Turning, she tried not to look in the mirror again, but her eyes were drawn toward it once more. She almost drove her fist into the glass to destroy the image and the reminder it represented, but the glass was only showing her the truth, and she couldn’t smash every mirror she came across until her hair grew back. Even after her hair returned, the memories would continue to haunt her.
Pulling the door open, she stepped into the small hall. Julian stood beside the door, his back to the others. He waved toward the open door of the bedroom, and she entered it, grateful to have some time alone.
She slumped onto the bed, her shoulders drawing forward as she lifted her hand to rub it over her scalp.
“It will grow back,” Julian said, pulling her hand away to kiss the back of it.
“I know it will,” she whispered. She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s not the lack of hair; it’s the reminder of why it’s not there.”
“We’ll get you a wig.”
“That won’t take away the memories.” She rubbed the smooth skin of her chin. “My scars, they’re gone too. The fire burned them away.”
He stiffened as his eyes ran over her. “It did,” he said through his teeth. “If you plan on trying to return those scars to your body, I can’t let you hurt yourself like that again.”
“No, I have no intention of putting them back on me again,” she whispered. “These are enough.”
She turned her hands over to reveal the two remaining scars on her palms. The matching lines that had been on the back side of her hands were gone. She’d had her hands clenched while she was within the fire. It had been the only part of her body she’d been able to protect from the ravenous flames.
“They’re a reminder of my past, just for me now.”
He took hold of her hands, smoothing out her fingers so he could trace the straight lines there. “For us,” he murmured. “A clear symbol of your strength.”
“I don’t feel so strong right now. The fire…”
He gently clasped hold of her chin, drawing her eyes to his when she couldn’t get any more words out. “Tell me.”
“The fire was everywhere, all around me. I felt it burning away my skin, searing down to my muscle and bone, stripping it all away from me even… even as it all reformed,” she choked out around the growing lump in her throat. “Without drawing air, the smoke was in my lungs and within my body. The woman I’d latched onto was a Hunter, her life force kept rebuilding me while the fire kept devouring me.”
Julian remained unmoving before her. Red shimmered around the pale blue band encircling his pupil.
“There was so much pain that I couldn’t think about trying to escape from the fire in the beginning. It felt like I was in there for years before coherent thought returned, but it may have only been seconds,” she said.
She didn’t realize she was crying until a tear dripped off her chin to fall onto her clasped hands. Her eyes fell on the bead of water on her hand. “Then, when I felt as if I’d already died and entered Hell, I heard you yelling for me. The sound of your voice made it so I could get it together enough to know that I had to escape the flames. For you.”
He settled beside her on the bed. Draping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side. He didn’t speak, didn’t tell her it would all be better with time. They both knew time made someone better capable of dealing with sorrow and pain, but it never made either emotion go away entirely. With the pad of his thumb, he wiped away the tears spilling down her face and lifted her into his lap.
He pressed her head against his chest, cradling her there as he rocked her back and forth until her sobs slowly subsided and her tears dried.
“I would take it all from you if I could,” he said as he kissed her forehead and then her cheek.
“I know.”
“I have something for you.”
He adjusted his hold on her to dig into his pocket. Tugging something free, he lifted it before her. She squealed when she saw her golden heart locket dangling before her. It had some soot on it and a dent on the backside, but it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.
She closed her hand around it as fresh tears slid down her face. “I thought it was lost forever.”
“It was lying by what remained of the woman.”
He took it from her and slid it around her neck to clasp it into place. Her fingers brushed over the gold as she lifted her eyes to his. “Thank you.”
The sexy smile that she could never resist curved his mouth before he bent to kiss the tip of her nose. “I’d buy you every piece of jewelry in the world if it made you look at me like that every time.”
“Nope, just this one,” she said.
“No wedding ring?” he asked.
She gazed down at her hands. “Do you think we need one? Aren’t we already bound for eternity?”
“I want the humans to also know you’re taken.”
She lifted her head to gaze at him and smiled. “No ceremony?”
“Do you want one?”
She bit her bottom lip as she pondered this. “No,” she finally said. “I wouldn’t even have anyone to give me away.”
“I’m sure Clint would do it.”
“Maybe not, if it’s to you,” she teased.