You make me weak. You are bad for me, Lake.”
My heart sobs. His words confirm what I’ve felt all along; we’re connected. But he sees this—us—me—as a shortcoming.
I start to chuckle.
“What is so amusing?” he says, his voice deep and low, haunting.
“That’s the thing, Bard; it doesn’t matter what we do, we can’t seem to get away from each other. We always end up clawing our way back, whatever the consequences.” I think of him returning to River Wall Manor after Grandma Rain died. He knew it would be a death sentence. I think of how I decided to forgo any life of my own after college to return to River Wall. I always told myself it was to help Grandma Rain, but that was partly a lie. I needed to be near him, too.
“I do not know what to do with this,” he says. “Because I cannot be with you.”
“I know.” My eyes tear, and the moist streams trickle down to my temples. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll ever quit wanting you.”
I feel his ice-cold hand brush across my cheek. “Perhaps in the next life.”
I open my eyes and watch Bard fade through a wall.
