Page 114 of A Kiss From Death
He looks to be in worse shape than the last time I looked over at him, but I have no room to talk. His left eye has a blooming dark bruise around it. He looks to be missing a finger, and his leg looks like it was personally acquainted with a shark’s mouth.
Swaying my head forward, I realize I’m around halfway through my course. I just need to finish the second half before my legs give out, and it will all beover. This is the last test to prove myself before getting my revenge, and it’s by far the hardest to persevere through.
Not only does this test strength physically, but mentally as well. My head has never been so mangled and confused while my limbs scream for reprieve. How easy it would be to just call it quits and lie down in the grave of my own making.
It’s enticing to just let go. I can taste freedom on the tip of my tongue—freedom to finish this final test, freedom to let go of it all and finally live among the stars.
But which freedom calls to me more?
A familiar sensation caresses against my ear like an embrace, and I lean into it. I know my brain is playing tricks on me, but it feels so real, and I accept it all the same.
“It is not our time yet, Princess. You must fight for me.”
My brain is most definitely playing tricks on me now, because there’s no mistaking the sound of his warm, familiar voice as it dances across my skin.
“It’s me,love. You have to keep fighting.Promise me!” he pleads.
Theo?
“Is it really you?” I sob on a hopeful breath. My heart cannot take losing him again. That pain will permanently dig the grave where I will lie my heart to rest for good.
“I’m real. I’m here with you.”
Sobbing hysterically, I throw my hand up to muffle my cries. The faint sensation of a shadow still tickles the edge of my ear, and it all makes sense.
Hade.
The man who has been looking out for me since day one. The man who forced me to eat when he saw me withering away. The man who helped train me and never went easy on me. The man who spent his free time letting me scavenge the library for answers. The man who saved my life and forced the gods to keep me here when he could have easily let me bleed to death in my bed. The man who provided countless distractions from my self-imploding just to put a smile on my face and dull the endless ache within the walls of my chest.
It’s him. It’s always been him. His shadow caressing me provides an extension of himself, helping me get through this last hurdle. He’s using his death magic to let me speak to the one person Ineedin this moment, the reason why I’m doing all of this.
It’s really Theo.
“I miss you.” It comes out as a whisper.
“I miss you too, my love. Promise me,please. This is not your end.”
My lips tremble. “I promise.”
“You would have made the most beautiful bride.” His voice shines with pride, and it’s my undoing.
I’m unraveling at the seams, flaying and breaking but more whole than I have been in a long time. Another sob racks my body as I hold on to this moment for as long as possible.
“I don’t want to say goodbye.”
“I have never left your side. I’ve been with you through it all, and I couldn’t be prouder of the woman you are today. You are the key to it all, and now, you have to fight for me. Fight and thenlive. Truly live in every sense of the word. Words cannot describethe privilege of being yours for even just a blip in time. You are my greatest achievement, Nyxi. Always you.”
His voice grows fainter with each word, and I realize Hade is struggling to keep the door open between here and the veil beyond.
The final moments ofus.
“Love you now and in every life to follow,” I whisper into the tendril of shadow that now caresses my cheek, providing me strength.
“Love you now and in every life to follow,” he echoes back, but it sounds distant until his voice fades into the abyss.
The tendril scoops up a rogue tear sliding down my cheek, leaving love and strength in its wake, my anchor to lean on.
I can do this.
