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I felt no movement, so it was with a heavy heart that I opened my eyes. What I saw was that the world seemed to have decelerated into slow motion.
I saw Bo’s handsome face draw into a mask of determined fury as his mouth opened in a battle cry. I watched the muscles in his shoulders bunch as he hefted the feather in preparation for his final strike against Sebastian.
It was when I saw him lift one foot to move forward that I felt the burn of my legs coming back online. And just like that, I was on my feet and hurling myself toward the two as they prepared to col ide.
They were so focused on one another that neither man turned my way. Neither seemed to notice me coming until it was too late. Just as they both struck out with their sharp feathers, I turned my body sideways and slipped quickly between them.
I was facing Bo as the sword-like feathers entered my chest.
Just as it had happened in my vision, there was no sound and there was no pain. There was simply a heavy pressure as the feathers penetrated my flesh. Al other sensation was eclipsed by the relief that I felt.
Bo would live.
Of course, it was important that Sebastian die. About that, there was no question. But to me, knowing that Bo would live made it al worthwhile. I couldn’t fathom a world where he didn’t exist and, this way, I didn’t have to.
The rest played out like déjà vu. Bo backed away from me, a look of complete shock on his face. When I looked down, I knew what I’d see—a bloody spot on his chest where the stake had barely pierced him as it made its way through my body.
Although I knew I could not yet move, I stil strained to move toward Bo. I strained to fal into him, but I made no progress until hands at my shoulders pushed me from behind. And then I was final y in the place I longed to be more than anywhere else on the planet—in Bo’s arms.
Like I knew he would, Bo caught me and cradled me against his chest before lowering me gently to the ground. I watched his eyes for the emotions I knew I’d find—fear, desperation, devotion and, most of al , love.
Movement to my left caught my eye and I glanced over in time to see the bloody hole in Sebastian’s chest. Bo had been strong enough to force his feather through me and into Sebastian, piercing his heart with the deadly point. I couldn’t help but smile at the comical look of absolute shock on Sebastian’s face. He’d honestly thought he could beat God.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
“It can’t be. The Blood of Perfect Love,” he whispered as he stumbled back.
Bo and I watched together, along with every other eye in the room, as Sebastian’s golden skin turned black with decay. It seemed he was already tasting the fires of Hel . He dried up and wrinkled, his body slowly turning in on itself, just before he began to disintegrate.
Large, pieces of ash fel away from the form that was Sebastian, drifting weightlessly this way and that until they melted into the air like ink stains dissipating in water. I watched the spot where he’d stood, watched him disappear, until he had completely dissolved into the air around him.
Within minutes, there was nothing left but a hazy cloud of dark smoke that a slight breeze rushed in and carried away.
As the rush of defeating Sebastian wore off, I began to feel myself fading. I could feel the life draining from me so I looked back to Bo. I wanted his face to be the last thing I saw, not an empty space where evil had once resided.
It tore at my guts to see the panic and heartbreak in his eyes. Though I heard no sound, I could see his mouth moving as it formed one word over and over again.
No.
I let my tired eyes drift over the handsome planes of Bo’s face until I felt the image was burned into my brain. Satisfied that I would leave this world with his picture seared onto my heart like a brand, I let my lids drop, unable to fight the hand of death for a moment longer.
Little by little, everything faded from my consciousness—
thought, feeling, fear. Even Bo.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I opened my eyes to a blinding brightness. It was as if I’d blinked and found myself in a solid white room that al owed only sound to enter its hazy wal s.
Immediately, I was overcome with an incredible sense of euphoria and wel being. I had the vague feeling that I was missing something, or someone, but I couldn’t manage to real y care. I relaxed into the space and, with half an ear, I listened.
I heard Devon talking to Savannah, encouraging her to drink. I assumed that he was trying to save her life and, in my mind, I smiled at the depth of their love.
From another side, I could hear Heather screaming. She was begging someone not to take her daughter, bargaining with her own life in return.
I could hear al of this with crystal clarity, but I saw absolutely nothing until Lil y appeared in the room with me.
She was smiling and happy and whole. She walked closer to me and I felt her nearness like the warmth of the sun.
When she spoke, al I could hear was her voice.
Everything else was suddenly muted.
“Don’t worry about me, Ridley. He has explained everything to me. He even gave me a choice. If I want to stay with you, He’l let me.” Lil y’s face crumpled into a sad expression. “But Ridley, I don’t want to stay. I saw my mother. My real mother. She’s here with Him. I don’t want to go back there. I want to be with her.”
My heart could feel no disappointment, no worry, no pain or sorrow. It felt only acceptance. And happiness.
“You don’t have to worry about me anymore, Ridley. I’l be fine. I promise.”
She turned a dazzling smile on me and I couldn’t help thinking how mature she was for such a young age.
Lil y turned away, skipping off to the other side of the white room. I saw her reach out with her tiny hand and grasp a larger one. The hand was disembodied, as if someone from another room was reaching in to col ect Lil y.
Just before both the hand and Lil y disappeared, however, I saw a face appear. It was barely more than a brief glimpse, like a camera flash of the familiar. But that was al it took. I knew it instantly and my heart leapt.
It was my sister. She smiled—a bril iant smile, just like the one with which she’d gifted her daughter—and then both she and Lil y were gone.
Just like that, I was alone in the room again. There was complete silence for a few seconds before a familiar voice penetrated the sterility of the space.
It cried Please, God! Please! over and over and over.
The pain in the voice was so raw, so fresh, it tore at my heart.
And then I saw Bo.
He was clad in a short leather skirt cut into strips that reminded me of something a Roman soldier of old might wear. His calves were covered in a sheath of protective leather as wel . Other than that, he was nude but for his glorious, silver-white wings.
