Page 100 of A Dance Macabre

“Like the very embodiment of the god of idolatry,” she says with a twinkle in her eyes. We fall silent for a few bated breaths, Mercy’s gaze brimming with affection.

Somehow ripping myself away from her enchantment, I reach for the gift. “I have a surprise for you.” I offer it to Mercy. “To my muse,” I say with a proud grin.

Her brow lifts in surprise. “For me?”

“Open it,” I urge.

Her smile returns, and I am enamored.

She rips the gold wrapping to reveal a thick leather-bound book inside. Letting the crinkle paper fall to the floor, her gaze jumps to mine and then back down as she inspects the simple black cover.

I’m jittery, but bite my tongue, trying not to rush her.

Finally, she opens the book, and her small gasp is the only thing I had hoped for in return.

I don’t bother to hide my pride. “Your photographs deserved a better home than a mere shoebox.” Referring to the ones she keeps of the dead.

Her green eyes turn glassy. Her smile watery.

“I love it …” Her gaze is serious and penetrating. She takes a small step toward me. “Thank you, husband” she finally professes, and my entire body feels bathed in light. She swallows hard, setting the book aside before approaching me, her hands slipping into mine, gaze ablaze. “Know that I am yours forever. Not even our gods can keep us apart. I am yours beyond this life, Wolfgang. Beyond death and the shadows of the eternal.” She kisses me softly, her arms wrapping around my waist, and whispers, “I love you.”

“Mercy,” I say, my voice aching and racked with need. “I am chained to you for all of eternity. Take my soul into yours and ruin me evermore.”

We stay embracing, hearts pulsing with the beat of our devotion, our interlocking gazes steadfast and yearning.

“Ready?” I finally ask her. She smiles and nods. “Then, let’s go my betrothed,” I say with a wide grin as I pick her up and twirl her around. Her shocked giggle is effervescent as she slaps my shoulder playfully. “Impish brute! Put me down,” she yelps.

My laughter rises from deep inside my chest as I settle her back on her feet. “Who’s calling who a brute, Crèvecoeur?” I shoot her a wink, lacing my fingers with hers as I lead her out the door. “Now come, I cannot bear another godsdamned second not calling you my wife.”

EPILOGUE

GEMINI

Ten weeks earlier

The smell of fear has a peculiar scent. It coats the night air, sickly sweet like a room full of funereal flowers. My legs and arms are pumping just as hard as my heart as I turn the corner of the maze, and the gleeful anticipation of catching my very own fool has me grinning like one too. The bellows and screams of fate met violently tickle my ear as I try to focus on the frightened sounds closest to me.

Quickening steps.

Harried breath.

Pushing myself against the hedge, the green foliage tickles my neck as I wait.

I can tell she’s close, I’ve been tracking her for the past ten minutes. She’ll appear around the corner soon enough. Slowing down my breaths with a few deep inhales, the smile on my lips never falters as I stay pressed against the maze wall.

I hear her stumble, swearing under her breath, the words racked with the same sweet fear permeating the air. Until,finally, she appears before me like a naive little gazelle under the moonlight. Her long brown hair is matted to her face, brown eyes wild and terror-stricken. She must have been running ever since the hunt began over half an hour ago.

Stepping out of the shadows, I snatch her by the front of her neck with a firm grip of the hand. She screams and tries to fight me off, twisting the upper half of her body away from me as if trying to bolt in the opposite direction. It only makes her lose her footing, and she pitches backward, making us both slam to the ground, me on top.

My greedy laugh only amplifies as she continues to fight me. I let out a few small tsks followed by a dark chuckle. “Don’t think you can escape me now.”

“Get off me, you monster!” she shrieks as I finally manage to pin her legs with mine, my hands slamming her wrists over her head.

Her threat is half-hearted.

We both know it.

But something about her words hanging between us makes me pause.

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