Page 48 of The Unseelie Wish
“I hate it.” The frown on his face was comical. It was almost childish. “It’s stupid. And very unlike me.”
“I’d say you’d get used to it, but I’m not sure we’ll have the time.” Now her own mood was joining his in the gutter. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to do.”
Izael shut his eyes. “Tomorrow, we will spend the day here on Earth. We will go to the club, and you will finally sing for me. We will return to Tir n’Aill once the night is well and truly upon us, and…I will take you to the Maze. You shall use your wish to love me, and your soul will become mine. Then…we shall see how powerful you truly are.”
She had one day to live. It was technically cutting their timeline a day short, but she didn’t really want to linger, either. She figured it was like going in for major surgery—sometimes the wait was worse than the moment itself. “What if Valroy just captures me instead of kills me? We can’t guarantee he’ll be so pissed he takes me out instead.”
“If I own your soul, I can stop your heart. I will make sure you do not live long enough to become his weapon.”
“Wait—you what?” Gritting her teeth, she slapped his chest with her hand with a crack.
“Ow!” He rubbed his chest where she’d struck him. “What was that for?”
“You keep not telling me these things! Were you going to ever tell me that if you owned my soul, you could kill me?” She flopped onto her back next to him.
“It wasn’t important until now?” He rolled onto his side to face her. “I wasn’t ever going to use that ‘feature’ until now.”
“I swear to fuck, if we weren’t about to die, you’d drive me insane.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “Is there anything else you’re forgetting to tell me?”
“I am positive there’s plenty.”
The glare she shot him could have withered a plant.
“I am very old, and these magics are very complicated.” He huffed indignantly, though she could tell he was mostly playing. “And humans are very stupid.”
“I am not stupid.”
“You are when it comes to fae magic.”
“You should thank the gods every damn day you wake up that you’re pretty.”
“I do, in fact.” The playful grin that found its way onto his face was a perfect reminder of exactly how attractive he was. “And that was a lovely compliment.”
“It was also an insult.”
“Meh.” With a dismissive half-shrug, he pulled her back to him like a teddy bear and snuggled close. “Now, shush. Sleep. Tomorrow will be a very long day. And tomorrow night will be even longer.”
There was sense in that advice. There really was. But she found it hard to sleep, knowing it would be the last time she ever would. Until I sleep forever, at any rate.
To sleep, perchance to dream.
She never spent much of her time dwelling on what she thought or hoped an afterlife might be like. Despite her pagan leanings, she always kind of found wondering if there was a Heaven or Hell, or Elysium, or wherever—kind of a waste of time. There was no telling where she’d go, if anywhere, or if the void would simply claim her.
Now, though, she was very much interested in pondering the question.
Where would she go when she died?
Where would he?
The fae were probably recycled into nature—their life forces returned to Tir n’Aill and the magic of that world. Would she go with him? Would she even know she had?
She sniffed quietly, trying to keep from waking Izael. The melancholy was getting to her.
Izael began to hum a tune, revealing that he was still very much awake. It was a sad song, a minor key, and sounded like some ancient Celtic piece. It was a forlorn lullaby.
Letting out a wavering breath, she snuggled closer to him as he hummed the tune, quietly soothing her. She could feel the sound through his chest against her back. Somehow, despite its sadness, the song was comforting.
The last thing she registered was a kiss against the back of her head, and his quiet voice a moment later.