Chapter 22 #2
“Yes. You are my family. You and Efrem, even if he often wants to knife me in the chest because he’s so jealous of me.
And all those boys of yours. I’ve watched over all of you for a long time.
Remember this when I break the spell. This moment.
What I feel right now will never change.
The Mage Conclave threatens all of us. It’s about me.
Remember the prophecy that says if I have a child borne of love it may destroy the world?
Because of this, the Conclave put me on lockdown centuries ago.
At first, they threw me in a cell for two decades until the Fates freed me.
In exchange, I work for the Fates, adjusting destinies here or there at their direction.
The Conclave monitors me with this.” He held up the obsidian ring.
“I can’t remove it, but it’s how they watch and monitor my emotions.
Right now, I’m sure it’s registering high.
They’ll know. They’ve known for a little bit about us, and I held them off.
They put a new constraint on me.” He pointed to the band around his ankle.
“It’s supposed to prevent me from loving. ”
“Does it?”
He shook his head. “Nothing could stop this.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he put a finger over her lips.
“Our time is limited. I have to get through this as fast as possible. It was decreed by the Fates for me to protect all of you. I didn’t know that you would become everything to me.
You’re hope and freedom and necessity to me.
” He leaned in to kiss her lips. “You’re the one in the prophecy, and they know this.
They wanted to destroy you with a nasty relic and throw me back in a cell for the rest of my existence.
I need you to stay away from a very specific vase artifact.
I don’t know how to protect you once this spell is cast, but maybe you can somehow remember you need to stay away from all vases? ”
“Don’t do whatever this is.”
“I can’t let you die. I have to cast a spell to make you forget me. All of you will no longer remember me.”
“You can’t snap your fingers and make me forget you.
You’re…in here. Forever.” She patted her chest. “Without the memory of you, how will anything in the past make sense?” She couldn’t catch her breath.
“We can fight them. My children have become warriors for God. They’re magical.
Their mates are magical. I have powerful beings as friends. Please, don’t give up on us.”
He exhaled a rough sigh. “A part of me wonders if we have to do this to prevent the prophetic child that’ll destroy everything.
The other part of me wonders if maybe we don’t understand this prophecy.
If I don’t do this, they’ll destroy not only you, but also wipe out your bloodline.
” He cupped the back of her head and kissed her.
“I swear on my soul I’d never let them hurt one of your children or Efrem. They’re my family too.”
“What’ll get you killed is your I’ll-deal-with-it-alone mentality. Everyone needs help.”
“I will break us free of the spell. Once it’s safe…
if I’m ever freed, I’ll help you remember.
Right now, they’re putting a binding spell on me that will alert them if I touch you again after the spell.
If I touch you, they’ll target you. With the loss of your memory, you won’t remember me or them as a threat. ”
“What if it’s permanent? What if I can’t ever remember you?”
“It’s no more than a relic spell. This kind of magic is reversible.”Insecurity flashed in his eyes.
“You’re not one hundred percent sure. You’re scared. Don’t do this. Why can’t you trust me to be okay on my own?”
His somber resolve spooked her. The finality on his face… He’d made a unilateral decision.
She rushed to say, “Don’t you dare decide for me.”
“This is goodbye. You won’t remember me.”
“No. No!” She shook her head. “Don’t do this. Don’t you dare steal my memories. Not of us. What is my life without you in it?”
He pulled her into him, against the warmth and strength of his body. “They’re forcing me to end us.”
She struggled to get out of his hold.
He stroked his hand down her spine, shooting tingles everywhere.
“I’m very good at holding grudges,” she threatened. Pain ripped through her chest, brutal and merciless. To have finally found this level of intimacy and lose it…she wouldn’t survive. Despair dragged her into a dark place.
“There will be nothing to forgive. You won’t remember. None around you will remember me.”
“If you endanger one of my children by doing this, no level of amnesia or afterlife will stop me from hunting you down. I will make one of those angels that guard my sons march me into hell.”
“I know. I will watch over them and you. I swear.”
“You’ll remember. The memory of us will hurt you every moment of your existence without me remembering. This is once in a lifetime, Dom. Once.”
“You’re right. There won’t be another someone else.
They’re putting me into a prison of sorts again for a while.
I’ll be alone again. There will be a time I can’t watch you.
I need you to somehow remember to be on extra high alert for the next few years.
” He held her. “Let me hold you this one more time before both of us are alone. I need you to survive until I can get to you again.”
“You’re scared.”
“I don’t know if I trust them to do as promised and not target you.” Tears trickled from his eyes.
Now she was terrified. Nothing scared Dom. He once told her that no matter what happened to him, he didn’t cry.
“There has to be another way.” She lay her hand over the heavy pounding of his heartbeat in his chest. “I love you. I don’t know what I’ll be like on the other side of forgetting you.”
“You are everything. I’ll be no more than a shadow in your subconscious.”