Page 21 of Cursed Lifeline (Eternal Love)
Twenty
Felix
song: defying gravity | Todrick Hall
My footsteps crunch against freshly fallen snow as I make my way by moonlight to the crypt. The icy air threatens to steal my breath, but it’s not quick enough as my eyes lift and catch sight of where Esme has been laid to rest - a sob lodges in my throat. Coming to a stop in front of the concrete shelter, I stare up at the angels guarding the door to her lifeless chamber and force back tears.
The kraa of a raven sounds behind me as my heart aches, breaks, and bleeds for the woman I lost. Before I lose the courage that drew me here, I close my eyes and teleport myself inside the crypt.
When the ghostly stillness of the chamber creeps across my skin, I choke back a laugh because, even with my eyes closed, even knowing the fate that stole Esme from me, somehow, I can still sense her presence. What’s more, I can still smell the fragrance of her warm blood as it surged through her veins every time I held her close. On a haunted draft, seeping into the crypt from beyond the grave, some of the last words she said to me drift to mind.
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember...
“Oh, Esme,” I cry as my eyes open, and I take in the sight of her laid to rest, and a lonely tear falls down my cheek. “Infinite lifetimes could never make me forget.”
Desperate to be near her, I stalk closer and fall to the ground at the base of her open casket.
Soon, the unfortunate decaying of time will erase her beauty from this world until she is blessed to be born again. Until then, her alluring elegance is unmistakable. Even in death.
Her golden hair shines in the darkness like a halo. Her cheeks are flushed, rosy, and pink, as if life still courses through her cursed veins. As if the events of the last few days are nothing but a sick, twisted game. As if she’s bluffing, and she’ll soon wake up declaring victory over all of us. As she rightfully should.
“The fair Esmerelda! Nymph, in thy orisons, be all my sins remember’d,” I softly cry. As I kneel, emotion overtakes me, and I lose myself to the despair that’s been building since she passed. Tears stain my cheeks and I tenderly run my hand across her brow, down her cheek, then brush my fingertips across her tempting mouth.
Studying her in the dim light of the crypt, I talk to her as if she’s here and ask, “Remember the first night we met, and I asked if you enjoyed watching or playing the game? Little did I know the challenge set before us. What was at stake. What I stood to lose, and what I also stood to gain.”
Before I can stop myself, I join her where she’s been laid to rest and gather her in my arms. She smells of rosemary, and I suck in a shaky breath.
“How do you do it?” I whisper, pulling her closer and breathing in her promising scent. “Make me crave you, even in death.”
Mournfully, I rise on my right side and smile down at her peaceful face. My eyes drift to the ring on her left hand. Chest shaking with emotion, fingers trembling, I raise her hand to my lips, kiss the ring, and gently pull it off her finger.
“First look,” I whisper as I kiss her eyelids. “First touch.” My fingertips rise and gently trace her bottom lip. “First smell of your skin. First sound of your alluring voice, and I was forever hooked on a future only you could give me.”
Desperate to feel her kiss again, I gently touch my lips to hers and become overwhelmed with a desperate longing to breathe life back into her lungs. Though I try to fight them, in this private moment, my mother’s words come back to haunt me.
Mortal or immortal, loyalty lies where the heart is. One day, something, someone, will come along and make you want to take a step back into the land of the living.
If only it were that easy.
With the watchers now turned half-fae, a bitter laugh falls from my lips as I realize the only one of us that will always be mortal is now Esme. Even if this loophole offers her a small sliver of immortality, she will be hunted in her next life.
By who?
Only damned time will tell.
The bigger question is, how do I find her?
Worse, how will I protect her so we never again meet such a horrifying, ill-fate?
As I succumb to temptation yet again and kiss her delicate lips, a deep yearning where my soul used to rest tells me I will know when she comes back to life. I will feel her. When she walks the earth again her soul will call to me. Curse or no curse, like my mother said, how we feel for each other is real. The curse is just tied to the outcome.
With Alfred, Caelum, and Silas now immortal and agreeable to help me break it, luck may be on my side in her next life.
It’s this advantage I hold onto, place my hope in, put my trust in, as I reluctantly release her. Hesitantly, I rise, knowing I have to face tomorrow if it means it takes me one day closer to Esme being brought back to life. Before I leave, I pocket the signet ring I will one day put back on her finger when I can finally love her honorably, and mournfully say, “Remember when I told you I’d never, ever, let you have my heart? I was wrong. I gave you my heart long before you ever gave me yours. I tried to fight it. But my damned heart always belonged to you. It’ll be the same in your next life. I’ll find you, and I vow to love you more than your last.”
Turning, I make my way towards the crypt door and stop just before I teleport out. A thought crosses my mind, something I said to her the first night we met, and suddenly find myself repeating now, “To truly play the game, you can’t let it be over before it ever gets a chance to start.”
Those words hold more weight now than the night I first said them.
Though I know my heart might not withstand the pain, I glance back at my beloved one more time and say, “Play with me, Esme. One more time. And I promise to do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
Transporting out of the crypt, the orange hue of the sunrise catches my eye in the distance.
Overhead, the same shrill, alarming sound of a raven rings out. Glancing up, I wonder at its presence. At its prophetic message. At its connection to an unseen world signaling upcoming events.
Death and rebirth.
My only hope as it soars above and eerily follows me back to my mother’s estate is that the tragedy of Esme’s last life will not be there to overthrow her in her next.