Page 63 of Wraith

I held him as he went still, his body going cold.

And as the air shifted, heavy and electric, I smiled.

Because I knew what was coming next.

I felt his presence before I saw it.

The faint shimmer of something not quite real. A breath of cold air curling around the edges of the stage.

Then his form flickered into existence.

He was still kneeling, still dressed in that perfect suit, still tied with the ribbon I had placed around his wrist.

His eyes met mine, wide and filled with something I couldn’t quite name.

I reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear, my fingers brushing against his now-corporeal skin.

“There,” I whispered. “Now she’ll forgive you, too.”

Behind me, the darkness stirred.

And then, she spoke.

“I do.”

Thirty-Nine

Warning: On-screen Suicide

The theater had never looked morebeautiful.

I had spent hours cleaning, scrubbing every surface, sweeping away the dust and decay that had settled over the years. But no matter how hard I worked, the stain on the floor remained. Her stain.

I traced my fingers over the dried blood, the darkened wood beneath it. She was still here. This was where she had died. This was where she had been left alone, abandoned, forgotten.

But not anymore.

I laid down beside the stain, pressing my cheek against the floor, my breath slow, steady. I was here now. She wasn’t alone anymore.

I let out a breath, my fingers brushing the empty space where my coin used to be. I had given it to her. A piece of me, surrendered willingly. Now, I had nothing left to give but the rest of me.

You belonged with us, Lilith.

And I belonged with her.

I sat up, rolling my sleeves back. The blade gleamed under the dim theater lights, its edge catching on the air.

I wasn’t afraid. This was devotion.

With a deep breath, I pressed the blade to my wrist and dragged it across the skin. The pain was sharp, clean, and then warm as my blood spilled freely. Red met red. My blood mixed with hers, soaking into the wood, binding us together in a way that couldn’t be undone.

A second cut. Another. Deeper this time.

The cold kiss of the blade had been a relief, a sweet release from the agony of longing. The pain was fleeting, nothing compared to the ache of my heart, the emptiness that Lilith's absence had carved into my very soul.

As my lifeblood ebbed away, staining the stage with my devotion, I felt her. Her presence was like a cool breeze on a scorching day, a balm to the burning desire that had consumed me since the day I first laid eyes on her.

Her touch was gentle as she straddled me, her icy fingers tracing the lines of my face with a tenderness that belied her spectral form. "You have given me so much, my sweet Kael," she whispered, her breath a ghostly caress against my lips.

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