Warrior Witch (The Malediction Trilogy #3)(111)

Smiling, I opened the door.

Thirty years had come and gone, but even though illness had rendered her frail, she was as beautiful as she’d been at seventeen. Her crimson hair had grown long again, and it hung in a thick braid over one shoulder. The scar on her cheek had faded into a thin white line that was fiercely lovely, and the faint creases near her eyes spoke more to character than age. But none of that mattered, because her blue gaze was filled with pain, fluid rattling in her lungs, and her heartbeat weak. It would not be long now.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered as I sat next to her on the bed, taking her hand. “But I was starting to think you wouldn’t come. That you didn’t…”

Twin tears rolled down her cheeks, and mindful of her fragile state, I pulled her close. “I told you once that I’d love you until the day I took my last breath, and that is true now as it was then. But how did you know…”

“He told me,” she said, her breath ragged against my throat. “When Alex was born, he told me that I’d see you in the end.”

And how many times had I accused my uncle of being heartless and cruel?

A rash of coughing took her, and I held her slender form through it, fear building in my chest as her heart stuttered. She was dying. Cécile was dying.

“It hurts.”

My eyes burned. “It will be over soon.”

Cécile took one last breath, and then her heart stilled.

The pain was incredible, like I was being gutted, my chest ripped in two. The silken thread of our bond stretched and frayed, but I clung to it, held on. Refused to let go.

Please, was the only thought in my mind as I tore open a path to Arcadia and stepped through.





Chapter Sixty-Six





Cécile





The air was warm and humid with the taste of a lurking summer storm. The sweet scent of some unknown flowers filled my nose, and against my cheek, I felt the press of a linen shirt, the skin beneath burning with unnatural heat. And a heartbeat in my ear that was as steady and familiar as my own.

“A dream,” I whispered, because I’d lost track over the years of how often I’d lost myself in his arms, only to be torn awake and find myself in an empty bed.

“Not a dream,” Tristan said, and I lifted my face to gaze into silver eyes, his face exquisite and unchanged.

“Then I’m…?”

He nodded, the hand pressing against the small of my back warm through the silk of my sapphire dress. My body, I noticed, had reverted to a state it had not seen in decades. You are as you imagine yourself to be.

“How?” I asked, casting my gaze around at the lush green of Arcadia, the landscape shifting and changing and full of strange life. “I’m human.” And I knew better than most how much iron ran through my veins.

“A human body cannot pass between worlds,” he said, “but a human soul, it turns out, suffers no such impediments. That’s how my uncle was able to bring you here before, however temporarily.”

“Much can happen in the time between two heartbeats,” I said, repeating what the King of Summer had told me while we stood in the heart of Winter.

“Or when a heart beats no more,” Tristan said. “Our bond was what kept your soul from going… elsewhere, but–” He cleared his throat, looking over my head. “It could be broken, if that’s what you want.”

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him, drinking in the taste of him even as I banished that foolish thought from his mind. I could’ve kissed him for another lifetime and still not had my fill, but I lowered down onto the soles of my feet. “Is Marc…”

He shook his head, and even though the wound was old, the pain seemed fresh again. “But the twins, Martin, Roland – they’re here and well. I’ll take you to see them.”

I bit the insides of my cheeks, afraid to ask my next question, but knowing that I had to. “How long can I stay?”

A smile curved his cheeks. “Forever.”

My eyes burned and I shook my head slowly, letting the sweetness of that singular word sink into my heart. “Why didn’t you bring me sooner?”

He tucked a curl of hair behind my ear, then cupped my cheek with his palm. “Would you have wanted to miss it?”

Instinctively, I knew what he meant: my life. All the places I’d gone, things I’d seen, people I’d known and loved. A thousand accomplishments, mine and those of my family and friends. My son, growing from a tiny baby into a man of whom I was immensely proud. My life, which should’ve been our life together. “No,” I whispered. “I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a minute of it. And I’m so sorry you had to.”

“I didn’t.” He kissed my lips. “At least, not entirely. There are some advantages of being able to see all.”

My chest ached as I imagined him watching all those long years. The depth of his love and loyalty to me, to our son, to our friends, that he’d not turned away and forgotten. “I wish they knew. Alex… He’ll take my death hard.” And though he was a man grown, it was hard for me to accept leaving him.

“Sabine suspects,” Tristan said. “She’ll know what to say. To him, and to the rest of them.”

It was as though the last of my burdens had been lifted, and I took a deep breath and savored it, knowing that I’d done all I could for those I loved best. For those I’d left behind. Their lives were theirs to live. As was mine. “Tristan…”