Burnt Devotion (Imdalind, #5)(28)

Talon looked at me with all the love I had known from him, his eyes shrouded in passionate sympathy.

I stared at him, waiting for his answer, searching his eyes for some clue as to what he knew, but it was only understanding and love I saw as his hand came to rest against my cheek, as if the touch would somehow soften the blow.

I don’t think anything could.

“No. I have searched for her—I have followed the laugh—but she is not there. Her soul is still trapped.”

Her soul is still trapped.

The words dug into my heart as flash after flash of that night moved through me. Of Edmund’s torture and the way he cut her apart, locking her soul into that blood red blade.

I had vowed to Edmund only days before that I would release her soul from that blade. I had promised I would set her and my brother free from the extended torture I knew he had wrought on them.

Hearing it again, hearing the reminder of what had happened to her, only renewed my desire to live. I would hunt down the man who had destroyed so much and hurt so many.

My jaw clenched together, the powerful magic that had stayed dormant until now raging to life. My fingers burned with the energy.

“Rosy.” It sounded more like an anthem than a name. Perhaps it was now.

“Maybe you needed to live for more than Joclyn, for more than helping them escape. Maybe you needed to live to save that little girl and help her find peace.”

His voice was distant and hollow in my ears, even though I heard his words and agreed with every syllable he spoke.

I couldn’t look away from the empty courtyard. I couldn’t look away from the space that her laugh had echoed from. My fists were balled at my side as I stood, certain that, if Edmund was before me at that moment, I wouldn’t hesitate to destroy him.

The laugh came again, loud and joyous in my ears, and I flinched, the determination growing as my magic flared violently within me. I stepped forward on instinct, the tap of my shoes loud in my ears before I stepped back, doubting myself for the first time in the last few minutes.

“Don’t worry, Wynny. One day, you will be brave enough to follow that laugh.”

I looked at him at the statement and the confidence it held behind it. I knew it was true, and I knew I wanted to. I couldn’t, not yet. Not when I held so much guilt in my heart about what had happened. About what I had done.

“You and Thom, both. You will find peace. Happiness.” Talon spoke deeply, his voice breaking in an emotion that cut through me because of the jealousy and resentment I had never wanted him to feel.

I had chosen to leave Talon in whatever life awaited us beyond this one without me. I had also chosen to live, to be near a man who tamed me. A man I still desperately loved. And everyone knew it.

Thom.

The blood drained from my face at the realization, at the guilt that was taking over. I wanted to tell him not to worry, to beg him not to think that way, but I couldn’t, because it wouldn’t be true.

“I want you to always be happy, Wyn.” The words were a stab to the gut, the phrasing exactly what he had told me only moments before he had died, before I had chosen to live and left him for what I had thought would be forever.

“Be happy.” He leaned down and whispered the last words in my ear, his voice so soft and gentle it ran down my spine in a ripple of pleasure and relaxation that took all my confusion and guilt from before away.

I shivered at the touch, at the words, as the grey sky before us broke open, the golden light that had been smothered rushing through in ribbons as it escaped its confines. It bathed the courtyard in a yellow glow that made everything glitter and come alive. It was the same sanctuary we had sought so often before, creating a calmness that moved into me as I turned toward him. His fingers were soft as he ran them over my cheek, as his eyes pulled me into him.

“I am not sure how this works, if this is real or if it will be here again. For all I know, our T?uhas have been broken, and this is part of your delusions.” He laughed at his declaration, but I couldn’t. Not when everything felt so real, not when I didn’t want to lose this.

“I hope not.”

“So do I.” He sighed into my ear, his breath warm as it ran pleasurably over my skin. “But, if I’m not here the next time you find this place, know that I love you, that I adore you, and that I will see you again soon.”

“Talon…” I tried to stop him, tried to declare the same love and passion to him that he had for me, but before I could get more than one word out into the air between us, he stopped me with words that in some weird way meant more to me than any other.

“You gave all the love that I needed. So shy, like a child who had grown. You’re my lady.” He spoke them gently, lyrics to the band I had so foolishly worshiped for so long, the band he had playfully declared his distaste for since I first found them in the 70s. Regardless, he said them. He said them loud and clear as he looked into me and captured my heart yet again.

“Go save that beautiful girl of yours. I can’t wait to meet her.”

His words faded as the brilliance of the sun washed everything into a bright white glow. Warmth seeped into me before the T?uha faded into reality, leaving me gasping on my bed as I woke.

I blinked into the room I had spent most of the day before within, ripping apart and removing all traces of Talon and who I was. I let my eyes adjust to the dim light of what I could only assume to be dawn, the steadily increasing light glimmering over the ancient, wooden rafters above me.