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“Well, we all need to process this information and decide for ourselves what our fate will be.” Evan shoves his hands in his pockets and walks back to the house.
Kurtis frowns. “I suppose I should thank you. I finally know what’s wrong with me, but it doesn’t make what I must do any easier.” He walks off before I can think of a proper reply.
Dante hugs me, and we don’t speak for a long while. My eyes keep gravitating to where Kurtis and Evan walked away, wondering if I can do more for them.
“I want you to be the one who reaps me,” Dante says, breaking the silence between us. “I want you to be the last thing I experience in this life.”
“What?No!” I push out of his embrace. “Aren’t you going to fightwithme?”
“How?”
“I didn’t want to tell you before we talked with the guys, but when I hinted this morning about you maybe coming with me…” I pause, since I don’t know what’s possible. “Death didn’t make any promises, but he weighed your soul last night. I asked if you could come with me, and he said he would consider having you work for him if you could balance your light and dark. I just looked at your soul—”
Excitedly, he asks, “And?”
“You need just a bit more light to be balanced.”
“How can I gain more light before it’s time to break my contract?” Dante deflates. “I can’t, not when this job actively drains it. Karma is due in a few days. If it’s my end…”
I sigh. “I don’t know if we have enough time.” I grasp his chin to make him look at me and hear my words. “But a lot of the light I sensed was new.”
He’s contemplative, and his eyes widen. “Because ofyou.”
“I can’t take credit. You had to shift whatever was going on inside you.”
“Fine, maybe, but…” Dante grins widely. “You triggered me into wanting to be a better person.”
“Were youthathorrible before?” I ask.
His shoulders slump. “I wasn’t necessarily good. In my life before, I would blow off friends and lovers and use people to feel better about myself.” Then he quickly adds, “But I don’t intend to be that person anymore.”
“Are you sure you aren’t using me without meaning to?” I step back. “Fix the broken woman and make yourself the hero?”
“I’d like to think we arehealingtogether.” He pauses, and I watch him think. “I don’t believe I’m trying to be a hero or fix you. I’m trying to be happy and be someone worthy of you. Worthy of love.”
The words ring true, and I relax.
“But I need to do some soul searching and see what’s left in here.” He taps his chest. “I need to discover what kind of person I truly am and what path I should take.”
27
THE CHOICE
As we return to the house, Greta and a team of housekeepers I’ve never seen before are polishing every surface. The barracks are always clean and immaculate, but now, it shines so brightly it’s almost hard to look at anything directly.
Dante sighs as we pass the busy workers.
We head upstairs and stop in front of our rooms.
“No matter what happens—” I hold his hand to keep him with me for as long as I can. “I want to thank you for everything. For caring about me, for helping me see how my past messed up my perception of myself, and for the wonderful time last night. It was probably the best evening of my life.”
“Probably?” He grins playfully.
“Itwas,” I say, rolling my eyes. “You know exactly how much pleasure you gave my body and heart.”
“Yeah. Mine too.” Dante gives me a peck on my forehead.
Even though I’m not much of a hugger, I wrap my arms around him in a rib-crushing embrace. He returns the hug in kind, and then we slowly part ways to enter our separate rooms.
