Page 123 of A Kiss From Death
The riddle.
Where three meet, one left behind. A sacrifice greater than mankind. A piercing cry from the one black eye. For that shall reset time before the ultimate crime.
“Hade?” I whisper.
“Yes, dream?” He takes a hesitant step, as if trying not to frighten me but needing to be closer.
“Remind me what you nicknamed the sword you gifted me?”
“Black eye.”
I blanch.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper defeatedly. Hade takes another hesitant step towards me, and I raise my heavy eyes up to meet his. He stands inches from me, and I can tell his heart is racing inside his chest. He looks devastated but also more complete than I’ve ever witnessed. He looks lost but hopeful. He looks like he’s seen a ghost.
“Did you know?”
“No,” he rushes out then nibbles his lip nervously. “Yes. Well, no, not entirely.” Running his hands through his hair, he sighs. “At first, no. When I arrived at your house to collect you for the Crucible, I had no idea who you were. I was so offput and negative towards you because I felt this uncontrollable pull to wrap you in my arms and never let you go. I didn’t understand why. So I was mean, trying to push you away because being around you was unbearable. A piece of my heart has always felt like it’s been missing, a piece of me ripped away, but I could never understand why.” Dropping his forehead to mine, he breathes a sigh. “Now, I know. The missing piece was you. It’s always been you, Nyxi. It seems nothing can keep us apart.”
I nod, knowing the feeling. From the beginning, I never should have felt a pull towards him, not with Theo so presentin my mind, but I did. I didn’t understand it, but he felt familiar. He felt like home, same as Theo.
“I tried to keep my distance, get you a new guard. I couldn’t control my need to take care of you, be near you,protectyou. I couldn’t stand the thought of another man looking at you, let alone talking to you. The night Aeron tried to assassinate you, I had this feeling pulling me towards your room. It’s like the bond knew you needed me, and so it called me.”
Gripping the back of my neck, he rubs his thumb down to my pulse point and presses lightly. “I’ve never felt such rage as the scene I walked in on. Seeing him over your bleeding dying body…I snapped. I pride myself for my control, but that night, all I saw was black, death, and revenge. I was physically shaking to control my power so I wouldn’t blow the whole damn castle to shreds, you included. My only regret is that I didn’t draw out his torture. Death was too easy for the things he made me feel, for the things he did to you.”
Pulling back, he pins me with his haunted gaze. “That night, when you asked me to join you in the bath, my whole world flipped upside down. When I saw your back, I wasn’t only haunted by the burns etched into your perfect skin. I also saw your Eternal mark that matched the twin one on my back. I didn’t understand how it was possible. You had no idea it was there, but I could see it all the same. You just broke the glamour and found your memories by regaining your magic.”
His next words come out pained as he presses our foreheads closer. “I still had no memories of you, but I knew you were my Eternal, my one true match in life, and you had no idea. It pained me, but I knew I couldn’t tell you. You wouldn’t understand, especially if you couldn’t see your own mark. I didn’t want to push you, not with everything you had been through with Theo, how heavily you loved and missed him.
“I knew I would never be able to fill the shoes he left behind. You talked about him as if he was the only important thing you’veever had in your life. The more you told me about him, the more I fell in love with him too, with the way he treated and loved you. I died inside when I found out who you were to me, knowing I couldn’t tell you. I most likely would never have you the way my soul begged for. You may never feel the same way back.”
His words come out hurt but hold no malice. This bond between us runs deep within our blood, our very souls. There is no escaping it. There is no avoiding it. There is no forgetting it.
“You once told me you never needed anyone in life,” I whisper softly.
He grunts, a soft laugh following. “I am a liar, Nyxi. But if I am a liar, that makes you a thief, because you stole my heart from the moment those beautiful eyes landed on me. I knew that because you didn’t have magic, the bond would never snap in place for you. You were still heart-shatteringly glamoured, and there was nothing in the world I could do about it. I screamed inside for you to see me, the real me.”
He pulls back to stare me dead in the eyes. “So I knew right then and there, with every inch of my trapped and tortured soul, I had to make you see me for me without the bond, as long as you would allow your heart to be vulnerable again. I had to make you fall in love with me for me, not the bond aiding you along the way. I would have burned the entire castle to the ground to gain an ounce of your attention, to feed my starved soul with your presence.”
Cupping his cheek softly, I lean into him. “Little did you know, you were chasing a love that was already there. You were trying to get me to fallbackin love with you.”
“And did it work, dream?” he says hopefully.
“You tell me.” Leaning forward, I crash my lips to his. He scoops me up and drags our bodies together, and it feels like running home again. It’s a kiss full of lost time and love. It’s an answer and a plea wrapped in one. His lips don’t devour mine; instead,they take their time memorizing every inch of lost skin pressed to his. They eagerly welcome me home, where I’ve always belonged.
Our bodies finally part but stay connected by our souls. Shifting my tear-filled eyes up at him, I ask, “Was any of it real?” By the expression on his face, he knows exactly what I’m referencing. It feels like this man has his hand wrapped around my heart, able to burst it with his next words.
“Yes, of course, it was real. The love you two shared was raw and powerful. You may have not spent all your years growing up with Theo like you thought, but the love you shared is as real as the love I have for you. Immense, endless, unbreakable.”
I drag one wobbly lip between my teeth, hanging on to every word this man preaches, mending my heart back together piece by piece. “Are you upset at me?”
Pulling me in for a hug, he whispers into my hair, “I could never be upset with you, love. I’m so thankful you had Theo to love and look after you in my absence. The only thing keeping me sane after learning I’ve missed out on four years with you is knowing Theo was there taking care of you. My life will forever be indebted to him for keeping the single most important thing to me alive and loved.”
I press my face into his warm chest, trembling in his hold as silent tears stream down my face. It’s a bittersweet feeling, knowing I get one love but having to lose the other in the process. Except, it isn’t lost. It will always live on in my heart, traveling alongside me.
“Hade?” I whisper. He pulls away just an inch so our faces are inches from touching, so much yearning and hope shining on his face. “I love you.”
The smile that takes over his face could level the entire continent. He takes a deep breath to respond when a knock thuds on the other side of my door.
