Chapter 43
Relieved laughter greeted me when the dome disappeared, the sound sweeter than anything I’d ever heard.
With Death’s power running through me, I felt both weightless and grounded, the sensations overwhelming and comforting.
Possibility—that’s what it felt like, I decided.
Limitless possibility. It made sense, given what Death’s…
what my power could do, but it would take some getting used to.
Everything looked different too. The grove shimmered, as if everything was made of light and shadow.
I could see the fabric of the In Between, just as I had on the bridge.
Blinking, the shimmering faded, along with the sound of the Death Chord, my vision returning to normal.
Arms swept me into a hard chest as Fen crushed me to him. His relief was so strong it nearly took out my knees. I clung to him, the reality of just how close I came to losing suddenly real.
“You had me worried there for a while,” he said.
“Me, too.” I smiled into his shoulder. It felt so good to be able to joke about it.
A tap on my shoulder made me pull away only to be engulfed in a hug by Daphne while Marcus tackled Fen.
Bea hovered nearby, as if not sure she was welcome. When Daphne freed me, Bea gave me a tentative smile until I opened my arms and she dove into them.
“I knew you would do it,” she whispered. My eyes burned at her words.
“Thank you.”
Marcus hugged me next, and then Fen wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side.
Standing in the middle of my friends, it hit me—this was our future. I was now Death. There would be as many moments like this as we wanted. It should have felt perfect, except there was a Titus-sized hole in it.
I stiffened, wondering if he was still breathing. “I have to go.”
From the shift in Fen’s expression, he knew exactly what I was talking about.
“What about her?” Marcus asked as I prepared to light-step. He pointed at Talia, still kneeling in the dirt on the other side of the grove.
The center of it was still clear, the altar restored to its former position, so I could clearly see the defeated slump of her shoulders. I waited for Fen to say something, only to realize he was looking at me. “It’s your call.”
He shook his head. “She’s a resident of your castle. The decision is yours.”
I blinked. Right. Because I was Death. Gods, would I ever get used to that? I pressed my lips together, not wanting to deal with anything but trying to heal Titus, but leaving her there was a bad idea.
The others followed me as I strode over to her.
“Come to gloat?” Her tone was fierce, but her voice trembled as she stared at her hands.
“No.”
She looked up, her expression defiant. “Right to punishment then. Do your worst.” Her hands fisted at her sides, anticipating a blow.
Except all I felt when I looked at her was pity.
I’d seen the way she looked at Death. There had been real love between them, even if her need to hurt Fen for the way he treated her was what had driven her into Death’s arms. It was yet another example of the punitive justice Death had espoused in order to stay where she was, and I was done with it.
“What punishment do you think you deserve?”
“Shred my soul, just like you did hers.” Her voice broke and she shuddered, trying to repress a sob.
I knelt so my face was level with hers. “I didn’t shred her soul. I gave her a choice, and she chose to go to the After. So I sent her there.”
“You lie.” Talia frowned.
“You saw her fade away. Is that what happens when a soul is shredded?”
Emotions chased each other across her face—relief, anger, and heartbreak. She started to cry in earnest, and I left her to it.
I had other, more important things to do. “Take her to your castle,” I told Fen. “Find her a comfortable room to rest. Guarded. We’ll give her time to decide what she wants before I make a decision.”
“After she sided with Death and worked against you? Against us?” Daphne asked. She and Marcus eyed Talia with disgust, but it was tinged with pain. They still remembered the woman who had been their friend.
“If we believe souls deserve mercy, that has to apply to all of them. No exceptions. I will not be like my predecessor. It doesn’t mean I’ll welcome Talia back as a Judge if she wants to stay, but she gets a say in what happens to her.”
Daphne glared at Talia, but there was respect in her eyes when she looked back at me.
Bea helped Talia to her feet and took her arm to lead her to the shadow portal to Fen’s castle.
I didn’t wait for the others, light-stepping straight to Titus’s room.
His breathing was even more labored than before. With a blink, my new sight took over. I could see his soul starting to come apart. Wisps of gold and silver rose from his body, the edges of which were already blurred.
Racing to his bedside, I threw my hands out over his body as Fen, Marcus and Daphne stepped into the room.
Light filled my hands. It came effortlessly from the center of me rather than my bond with Fen, and it felt more potent. There wasn’t a question of whether or not I could heal. I knew I now could. It was whether or not Titus was too far gone for me to bring back.
I heard Daphne’s muffled sobs as I grabbed every piece of Titus that tried to escape. They weren’t going to the After. They were rising into the air and disintegrating. It was like trying to hold water, they kept slipping away. Titus would soon be lost at the rate they were going.
Swallowing the urge to cry, I directed my light to the center of him instead, concentrating on the essence of him.
My power poured in, strengthening the part of him that was left, filling the spaces in between.
I thought of everything that made Titus who he was.
His need to make everyone laugh. His love for Marcus and Daphne, Fen and myself.
His strategic mind that made him an excellent general and teacher.
His love for cooking. How much he hated doing laundry, willing to do anything to get out of it.
“Come back to us,” I whispered.
Slowly, so slowly I thought I was imagining it at first, the outward flow of the pieces of his soul reversed. My breath hitched as they settled back into him.
Hope blossomed in my chest, but I tried to tamp it down. Even if he physically came back, would he still be him after so much had been lost?
The outline of his body sharpened, the black patches on his skin faded, and he began to glow until my light faded and he opened his eyes.
I held my breath as he blinked, looking around.
“Where—?” His gaze met mine. “Are you okay?”
My eyes filled with tears that his first thought was for me.
“Maeve. Guys? What—?” He was interrupted by Daphne, who threw herself at him, lying half on top of him as she sobbed into his shoulder.
I stepped back to let Marcus through, who knelt at the side of the bed, stroking Titus’s hair.
Titus reached out to both his partners to comfort them, confusion etched in the lines of his face.
“You nearly died trying to grab me while I was lit up with power, you idiot.” Tears streamed down my face as I glared at him. “You’ve been unconscious for weeks.”
Fen’s arms circled my waist, pulling me against him.
Titus’s brow furrowed as he searched through his memories. Understanding dawned and his eyes met mine, wide with hope and shock. “You did it? You defeated Death?”
“She did,” Fen said, his voice rough.
Titus struggled to sit up.
“What are you doing?” Daphne said. “You need to rest.”
“I feel fine. Good as new, maybe better. Let me up.” After a few moments, he convinced them it was futile to stop him. Marcus and Daphne pulled him to sitting and helped him out of bed.
Then he knelt. “Hail, Death.”
Marcus and Daphne glanced at each other, and followed suit, echoing his refrain.
The gesture hit me like a punch to the gut. Not because I was now Death. His gesture of respect made me feel separate. They were my family. I never wanted to feel like that.
“Get up,” I snapped.
“Not a fan of ceremony?” Titus asked as the other two helped him to his feet. He might feel fine, but he was still wobbly.
I planted my hands on my hips. “I brought you back. Shut up and give me a hug.”
His smile was wide as his arms engulfed me. “Thank you.”
I squeezed him tighter. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“No trying to play with the human torch. Got it.” His irreverence made me chuckle. All worry about him not coming back as himself disappeared.
“Don’t leave Fen out,” I said when I finally let him go.
Titus turned to Fen for a back-slapping embrace and everything was finally right.
Maybe that was why exhaustion finally hit me. I swayed on my feet, feeling drained and dizzy.
Fen caught me before I fell. He said something, but I couldn’t make sense of it. I barely registered anything beyond him scooping me into his arms before I gave in to the beckoning darkness.
* * *
I woke in our bed to find Fen sitting beside me, his back against the headboard, a book in his lap. His eyes flew to mine as soon as I opened them. Tossing the book aside, he slid down so his face was level with mine.
“How do you feel?” he asked, cupping my jaw.
I stretched and took stock. I’d been stripped and put in one of his shirts. The sheets felt like silk against my legs, but there was an ache in my limbs and chest that ran deeper than anything I’d felt before. “Like I’ve been run over by a herd of cows.”
“Given what you did, I’m surprised you don’t feel worse.” He reached over to grab a glass of water off the bedside table and handed it to me. “You healed the In Between.”
“We did that. Our bond was the key.” I drank deeply. The water tasted divine.
“But it was you who cemented it, and your power that restored the grove. The bridge. Everything.” He took the empty glass and put it back on the table.
“I couldn’t have done it without you.”
He opened his mouth to protest but I didn’t feel like arguing, so I gave him something else to do by pulling him in for a kiss.