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“I need him as well, but it is different. He is here, and he cannot come with me. But you can, and that is all I crave right now.”

She turned back to him, and her expression no longer appeared distraught, but rather... shy. His sight turned bright pink as he looked upon her, and it ignited heat within his chest. Ingram hoped his next words made her smile.

“I am sorry I did not realise it before you tried to take yourself away from me, but I love you, Emerie. We are connected, but I would like to make us one. I would like for you to be my bride, so I can show you that love in all the forms I can.”

Her bottom lip trembled as both twitched and curled upwards at the edges.

“I-I really wish I could hug you right now,” she said with her voice shaking. “But I love you too, Ingram. I’ve known that for a while.”

She did? He gave an annoyed huff.“Then why did you not tell me?”

Even though he asked this, a thrill shot through him at her saying she loved him in return. His tail tip curled so tightly in delight it coiled halfway up its length, and his spikes tremored. The pink in his vision brightened around the edges until all he could see was her.

“I didn’t know if you really understood it or felt that way towards me.” She lowered her gaze to avoid his. “Your orbs never turned pink for me.”

“They are pink now,”he assured, looking at her ghostly form with tendrils of pink in it from his own vision.

“They are?” She reached up around the side of his empty eye sockets like she wanted to touch them. “I want to see them. You’re just... purple.”

“They are. So, my little butterfly, will you let me revive you so I can make you my bride?”

“I would like that more than anything.” However, she looked over her shoulder once more. “But... can we stay here for a little longer? I want to be with Gideon while I can.”

Ingram looked down at his purple, spectral claws, then his arms and legs that were entirely transparent. He faced his beak towards Weldir.

“You have time,” he answered. “I will let you all speak privately. Just have Aleron call for me when you are ready.” Then, right before he left, he stated, “Also, make sure to have Aleron touch them within an hour, otherwise they’ll slip back into their memories and forget.”

Yellow lifted into his orbs, and he let his gaze land on the male staring at Emerie with wide and concerned eyes.

I would like to meet the person who is special to her, just as she met mine.

With her body facing Gideon, Emerie shyly glanced over his shoulder towards Ingram, who looked like a purple Ghost version of himself, and his twin, Aleron.

Actually... she tried not to look at Aleron and his wings – they creeped her the fuck out.

They were massive, obviously spanning metres, and black with hints of dark blue shining through them. He had a long train of feathers for a tail, and walked on his hands and three-toed bird feet.

It looked like Ingram had eaten the head of a raven, and Aleron had eaten its body.

She wondered if the short fur that sprouted sporadically all over Ingram belonged to a fruit bat, since Aleron had the skull head of one. Aleron also seemed to have a small amount of lizard scales on the softer parts of his body, like his stomach, inner elbows, and the backs of his knees and hands.

The rest of him, however, was very fluffy with long fur.

They’ve shared everything they have ever eaten.She could tell just by looking at them, while picturing what she remembered of Ingram in his non-ghostly form.

The twins were talking to each other, and she thought it was sweet that Aleron’s orbs were pink. Or were they always that colour?

“Are you sure about this?” Gideon asked her, his voice kind but rough, just like it’d always been.

She couldn’t help the way her cheeks heated as she gave him a bashful smile. “Yes. Absolutely. I’m sure about this.”

His light-green eyes were bowed with uncertainty, and with an affection only a brother could shine at her. Although she could barely feel it, a light gust of wind made his short caramel-brown hair shift.

He had a small dark shadow of a beard. He usually liked to keep it shaved, preferring to be well-presented in a time where hygiene and cleanliness were difficult to achieve.

Gosh, he looks exactly as I remember.

He still looked twenty-three, only four and a half years older than what she’d been.