“It isn’t your responsibility to save the world. Let people save themselves.”
Raven let out an anguished sound. “If what you said about the relic is true, it’s my fault Bruno was hurt. If I’d been wearing it, no one would have bothered us.”
“It’s too late for regrets.” He reached for the doorknob once again.
“No, it isn’t.”
She approached him, standing a few feet away.
“You said I’d come to you and beg for help.” She lifted her chin. “I thought I was too proud to beg. But I’m not. I beg you for Bruno’s life and the life of his grandmother.”
William remained stubbornly fixed on the door.
“No.”
“Please, William. Please.”
He exhaled loudly. “As difficult as it may seem to you, we try not to draw attention to ourselves. You’re asking me to expose myself.”
“I’ll stay with you.”
William’s eyes flew to hers. “What?”
“If you heal Bruno and help his grandmother, I’ll stay with you. I’ll work on your art collection. I may even do . . . other things, eventually. I just ask that you don’t force me.”
William simply stared.
“Please,” she repeated. “Help them.”
William stood still so long, Raven worried he’d gone into a trance.
She wrung her hands, anxiety making her fidget.
His gaze moved to her hands and then to her face. “You’d live with me until I let you go? That could be decades from now.”
She nodded.
“I can’t help your neighbor. The risk is too great. But I could help the boy.”
“It has to be both.”
William gave her a hard look. “I’m not wasting my precious vintage collection on an old woman. I will, however, give something to him to save his life. But I won’t risk healing him completely.”
Raven contemplated her options, which were limited.
William’s expression began to shift. She worried he’d change his mind.
“All right.” Her shoulders slumped.
He walked toward her, his shoes crunching over the broken glass.
“You’d give up your life, your position at the gallery, in exchange for helping that ridiculous boy? He barely knows you.”
A single tear trailed down her cheek.
“I don’t want to see him die, knowing I could have done something to stop it.”
William huffed in exasperation. “He isn’t worthy of you. You said yourself he never noticed you until your appearance changed.”
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “You were never going to let me go. At least now, something good will come of it.”
He took her face in his hands.
“Do you understand what you are offering me?”
She closed her eyes. “Yes.”
For what seemed like a long time, he didn’t move.
“You shame me,” he murmured.
Her eyelids opened.
He brushed his lips across hers. “It’s been a long time since I felt shame.”
Uncertainty flashed across his features and Raven began to worry he’d retract his offer.
Impulsively, she reached up to kiss him.
He was surprised by her action, but welcomed it, his closed mouth moving over hers, unwilling to break their connection.
When he took over the kiss, she felt off balance, her hands gripping his biceps for support.
He propelled her backward, almost waltzing her across the room, until her back was against a bookshelf. And still he kept his lips on hers.
His hand slipped between her head and the shelf, cradling her. Protecting her.
She felt the movement for what it was and opened her mouth.
Instantly, his tongue began to play with her lips. He tasted and licked at an unhurried pace, but did not venture inside.
He trailed her jaw with his thumb, as he kissed and teased, tempting her to reciprocate.
She slipped her tongue into his mouth and he gently stroked it with his own, a deep sigh emanating from his chest.
He tasted different. His mouth was cool against her tongue, his movements leisurely but purposeful.
When she retreated, he kissed her lightly once again and pressed his forehead to hers.
He waited for her to open her eyes before he spoke. “Do you know how rare self-sacrifice is? How magnificent you are?”
Raven bowed her head. She was selling herself into slavery, not saving the world.
He toyed with her hair. “Spend the day enjoying my art collection. I’ll try to rejoin you tonight.”
She kept her eyes on the floor.
He kissed her once more before exiting the room.
Raven heard the door open and close.
She collapsed on the lowest rung of the staircase and placed her face in her hands. Her black hair fell forward, partially covering her arms and flowing over the shoulders of her raspberry-colored sundress.
She did not cry. But her heart ached.
She pushed aside thoughts of herself and her fate to think about her neighbor, Lidia.
She loved her. And she was very, very sick.
Raven exhaled in anguish.