Chapter 67
Sixty-seven
Edwin
After the insanity of informing everyone James and I had not only gotten married but were now co-rulers, we did not get into bed until very, very late. Past midnight. The day had been a lot of either doing things or ordering things to be done.
For instance, I had to send a crew of people to pack up my house.
I was torn on what to do with the house, but leaving it to be a hidden hideaway for James and I made the most sense.
I instructed that the furniture should stay, but I needed my clothes, all my personal effects, and most definitely my books to be brought up here.
I did instruct my new retainers to set up a meeting with the priests of Asyn for tomorrow morning. I wanted them to devise a spell to track demonic energy. Vuheia’s warning preyed at the back of my mind, and I wanted to know if the demonic energy was here in the city.
I also, reluctantly, ordered the sleeping spell removed from Valentina. She hadn’t woken up immediately, so hopefully she slept peacefully tonight, but there were standing orders on what to do if she returned to her destructive ways. I wouldn’t tolerate violent behavior.
All said, it had been a very long and exhausting day. I more or less collapsed into our bed face-first, James a comforting weight at my back.
The second my head was situated on the pillow, I tumbled into dreamland.
Or I should have.
I had no idea where this gray space was. I turned this way and that but found a light grey mist, no matter where I looked. My dreams were normally a lot more colorful and action-packed than this. Was even my subconscious tired after today?
A light tread alerted me to the left. A remarkably beautiful woman with tumbling golden locks, a pure white dress, and a subtly glowing aura approached me. She looked so happy to see me, so ecstatic, I found myself smiling back.
“Edwin,” she greeted, even her voice melodic. “Finally!”
“Finally?” I had no idea what she meant.
“Yes, finally you have started your Task.”
It hit me. An angel. I faced an angel. This was exactly how James had described how the angel looked, before he went back in time. My entire world tilted on its axis as the realization penetrated.
“Please, please explain that better,” I begged her. I did not want to take any chances, and if I faced a being with all the answers, you’d better believe I was asking.
“As you’ve no doubt realized, James is a touch too selfless.
He will agree to many things he shouldn’t in order to help others.
It was his main downfall in the first life.
He capitulated when he should have held firm.
In your first lives, you indulged this behavior when you should have given him a firm slap to the head. ”
Her words startled a laugh out of me. “So can I now? Slap him on the head when he’s being an idiot?”
“You certainly may.”
I would derive great joy from telling James I had carte blanche.
“Vuheia said I needed to protect him better, and I presume that is my Task, yes? Then was I right to make him king?”
“Yes to both. He must be king in order to attain Paradise again. You were right to step in and negotiate for multiple reasons. You didn’t in the first life, and it’s how his life took so many wrong turns; yours as well.
I know you second-guessed yourself, Edwin, and though your decision was perhaps a touch selfish, it was also precisely what you needed to do. ”
Relief didn’t begin to cover it. I had second-guessed, many times, but hearing her reassure me was priceless. “Thank you. Um, you said I’ve started my Task? So I’m not done? Crowning him king wasn’t all?”
“No, no, not anywhere near it. James, as you know, has a great many things to do. You are to be his protector and support. Do not let anyone use him for their own means. Stand fast when he needs you to.”
There was an age-old question of who shall guard the guardians?
James was very much a guardian to this country.
He needed someone to guard and protect him as well.
How I was volunteered for this role, I didn’t quite understand, but it was likely because they knew I would love him.
Love him enough to give him the support he needed.
“I promise you, I have his back.”
“We know you do. You always did, Edwin, which was why he loved you from the beginning. You were the only one who cared for James without wanting something in return.”
A startled “Oh” slipped from my lips. I’d wondered this many a time. It surprised me but also felt right? As if the puzzle piece that had eluded me had finally slipped into place. It was nice to have an answer, too.
“Now, I’m going to give you a hint.” She held a finger to her lips, much like a child about to tell a secret and enjoy the moment.
“Nimus is quite anxious for me to tell you this. After seeing what happened the first go-around and how it killed James in the end, we want to prevent that future. So Nimus is giving you the instructions necessary to avoid the same pitfall. There’s a particular tome you must find, translate, and use.
James’s life—this country’s life—depends upon it. This is high priority.”
“I understand. Which tome?”
The words had barely left my mouth when I felt a deep impression, knew not only the title but the weight of the tome, like I actually held it in my hand.
I even had a sense of where it was, deep in the bowels of the palace library.
I sensed the content on some level, as well, and knew it held priceless information about summonings and demons.
She winked. “That’s all I will tell you. Reassure James you’re already on Task, will you? His prayers every night are repetitious and unnecessary.”
“Wait, is this my sole Task, then? Safeguarding him?”
“That’s how important he is.”
Anyone who had been dead drunk and had a friend rip a chair out from underneath them would understand how I felt.
I couldn’t believe what she’d said, but on the other hand, I almost couldn’t focus on her message.
Pure joy overtook all thought process. I had worried I would lose James upon our deaths, as I hadn’t a clue how to attain Paradise, so hearing I’d already discovered it was the best gift anyone could give me.
She unbent enough to add, “In every incarnation of your lives, you have loved him. He trusted you to safeguard him, to support him, when he needed it the most. So when he accepted his own Task this round, you demanded the Task of protecting James.”
I felt that, like a shaft piercing my heart.
I had always loved him. It was why, even though I’d never been lovers with him in our previous attempt, I’d stayed with him and supported him in every way I knew how.
To know I’d failed him, that I hadn’t protected him as strongly as he’d needed me to? Devastation swamped me.
I would not make that mistake again.
People could come for James over my cold, rotting corpse.
“Thank you, for telling me.”
“I probably shouldn’t have, but,” here she gave me a saucy wink, “I think you needed to hear it. We are out of time, but just know, you’re precisely where you should be. Do not let any soul argue with you about that.”
In a blink, I was back in my body. I awoke refreshed, like I’d slept for hours, and indeed the morning sunlight streamed in through the gauzy curtains even now.
I lay there for a moment, absorbing the visitation.
I had no doubt it was real. It felt real, unlike every other dream I’d had.
Plus, I could still feel the weight of the tome in my hand.
I knew precisely where it was in the library, in a section I’d never stepped foot in.
The second I finished breakfast, I’d retrieve it. I needed to understand how and why the contents were so vital to our future.
James stirred at my back. His eyelids fluttered and love swept through me once more. It was hard not to find him loveable when his hair was wild and pillow creases marked his cheek. He was so soft and touchable in moments like these.
“Morning, dearest.” I snuggled in against his chest, and his arms closed around me.
“Mmm, morning,” he murmured.
“Are you awake enough to talk?”
“Barely.”
Well, I knew a surefire way to wake him quickly. “An angel visited me last night.”
One, two, three—James abruptly raised up on one elbow, spluttering.
See? Fully awake.
Being married meant he was mine now to pester as I pleased.
“Not kidding,” I assured him. His jaw worked but he could only make croaking sounds. “In no particular order, she came to tell me this: One, you can relax and stop praying about me finding my Task. I’m on it, and as long as we keep on track, I can ascend to Paradise with you.”
“Thank Vuheia.” He collapsed against the bed again, snugging me back in. “You’ve no idea how worried I was.”
“I do know, in fact, as an angel told me point-blank to get you to quit.”
“Ha, point. So what’s your Task?”
“My Task, in essence, is you.”
James froze, barely breathing. “Me?”
“You.” I tilted my head back to see his eyes.
“Safeguarding and supporting you. Vuheia warned me before that I wasn’t protecting you, and I only now fully realize what she meant.
You’re bad about standing up for yourself, my darling.
Even when you’re actively trying to be better about setting boundaries, you’re just too soft with people.
You need someone at your side who can be mean and put you as the first priority, hence me.
I failed to protect you in the first life—she didn’t say as much, but allowing you to marry Valentina and leaving you at the whims of your foster family was what I should have protected you from.
I realize it would have been harder then, as we weren’t married, but I’d found a way to do it in this life too without us being married.
I failed you before. I feel…awful about that, honestly. ”