Till Death Do Us Part: A Paranormal Why Choose Romance (Vows Duet Book 1)

Chapter 58

Present Day

Months have passed since Nova died in Koda’s arms. He hasn’t been the same since, often succumbing to the darkness in between this world and whatever else there is.

I revisit that awful day every second of this infuriating afterlife, playing it over and over, knowing that we contributed to her death. We kept her with Rhea by not telling her the truth. We didn’t protect her like we should have.

We deserve the hell of this empty, silent house.

The guy that Rhea had brought home to kill escaped, thanks to Nova. He had alerted neighbors, who called the police, as soon as he crawled onto their porch. At the same time, one of the other neighbors called the police too, wanting to report a noise disturbance at the house.

Two minutes. That’s how long after Nova took her last breath that emergency personnel arrived.

Not that I knew from being present for it. I’d been stuck in the same dark Koda has been opting to disappear in for over two days after Nova kissed and then pushed me. Between the massive amount of energy we had used trying to protect her from Rhea, and Nova’s crisis state that drained our energies with every touch instead of replenishing it, we’d been forced to abandon our girl as she died. Koda had barely hung on long enough to hold her through her last moments.

Rhea had been declared dead at the scene, too, but that hadn’t stopped the press from giving her a nickname.

The Jars of Hearts Killer.

We only knew from the chatter of detectives while they did their investigation. They’d found the human flesh in the freezer, the wallets kept as a souvenir, and the leftover pieces Rhea hadn’t wanted in the backyard.

And the jars holding our hearts, of course.

I’m so intently brooding that I don’t notice the light. Not at first. But then it crests, filling the room with a brightness that makes me shield my eyes.

Blue light.

I lurch to my feet, panicking. Which one of us is moving on? And how?

But the figure that’s doused in light doesn’t fade away—it becomes clearer.

“What the fuck is it?” Jimmy murmurs, coming to my side, our shoulders resting together.

The figure moves, and the light fades, lines becoming sharper, until a person becomes visible, her back to us.

Her.

I gape and I know Jimmy is too. I should bellow for Theodore and Koda, but I’m in shock, unable to do anything but stare at the woman.

At Nova, who looks like an honest-to-God angel, adorned in white and gold.

She looks down, holding up her arms. “Seriously?” she calls, and my knees try to buckle. “You couldn’t have given me something a little less Ancient Greece?” Her voice drops to a mutter. “You insufferable ass.”

“Nova?” Jimmy chokes out.

She whirls with a gasp, eyes wide as she takes us both in, and then all three of us are rushing toward each other. Nova leaps, hooking an arm around each of our necks as we clutch at her. Her mouth is on mine before the skirt of her dress has stopped billowing out behind her. The kiss is hard and wild and fast, and then she yanks herself away, doing the same with Jimmy.

She wriggles in our grip as soon as she finishes kissing him, glancing around. “Where are the other two?”

“Theodore! Koda!” I shout, making her laugh, her eyes bright and happy. “Get your asses in here now!”

Appearing at the window, his eyes fixed outside, Theodore sighs. “What is it?”

“You’re really that depressed that I died?”

I grin at the way he staggers sideways at the teasing tone of Nova’s voice, his head snapping around. He’s to her in two huge strides, yanking her against him, holding her so tight that she shouldn’t be able to breathe.

If she wasn’t already dead, that is.

Theodore showers her face with kisses, his fingers feeling over her face and hair, as though he’s uncertain if she’s real. Honestly, I’m not sure either.

When he’s thoroughly kissed every inch of bare skin from her shoulders up, she spins in his grip, her eyes searching and frowning when she doesn’t find who she is looking for.

“Koda?” she asks, raising her voice a little.

“Here.”

There is so much emotion in his eyes as he gazes at her from the open closet, from the very spot that she died, that I feel my throat tighten with emotion, too.

Nova doesn’t run to him. She takes one step, then another, leaving Theodore’s arms. Her eyes stay locked on him, step after step, until she’s sliding her hands along his jaw, plying him with soft kisses to his lips.

“You held me the whole time,” she whispers against his mouth. “I could feel it hurting you to hold me, but you did it anyway.”

Koda’s face twists into a grimace and I think if he could tear up, he’d be ugly crying right now. “I wasn’t going to let you die without making sure you knew how much you were loved, little Nova.”

A broken sob tears out of her. “I love you too.” Her head turns, eyes scanning over the other three of us. “All of you. You have no idea.” She laughs, the sound tear-filled. “You have no idea how much I have loved you all.”

“How are you back?” Theodore asks, ever the practical one.

Jimmy scowls. “Who fucking cares how?”

Nova just smiles. “I didn’t finish what I started. It’s your turn.”

I furrow my brow, but before I can ask, she turns back to Koda. Her voice drops low, so low that I can’t make out what she’s saying to him. His eyes widen as she speaks and when she’s done, he begins to glow with that same blue light we’ve seen before. He leans forward and I swear I hear him call her Ellie as declares his love one more time.

She kisses him one more time. “I’ll find you,” she promises, his face breaking into a huge grin.

The light consumes the room, and when it clears, Koda is gone.

Moving to Theodore, Nova speaks again. She’s closer this time, but I still can’t hear her, no matter how hard I strain to. He has a similar reaction to Koda, the wide eyes and all. When she finishes, he just nods, looking like he might be in a bit of shock.

“I’ll be waiting, baby girl,” he murmurs.

“I’ll be looking.”

He caresses her face as he glows brighter and brighter. I blink and Theodore has moved on.

Nova turns to Jimmy and me, a serene smile playing on her lips. “Ready?”

Jimmy stares at her, awestruck. “What’s happening?”

“This is not the first time we’ve fallen in love,” she tells him, something darkening in her gaze. It leaves as quickly as it came, her eyes bouncing between us. “For thousands of years, I have been meeting and falling in love with the four of you over dozens of lifetimes. We’ve never quite gotten our happily ever after, so we need to try again. One more time. We’re trying one more time.” Her smile turns wry. “And next time, we’ll all be alive.”

What she says presses up against my soul with a crushing sense of truth.

She moves to Jimmy, taking one of his hands and twining their fingers together. “I can’t wait to know you again,” she says, and breathes a laugh. “The first time I met you, you were King Arthur. I wonder who you’ll be next time.”

He gapes at her, blinking, then he drags a hand down his face. “Guinevere,” he whispers.

The second he says it, the images slam into me, of all three of us, together even then. I was there too. I was there too.

And by the way Jimmy looks at me, I know he also remembers everything.

Like Nova knows what I saw, her eyes flick to me. “Sir Lancelot,” she teases, ducking her head as she curtsies.

Her attention goes back to Jimmy. “Just like I told the other two,” she tells him. “I will find you.”

I grab his hand as he glows. “I’ll be looking for you too,” I rush out.

He brings my hand to his mouth, kissing the back of it softly. When the light fades, my hand is still raised right where he held it.

I turn to Nova, lowering my arm, and find her gaze a little more assessing as she looks me over.

“And you,” she sighs. “You and I—we got ourselves into this mess to begin with.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

She presses herself against me, raking her hands through my hair until she uses her grip to pull my head towards hers, resting our foreheads together. “Remember, Orpheus,” she breathes.

I watch her, confused. “Like Orpheus from Greek Mythology, who was killed by Thrac—?”

The words die on my tongue and Nova’s eyes blaze into mine, her patience remaining steady.

Greeneyes.

Eurydice’s eyes.

The images hit me much like the ones that did when Jimmy mentioned Guinevere, but these are worse. So much worse. I try to wrench myself away, but Nova—Eurydice—won’t let me, twisting my hair around her fingers.

“Easy,” she whispers, bringing my forehead to hers again.

My voice shakes. “I failed you.”

She shakes her head. “No, my Orpheus. The gods just like to play their games, as they always have. We’re going to beat them this time.”

“How?”

Nova chuckles. “I don’t know yet,” she admits. “But we need to go. Go with me,” she adds, and I can think of nothing better. With her, for now and always.

I don’t take my eyes off hers as we begin to glow. I feel the light buzzing along my skin, tickling and caressing, lulling me to sleep. I jerk, not wanting to close my eyes and lose her again. As the light swells, the love of my many lives gives me the sweetest smile.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she promises. “We’ll find each other again.”

There is such calm within the light that I can’t resist any more, one more whisper getting through before I succumb.

“No more looking back.”