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But those words were not a compliment. Simply my damnation as he stood, dressing above me before mumbling about needing to get the log from Eden and practically running from the sleigh.
When I sat up, gathering the furs to cover my heated skin, I’d never felt so rejected and so alone in my whole life. How the hell could he flip that switch so suddenly?
My throat burned as the tears threatened to come. I knew better. I’d known this entire time and still leapt off that mountain with him. Chest tightening, I forced our memories, that lopsided grin and the way he looked at me from my mind.
I dressed quietly, embracing the sorrow as I waited for him to return, hoping he just needed to catch his breath. But minutes turned into hours as I stared into that magical ball of fire heating the dome, and I wondered what I should do.
Surely, he hadn’t run too far. He knew what would happen. But as I stared at that village in the distance, as the celebration slowly came to an end, I realized I’d been used. And I knew it. I’d set myself up for this moment, and I couldn’t even blame him for what I knew he wasn’t ready for.
I wished I could have run. Let him come back and find me gone. But I was stuck. If we got too far apart, Death would come for him. And no matter how upset I was, I wouldn’t wish that finality upon him. His soul was good, even his heart was good. Mark or no mark, he was everything. Until he wasn’t.
I didn’t notice the ominous hooded figure floating before me until the sleigh faded away.
Fuck.
18
“Fuck.”
Atlas’ voice was the first and last thing I wanted to hear. But it was time to pay the piper, and Future had come at last, her mysterious face still shadowed within the confines of her hood, shadows billowing beneath her. I only needed to endure whatever we would see or whatever her test would be, and then I could run. Far, far away and never look back.
“Marley?” I could feel those eyes on me as he whispered my name, the tiny sound echoing off the walls of an empty dark room.
“You need to focus on Future right now, Atlas. These next moments will determine your whole life.”
“We need to talk.”
“No. We don’t. I knew better.” I spun, searching for Future’s figure, but she was gone.
It took him three massive strides to get to me, to tower over me and make me feel so damn small. He opened his mouth to speak, but before a single word could leave those beautiful lips, a graveyard appeared around us. Each frosty headstone was lit dimly by the sliver of the moon nearly lost in the sky.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as Future’s robed shoulder brushed mine, a bony finger pointing straight ahead to five cloaked figures surrounding a freshly dug grave.
Witches held funeral pyres, but shifters buried their dead.
Atlas slowly peeled his gaze from me, walking over to stand next to himself, studying the aged faces of the others.
“Torryn? Tor’s not here.”
Without a word, Future’s finger lowered, pointing to the fresh grave. The ominous gesture raised the flesh on my arms as Atlas stumbled backward. He spun in a circle, staring at his friends and then beyond at the scattered graves. The empty space void of a crowd. Of anyone that Torryn might have built a life with. Because that was key. Future’s sickening point. Atlas would ultimately be responsible for Torryn’s loneliness.
My breaths grew short, a sharp pain growing in my chest.
“Bash? Why aren’t there more people here?”
Future-Atlas knelt beside the grave, digging a hand into the small dirt pile and tossing it over the body wrapped in furs at the bottom of the pit.
“All in. All out. I’ll see you there,” he whispered, his voice broken.
When he stood, I realized something was different. Off. He hadn’t been close enough to the others. Had distanced himself from them, choosing to stand on the opposite side of the grave, several paces away.
“No!” Atlas barked, walking over to shove his future self, though his hands did not make contact. “He was alone, you selfish bastard. Why couldn’t you see it?”
The Dark King’s voice covered Atlas’ as he dropped his handful of dirt and said, “To the man who held so many important roles in my life. To the friend and the father he’d been to me. To the brother and the council. May you rest in paradise. I’ll see you there.”
My heart wrenched in my chest hearing those gutting words.
“It shouldn’t be like this.” Queen Raven tucked her graying hair behind an ear as she released a handful of dirt. “I’m sorry you were alone that night. When you said you weren’t feeling well, I should have stayed.”
