Page 75 of Rhaz's Redemption
I glanced back at Zander who was looking off into the forest with a sad expression on his face. He liked Fatima, that much had been clear, and now she was out there with stranger. I couldn’t imagine what that must be like. She must be terrified. I sent a silent prayer up to the goddess and shifted closer to my mate. With any luck we’d find both women soon.
When I turned my attention back to our conversation, I found Beatrice staring up at me and studying my face.
“What is it?” I asked.
She squinted her eyes as if to inspect me closer and said, “You died today.”
“Yeah,” I ran my hand through my hair.
“And according to what you’ve told me, you’ve died many times before.”
“That’s also true.” I wasn’t sure where she was going with this.
“No more of that. I don’t ever want to experience that again.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “I have no intention of dying any time soon.”
“Good.” She gave me a curt nod of her head as if the issue of my ability to die and come back to life had been settled.
I didn’t tell her about how I’d seen our son in the afterlife. I didn’t want her to feel pressured to have a child before she wanted to. Bhaz is an impatient little soul. He pouted when I saw him at the gate with my mother and told him he couldn’t come with me yet.
I unconsciously rubbed the spot where my sire had stabbed me in the heart. It didn’t hurt anymore, but the emotional pain still lingered. Even after all we’d been through there had been a part of me that doubted he could go that far. To be fair, I never thought I’d be able to kill him, but when I saw him holding a knife to Beatrice’s neck again, I knew what I had to do.
Now he was gone, and I wasn’t at all sad about it. I’d grieved the loss of my sire long ago. Every day as a child when he refused to hug me, or spare a kind word, I grieved. By the time I’d become an adult I’d become numb.
That was in the past. I had Beatrice now, and soon we’d have Bhaz.
“Life is going to be different living here,” Beatrice commented as she looked around at our new surroundings. “There’s so much more freedom to walk around. It’s so safe.”
“Will you be okay here,” she turned her attention back to me. “Living back in the place where you have so many bad memories?”
“I have good memories here too,” I assured her. “And we’ll be making good memories together.”
“I’d like that,” the corner of her mouth turned up in a smile.
After dinner that night, Beatrice and I moved into an empty cabin that had been used by one of Dameron’s men. Beatrice spent an hour sweeping the entire thing until she was satisfied every inch had been cleaned, then she proceeded to throw the broom into the dwindling fire.
“There, we got all of the bad energy out,” she nodded to herself then headed back to the cabin where I set out the furs I’d gathered from the cabin we shared in the ravine. Favalor had agreed to keep the ladder secured to a tree at the top so if anyone were to find themselves in there ever again, they’d have a way to get out.
Over the next several days everyone in the village helped me dismantle Dameron’s cabin. Nothing went to waste, but the memory of his existence would forever be diminished to a few pieces of wood used to patch up a house, a stone bowl added to someone’s collection, and a few stone cups added to the communal collection.
It was a symbol that while he may be gone, the effects of his actions are still with us. But we can mold and shape those effects into something new. We could heal the wounds that he inflicted and move on to a brighter future.
Beatrice was by my side the entire time, being the strong rock I needed for the times I felt like crumbling.
By the end of the week everything of Dameron’s had been dispersed, and a full moon rose high above us in the sky like a bright new beginning.
Beatrice and I glowed for each other and this time, I did not deny her. This time, I carried her to the furs and begged to pleasure her like the goddess she is.
Chapter 31
Beatrice
The moment we started glowing for each other Rhaz threw me over his shoulder and ran toward our cozy little cottage.
He gently laid me on the furs and looked deep into my eyes as if he could see his entire future reflected there.
“Let me worship you tonight,” he pleaded. “Let me show you exactly how amazing you are.”
