See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(47)

“I remembered the vision I’d been born with. The vision of a Seer that was loved by many. She was a bright light in a time of darkness. She caused men to rise up in her wake, to fight for her, to battle the darkness and bring the light. She was, is, loved beyond compare.”

“Well, that wasn’t true at all. I just got ejected from the Council," I half yelped as another coal made its way toward my leg and the rune tried to fight back. I tried to look toward my aunt, whose face was covered in sweat as she pressed hard on the coal, fighting against the rune’s power.

“Izzy, look at me. Focus on me.” I turned back to Aberto, trying to erase the image of my glowing flesh.

“What, what did you remember?” I barely muttered.

“I remembered that I loved you. From my first breath.”

“Aberto.” I began only to have him shake his head.

“No, you mistake my meaning. I do not mean love in that way, although over the time I have known you that love has emerged. You know I will never press my feelings upon you. I know where your heart lies, and I will honor that until my dying breath. The love I speak of is of a different sort. Wherever you are, whatever nonsense you get yourself into, I knew the day I took my first breath that I would always be there. I would protect you, I would guard you, and I would keep you from harm. You have taught me what it is to be selfless.” Aberto’s eyes misted over as he continued. “Seeing you again reminded me of the selfish man I’d become. I knew that you needed me to be more than I’d become. Kennan and Conall are right to be angry with me. I should have interceded years ago with Cait. I was lost then. I was consumed by my hate and disgust with what the world had become. I didn’t see any light left in it, and then you came back. You reminded me that even in the darkness, there is still light. You saved me, Izzy.”

Those were the last words I heard before I lost the battle and succumbed to unconsciousness. The pain had become too unbearable, my mind gave in. Aberto’s words echoed through my mind as I drifted.





Chapter Twenty Four


Floating in the oblivion of the pain induced insta-coma, I began to remember Aberto more clearly. I’d been getting snippets of memories from my childhood, but I couldn’t quite remember who he was to me, or why I’d trusted him so implicitly. Then I saw it, the moment he’d just told me about. I watched as he approached me. I must have been about twenty-three, right after my Grams died.

I stood eyeing the fog warily as my mother yelled at me. Aberto approached me slowly, as if he were a wild animal testing the water for crocodiles. As he came closer, I tilted my head in recognition. Something in me remembered. He lifted his hand to my face slowly and began to speak.

“Hello again.” He smiled, sadly.

“Again?” I stood stock still, afraid to move a muscle.

“Sadly, and sadly the next time we meet you will not remember me either. You aren’t ready to be here yet, Izzy. Your time will come. Go now, live your life, for much will change soon.”

“What will change? Who are you?”

“Everything has its season," Aberto promised in his traditionally cryptic way.

And just like that, the memory swept away. I could see the exact moment he’d changed my memory. I began flipping back through my own memories, sifting them until I found every single one. At every stage of my life he had been there, watching over me. How was I ever going to repay him? More importantly, how could he have kept quiet about it all of this time while I was being such a snot to him?

As I lay, drifting in my subconscious, I wondered how I even felt about all of it. I knew that a part of me called out for Aberto. I could no longer deny that. But my heart belonged to Kennan in a way that it could never belong to anyone else. Kennan was my happily ever after. No matter what wayward feelings might have cropped up for Aberto, my heart was sure where it belonged. I still wasn’t even sure if the way I felt for Aberto was because of his soul residing inside of my own, or if it was some sort of affection held over from my childhood, or something else entirely. What I did know, was it wouldn’t change anything. No matter its source.

Grasping at reality, I pulled myself back to consciousness. I awoke with my skin feeling as though it were on fire. Panic began to build inside of me, until I heard Aberto’s voice again.

“You are almost done. Stay with me," he whispered.

“Okay," I breathed, as the tears began tracing pathways down my face once more.

“Just one more and we will be finished, Izzy,” my aunt’s reassuring voice promised.

As the coal made its way toward the last rune, my body felt as though it were ready to jump from the table and walk itself away. Whatever these runes were, their protections were fierce. The only thought tracing through my mind was that this whole mess better be worth it. If I came out of this room still feeling drawn and exhausted, but with new and improved scars, I would be furious.

“AAAHHHHH!” I screamed out, arching my back as they cauterized the last of the runes on my thigh.

“All done, Izzy.” Eleanor patted my arm gently.

“Kennan," I wheezed.

“I will get your Guardian.” Aberto stood to walk away, but I grabbed his hand to hold him in place.

“Thank you, for today, and for every other day that you have been there.” Tears welled in my eyes from the pain.