“I did, and don’t look at me like that. I know now it was pretty damn stupid.” She held her arms out indicating her as a whole. “Dead, remember? Next time I know not to let the boogeyman into my house.”
I blanched, because, for the moment, I had almost forgotten that she was dead. I shook my head, but refrained from telling her just how stupid it had been. Adam stood up from where he’d been sitting with his father a few plots away, and walked over to us.
“My turn, Syn. She only has a few hours left,” he whispered, not meeting my eyes. As if he felt guilt for wanting to be with her. I didn’t feel anything, except regret that he’d only have tonight with her. I wished for them to have forever, but life didn’t often give us what we wanted.
I stood up and shook the dirt off the leather pants. “Larissa,” I said, with tightness inside my throat that told her how hard it was for me to make words come, knowing this would be the final goodbye.
She wrapped her arms around me, and buried her head against my shoulder before whispering against my ear. “Be good to him, and when you’ve saved their world, find Ryder, and love him if you can’t be happy with Adam. Be happy, and remember that this wasn’t your fault. I never blamed you for my death. I’ll see you soon, Synthia. We will meet again. Destiny has a plan for us, it’s not our job to know what it is; we just have to follow it and trust that destiny will put us where we need to be.”
I stepped back and smiled, even though I was puzzled over her cryptic message. The Fae didn’t believe in divorce, and while they took other lovers, that wasn’t something I would ever do to Adam, not even for Ryder. I wouldn’t go from lover to lover. I smiled at the way Adam was trying to make this better with the proposal of the handfasting. But if the year and a day was up and I hadn’t produced the child that everyone was looking for—then I’d be bound to Adam for good as we waited for me to become fertile again in ten to fifteen years. I took a deep breath, wondering if Kier would allow Adam’s suggestion to come to pass. Larissa smiled and shook her head.
“Just be happy, or I’ll stick around and haunt your ass. In time, even this will make sense, Synthia. You’ll see. I promise.”
I started to turn away, but Adam stopped me as Larissa gave us some privacy. His eyes showed a hint of worry in them. “Is this okay? Technically, we’re together now, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Adam, you only have tonight with her. She will go back to being dead when the sun comes up. So, this is me, telling you to do what you need to for closure. We will be together when we enter Faery. Until then, we are just friends preparing for what has to be done. You have this night with Larissa, and I’m going to say goodbye to Ryder.” I smiled as he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around me.
“Thank you,” he said and stepped away. He smiled and turned to Larissa. “Most people don’t get to say goodbye.”
“No, they don’t. I suggest you use every second of it.”
~~~~~~~~*
Leaving them together at the cemetery was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Knowing I’d never see her again was torture. I knew they needed time; Adam had loved her, and he needed the closure as well.
I wasn’t surprised to find Vlad behind the bar when Savlian brought me back to the club. It was well after last call, so I wasn’t surprised that all of the human partiers had cleared the club for the night. The only remaining people were Fae that I knew to be loyal to Ryder. I walked over and sat on one of the many stools at the bar, and said nothing, even as Adrian quietly walked over and sat beside me.
“I heard Alden sold his soul to raise Larissa tonight for you,” he remarked softly.
“My wedding gift from Ristan. I get Alden and Adam gets Larissa for a night to say goodbye.”
Adrian whistled. “That’s…well,” he choked on his words, and I laughed. Not because I thought it was funny that he couldn’t get the words out, but because he had no room to talk.
“Yes, Adam is probably having sex with a ghost.”
“You know what they say about the dead?” he asked.
“No, what do they say?” I asked, perking up and then deflated when he continued.
“Once you go dead, you never go back.”
“That didn’t even rhyme,” I pointed out, smirking.
“It sounded better in my head,” he offered with a grin.
“I’m sure it did.” We both laughed until tears formed in our eyes.
“Did she say anything about me?” he asked as his hand played with the glass on the bar.
“She said you sucked,” I smiled as he snorted and tilted his head. “No, she said to tell you to behave. And that she loved you, even though you were an ass for leaving us.”
“So, you and Adam huh?” he asked, changing the subject.
“There is no way I can see out of it. So yes, I’ll marry Adam soon and become his baby making machine. I can’t let Faery die and have all of its creatures come here. She made me promise to keep this world safe.”