With All My Soul
Page 109

I told them I had an announcement, Tod said. They probably expect me to announce my retirement. Which, for a reaper, meant requesting or accepting his final death. Its kind of...been coming.
I frowned and dropped the ice scoop into the sink, and he shrugged. It was hard without you, Kaylee. I couldnt let you go, but I didnt know how to be here without you. If Id never met you, I probably would have been fine. He shrugged, and that same stubborn curl fell over his forehead. I mean, creatures who only exist in the dark dont know theyre missing the sun, right? But once youve seen the sun. Once youve seen it light up the world...once youve felt its heat all around you...inside you... He clutched his own chest, and my heart cracked open. Its hard to live in the dark after the sun dies.
Im so sorry. I set the last cup on the counter and threw my arms around him again. Im so glad you didnt do something...permanent.
I almost did. I started slipping away again. If not for my mom and Emma, I might have lost most of my humanity by now.
Em? You and Emma? I pulled back to look at him, my chest aching, and I had to remind myself that four years was a long time, and they were only humanmostly. And that Id left them, and theyd thought I was dead, and they had had every right to move on. To at least try...
Tods eyes widened, then he laughed and pulled me closer. Not like that. Emma has a boyfriend. A necromancer friend of Lucas. Theyve been together almost three years now.
The guy in the picture on her dresser? They looked happy in the photo. They looked...normal. Emma deserved some normal.
Yeah. Hes a good guy, and he loves her, and he knows how to handle the occasional syphon meltdown. But even if none of that were true... Tod put a hand on each of my arms and looked right into my eyes. You have my heart and soul, Kaylee Cavanaugh, and that never changed, even when I thought you were gone. Em and I are just friends. There was never anyone else. Which means that all of this he stepped back and spread his arms with a grin Id missed like I would miss my own heartbeat if I never felt it again went to waste for four very long years.
Well, thats all over now. An ego like that deserves to be stroked. I ran my hands over his chest and stood on my toes to whisper in his ear, Or at least humored.
Humored, huh? He laughed. Ill take what I can get. For now...
I pulled his head down for a kiss and didnt let him go until an engine rumbled to a stop out front, and my heart stopped with it. Theyre here. One of them, at least. Id only heard one car.
I raced to the front window and peeked through the gap in the drapesto see an unfamiliar vehicle in the driveway. The drivers door opened, and I hardly recognized the man who stepped out. He had Nashs artfully mussed hair, but I couldnt see his eyes behind a pair of dark sunglasses. And he was...bigger.
My heart ached. Each beat seemed to bruise me from the inside out.
Nash had grown up, like Tod and I never would. Mental math told me he was twenty-two now, and though I could see it, I couldnt truly believe it.
The passengers-side door opened and a headful of long, straight, dark hair appeared over the roof of the car. A second later, Sabine rounded the front bumper and slid her hand into Nashs, and Im sure my eyes nearly bugged out of my head.
Shed grown up, too, and she was gorgeous, in a mature, collected way the teenage mara Id come to thoroughly tolerate had never been. And she looked...happy. Even with all the eyeliner she still wore and a familiar pair of guys khakis hanging low on the swell of her hips.
This is bizarre, I whispered, and Tods hand settled at my lower back.
I guess it must be, seeing it all of a sudden like that. He shrugged. They grew up.
And theyre...okay? Theyre good?
Yeah. Better than I would have expected. His arm slid around my side and pulled me close again, just as the rear door of the car opened, and my breath caught in my throat.
Emma.
Lydias body had grown up, too, and Em now wore it like it was her own. Shed cut her thin hair, and it looked healthier than Id ever seen it, bouncing on her shoulders in light brown waves. Her arms were tanned, and shed finally figured out how to dress a body with no curves to speak ofa dilemma I remembered well.
I was still watching her walk up the sidewalk when Nash knocked on the door, then opened it and came in without waiting for the key Em had dug from her purse. Hey, Peter Pan? You in here?
Sabine followed him inside, and I could tell by the way their gazes passed over us, then settled on the cups of ice lined up on the kitchen counter that they couldnt see either of us yet. I hadnt gone spectral on purpose. Evidentlysubconsciously, at leastI wasnt ready to be seen.
Kay? Tod said, and they didnt hear that, either. You ready?
I nodded, and I only realized that was the truth at the very last second.
Tod cleared his throat. Nash and Sabine turned our way just as Em stepped into the house.
For a moment, shocked silence reigned.
Nash took off his sunglasses, and his hazel eyes were as wide and still as Id ever seen them. Emma dropped her purse, and Styx skittered away from the falling debris. Sabines mouth widened in a stunning smile. She was the first to believe her eyes, and, somehow, that didnt surprise me.