The Heart's Ashes
Page 116

“Well.” He looked at his watch. “It’s technically tomorrow, so…” he let the vowel trail off.
“Fine.” I groaned and sat up properly as he perched on the edge of my bed, his weight barely dipping the mattress.
“I have something for you.”
“Is it a sleeping pill?” I asked sarcastically.
He laughed through his nose. “No. It’s something very precious; something I’ve kept hidden away all my life.”
“Well, that’s better than a sleeping pill.”
He placed a velvet bag in his lap, small, about the size of the novel on my bedside, and reached inside to remove a silver box. It looked heavy, for something its size, adorned with engraved roses and twisting vines.
“Wow. How old is that?”
“About two hundred years. I kept it locked away safely so that one day, when I found my one, special girl, I could give it to her.”
“Well, she’s a lucky girl. That’s a beautiful gift. But...shouldn’t you be telling her this?”
“Funny.” He shook his head. “But the box isn’t the reason I had to go to the bank today. The main reason is this—” He wound the mechanism at the base of the box then lifted the lid. As the gentle chime of the haunting vampire song I hear in my dreams entered my ears, David spun the box around fully so, in the dull light of my room, I could see the delicate piece of jewellery inside.
“David? That’s so pretty.”
“It was my mother’s—a gift from my father on the day of their wedding.” He lifted the crescent-shaped bangle and pointed to the pearl-coloured stone. “It’s a moonstone.”
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I whispered, feeling a kind of magic in the dark.
“Will you wear it for me?” he asked delicately.
Without words, I rested my hand to the hollow between my collarbones, nodding.
David exhaled through his smile, then cupped his mother’s bangle over my wrist, his touch cooling. The band, only as wide as a finger, sat against my skin firmly, with the moonstone at the centre.
“Yours is the first hand this has touched since it was worn by my mother over a hundred-and-twenty years ago. I’m told this bangle represented everything in my father’s heart. From the day he gave it to her, to the day she died, she never took it off.” He lifted my hand and kissed it gently. “I can only hope it will mean as much to you.”
“David.” I choked back tears. “I—I can’t find words.” I touched the bangle. “I love it, and I love you.”
“I love you too, mon amour.”
I threw my arms around his neck and breathed him in deeply. “Thank you.”
“You are more than welcome.”
The need to keep him with me, exacerbated by being in my old room, the place I last broke his heart, filled me up with desires. “Stay with me tonight?”
“Sorry.” He pulled away, standing up quickly. “You know how I like my traditions.”
I slumped back on my pillows. “Only too well.” And there was no point arguing with him when he spoke in that tone. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“That you will.” He flashed a cheeky grin and leaped onto the windowsill. “I’ll be waiting by the doorway to our forever.”
The frost of early spring seeped through the small crack in the base of the window, while golden sun struck the bare white wall, parting the cold with columns of warmth. Dust motes hovered in the light, dancing around like today was a thing to rejoice, and for the first time in my life, I agreed.
I threw the covers back and tucked my arms under my elbows as the cool circled my ankles, reaching up to spread goosebumps over my body, then wandered over to look down on the day.
That boy never could close a window. I forced it down, feeling warmer from the mere absence of the breeze. Outside, the morning reflected off the road by the school, while sunshine began to melt the last of the cold. All down the street, leaves filled out once bare trees, and new birds chirped to the song of their mothers. It looked as though the world decided today could be spring, gifting me with a bright, fresh, new beginning, but this time, one I couldn’t wait to start.
I drew a deep breath through my nose and leaned against the oak window frame. Above me, the boys rustled around in the attic, obviously getting ready for the big day.
I wonder if David’s wondering if I’m awake.
Skittles’ bell jingled as he ran across the yard, seemingly unfazed by the frost on his tail and ears, most likely a result of falling asleep on the roof again. I smiled then, wondering if Skittles kept David company up there when he used to stalk me—before we met. Ha, vampires; can’t live with ‘em, can’t kill ‘em. I chuckled to myself.
Dad looked up and waved at me from under the tree in the yard, his smile as big as the day, while he untied my white swing and repositioned the rose-lined arch for the celebrant to stand under. When I waved, the sudden sight of the oval moonstone on the bangle David gave me last night caught my eye; I gently held my thumb and index finger against the silver, twisting it so the light of day bounced off the pinks and blues and purples of the stone.
I can’t believe he gave this to me. I hope I don’t lose it or break it or something. I think I’ll take it off right after the ceremony and put safely back in its little silver box. He’d never forgive me if something happened to it.
By my bed, the silver box sat, glorious and ancient, a reminder that David and I come from separate worlds, so very far apart, but so connected. The haunting song stored in that little case still played in my heart, making my arms tingle.
I walked over and twisted the crank at the base, then set it down, pausing before opening the lid.
“Ara?” Emily popped her head in the door; I snapped the lid closed the inch I dared to open it.
“Yeah.”
“Time to wake up, girl. We got a wedding to attend.”
I brushed off the last remains of a warm, cosy sleep, and charged for the door, catching sight of the time as I reached the hall. “Oh my God, Emily. It’s ten o’clock! You didn’t wake me.”
“It’s fine, Ara, stop worrying,” she said, walking away from me, her hands full of crisp, white linen.
“But, I am worrying. I—I don’t know what to do or where to go or what to eat or—”