AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"He wants you dead, Lillith. If it means the judges finding out he has a massive debt and is practically broke, he will have to move off the island. He is taking on debt fast."
"But how?"
"The races, Lillith. I bankrupted him, making him bet so I could get to you. Your racing bankrupted him further. He likes to bet on the mainland."
"The black box."
"Yes, when he started betting, I ensured he lost."
"Why?"
"He killed my parents, Lillith. You were collateral damage. At the time, I needed an heir to continue the plan and save the people, but I never knew I would–"
"Why?" she repeats, pulling away. She looks nervously at my gun and then back at me. Her bottom lip quivers. "Are you going to kill me? Is that why you brought a gun?"
"No, I'm going to save you."
How could you fall in love with someone who wanted you dead? Someone like me who would do anything because they want to be loved so bad they believe in the one who could paint you a clear sky with beautiful stars telling me about the moon, only to ruin it with a storm.
I glance up at his hand while he stands. "I'm going to save you, Lillith," he repeats. You're my wife and son's mother, and nothing else matters." He looks over and sees Utheans lighting up the streets. "Let's go home. Our son is waiting for us."
I swallow and place my hand in his, watching his fingers entwine with mine. I allow my life to be in his hands, hoping I survive.
"Is everything alright?" Agnes asks with an edge of concern when I barge into Niro's bedroom. Not caring that he is fast asleep, I press a soft kiss in his hair.
"Everything is fine, Agnes. She just misses him."
It's not a total lie; I do miss Niro. He is the air that I breathe. The reason. The purpose. I'm not used to being away from him. I took the chance tonight because, through it all, I trust Agnes. I'm unsure about my life, but I know Killian wouldn't hurt Niro. Deep down inside, I always knew that Niro was safe with Killian. It was my life that I was worried about. This whole time, my life hung in the balance.
After holding Niro for a while, I walk into my old bedroom but pull up short when I see Killian on the bed with one of my romance novels.
"Our love is the most beautiful thing to witness when the flames we light inside each other burn together. It's what I love the most about us, but the fire is you."
"What are you doing?" I ask, watching him place the book in the empty slot next to the others. "You read them?"
"I did." He looks up. His prosthetic eye shifts in different colors from the light. "I had a lot of time on my hands. I thought it would be good. It helped with the pain of losing you. It was an escape when nothing else mattered." He slides his fingers over the spines. "So many ways to fall in love, and I wondered which was your favorite way… to fall."
"What are you talking about?"
"I wanted to know the answer to that question. Every night, I fell asleep reading the words your eyes read, wondering…which one was my wife's favorite. And if I got a second chance, I would peel your layers like the pages in a book until I found it." He swallows. "The way I could convince you to fall in love with me the way I did with you."
I step closer to the foot of the bed, speechless, taking in the room and imagining him reading the pages of my favorite books so he can feel me when I'm not there. My vision blurs when my eyes fill with tears. When he pulls the pillow from the other side and holds it under his chin. "It was on the sixty-seventh day that the smell of your hair left the pillow. I thought I died that day, but Agnes…” He wipes the tears falling from the side of his face. "She handed meShannafrom your shelf and said it was one of your favorites. I read it almost every night, thinking of you. I read the others, but when I saw you on that bike, something told me to follow you. I talked to this crazy lady telling me some prophecy, but when I saw you, my life was returned. My second chance."
"You saw the fortune teller?"
He nods. "Yeah, the blind one who isn't really blind."
"That is the one."
I peel my suit off slowly. Our eyes meet, and he asks, "What are you doing?"
"Peeling off a layer."
He grins. "Teasing me will get you into trouble, Mrs. Cross."
"I want to take a shower," I tell him, standing completely naked.
After our shower, he pushes me so my back is on the bed. His lips crush mine. Our tongues get lost in each other. His hands cradle the back of my head, holding me. Our breaths mingle between us. His words replaying in my mind when he told me he loved me. The days he spent reading my favorite novels were worth more to me than any painting he could have bought me. It was a connection like no other. A synching between souls. Something so simple meant the most in my eyes, like the time he spent thinking of me. Thinking of us. The pages he read only because I read them like a looking glass into someone's soul where their escape was your escape from reality.
