Page 63 of Incubus
“He could wake up.”
“He will,” Sasha said, starting to lean down toward Nathan again so that Nathan had to look up at him. “But it’s okay, Nathan. We have time.”
All Nathan wanted to do when Sasha started to go for his lips again was let it happen,letSasha kiss him, but at the back of hismind he was too haunted by the truth waiting behind the waning weeks.
“No," Nathan turned away, "I don’t have any time. I gave up my time to bring him back.” He choked on the words as they left him. Nathan had no regrets—he had to save Jim—but he hated his fate anyway.
“I know you did,” Sasha said, smiling serenely above Nathan. Then he was nudging Nathan’s head to look at Jim’s sleeping form again. Sasha’s voice was the barest whisper as he said, “That’s why it's all your fault.”
Jim’s eyes sprang open, slit and so unfairly cruel as if he was someone else, some other Jim, and yet Nathan knew it was his brother.
And Jim's Awakening would be all because of him.
Nathanfeltsonauseatedwhen he awoke that he could barely move without the urge to retch and almost ran for the bathroom. He took slow breaths until he felt well enough to check on Jim, not surprised to find his brother sleeping peacefully.
For now Jim was still Jim.
Still somewhat asleep, Nathan forgot that he was not in some nameless hotel, and called out for Walter. When his Spirit Guide did not appear, Nathan remembered that, in the Gatehouse, he was alone.
Like so many times before, Nathan’s dream urged him to escape the room, if only for some brief reprieve. He padded into the hallway in the sweats and T-shirt he had been sleeping in and debated heading outside to speak with Walter there.
The day had been a success as far as pinpointing several dark fae leads. None of the books they had gone through made any mention of how a dark sidhe might escape the Veil unsummoned, but they knew where they would be going in the morning. They had a plan in motion, even if Nathan still felt sick with the weight of his mark and the worsening of his nightmares. So it seemed rather unfair that none of it felt like victory.
Nathan stood in the hallway not sure where he wanted to go. He heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to see Alex carrying a pile of books to be reshelved in the library.
“Hey,” Nathan said. “Don’t you ever sleep?”
“Eventually,” Alex said. She reached him with her pile of books. Her hair was undone and wavy around her shoulders, and she had thrown a grey cardigan over her violet shirt, painting a picture almost like a librarian in the stacks. “Can’t sleep?”
“Dreams aren’t my strong suit lately,” Nathan admitted. “So by all means, feel free to take advantage of Jim. I left him all alone and defenseless in there.”
Alex giggled, keeping her voice light so as not to disturb any sleeping patrons. “As tempting as that is, I have work to do. And you never know when a late caller might come through. Do you need anything?”
“I’m…not really sure yet.”
“Well, feel free to raid the kitchen.” Alex smiled brightly. “I’m expecting to at least get you boys to stay for breakfast before you run off.” She shuffled on down the hallway toward the library that was admitting the only real light on the otherwise dark upstairs landing.
Nathan debated taking up her offer. A late night snack might actually hit the spot.
“May the road always rise to meet you.”
The melody came softly, not loud enough that anyone in the other rooms would be able to hear but, because the hallway was quiet and it was later in the night, Nathan heard Sasha’s voice unmistakably. He lifted his head toward Sasha’s door to listen, amazed that the incubus was actually...singing.
Chapter 24
“Maytheroadalwaysrise to meet you. May the wind be ever at your back.”
Suddenly, Nathan remembered what Sasha had told him when he asked if the incubus played the guitar: “I don’t suck. Better at singing.”
Nathan perked his ears to hear more, moving past his and Jim’s door without much thought to stand outside Sasha’s.
“May the rain fall softly upon you, and the sun shine warm upon your face.”
Nathan knew this song. He recognized it as a version of the Old Irish Prayer, but he knew the melody too. He didn’t know from where at first, but he knew he had heard it somewhere before. Hearing it on Sasha’s lips, in Sasha’s voice, made it seem like a dream he had not yet woken up from.
“And true be the hearts that love you, may the hands of friends be ever near. And until we meet again…”
Nathan pressed a hand to the door. He was home. He and Jim were four years old and it was their mother singing. Her voice was so beautiful, sweet and soft. She was holding Nathan, and Jim was snuggled up on their father’s lap, both of them listening.
