Page 58 of Love and Death
It would be a lie, as her heart and soul are still painting him.
“It is beautiful here. I wish I could stay.”
This is true.
“I wish that too, but as it is, you will have to leave soon.”
“Why? Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong? No,” I laugh.
IwishI could call her refusal to let me worship her wrong. That I could bring back the me before her. The me that would not shy away from guilting her into giving him a taste of her.
A strange sense of shame comes over me at this.
Is this all I have ever been suitable for? My entire life, spent, chasing a desire that could never have satisfied my true hunger.
Thank the gods that my brother is not here to listen to these thoughts.
“Then why?”
My attention returns to the girl, and I harden my jaw for a moment before finally telling her the truth, “This place is coming apart, and when it does, so will I.”
“Then let me help you.”
“It is not quite that easy.”
“Why not? This is your dream, is it not? Surely, there must be a way.”
“Ah, if only this were a dream.”
A spike of fear pierces me.
“But you said—”
“Forgive me. I have misled you, Hazel. This,” I wave a hand to gesture at the space around us, “is my true mind, my psyche, my very soul laid bare. Everything here is as real a memory to me as it will be for you when we part.”
She pulls away, and I immediately feel the loss of her hand in mine like a dagger through my heart.
“Why?”
“I only wished to spend a little more time with you before it was too late.”
“Too late? What do you mean? What is happening?”
“Iamdying, my darling mortal.”
She shakes her head, the color of her eyes deepening even as they widen in disbelief.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because it is true ... there is another trapped herewith me, and my body—my soul cannot carry the weight of his much longer.”
“Then, he really is here, too?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand. How did this happen?”
