Page 93 of Love and Death
Not with her.
The moonlight shivers across the garden, flickering softly around us as the world trembles beneath our feet, and I watch in silence as the shadows take form behind her—and out steps Death, a thread darker than a starless night floating between them.
Neither speaks a word, and yet she feels his presence, just as I have felt hers, and turns from me to face him. He takes her in his arms, as I could only dream of, and I feel their very souls rejoice.
The moment is steeped in an eternity of pain, and yet, it frees me.
It would always be him. Always be Death she chooses, and I know now that it always should be.
I have felt what she means to him, lived his memories … known the depths of his sacrifice.
He would endure a thousand torments just to make her smile, to hear her soul sing once again, to love her as only he can.
Now, I am the last thing standing between them ... And I know what I must do for her.
For love.
Even if this means the end for me, I will not weep for myself.
I will not fade in fury, but in peace, knowing that I have given her everything and claimed nothing.
And, in this way, I can only hope to earn a place in her heart. By choice, she will be the last thing that I see, and I will love her all the more for it.
Reaching down, the garden now bursting with light and life, I tear the silver thread from my chest.
28
HAZEL
I’m pulled back to the mountaintop in a flurry of emotion, color, and chaos.
Hermes catches me before I can fall to the ground, my body shaken from the strange, overwhelming experience, and I squint up at Hypnos, the first light of the rising dawn behind him and the altar where …
I scramble to my feet with Hermes’ help to run over to it.
For a moment, the two gods remain perfectly still.
And then, Death’s chest rises and falls.
“He’s alive,” I gasp, hardly daring to speak the words, as I watch him take another small breath. And, for one beautiful moment, I think it’s all finally over.
“Then, you have made your choice?”
“My choice?” I ask, tearing my eyes away from Death to look up at Hypnos.
“Which soul to save. You have made your choice?”
“What? I don’t understand.”
The looming god is suddenly too close as he leansover the altar.
“In the dream, which soul did you sever?”
“Sever? I didn’t sever anything. I saw Eros, and then I saw Death—”
Eros’ body suddenly arches as if writhing in pain, and Death goes still again.
“Of all the nightmares, mortal. Their souls are in torment; they are still bound to each other. You must choose one!”
