Status Updates From A Heart of Bitter Poison (T...

I give myself nothing more than that breath and the heartbeats it contains. And then I make a choice.  It’s not him I need to trust this time. It’s me.  I need to believe that everything I’ve seen and felt is real. I know what I saw in the man that I chose. What’s in my own heart. I know that the love I feel is not an illusion. And I know what I am capable of, on my own, without anyone else.

“…I had to know you were safe. I had to see it for myself.” Ashen pulls away and lays his hand on my face, brushing tears away from my skin. His own eyes shine in the light that surrounds us. “I will always come for you. No matter how long it takes me or who stands in my way. No matter the realm. I love you, Lu.”

“If I get rabies from these fucking sky mice, I will cut you,” I say, glaring up at the angel. “Likewise if your kind gives me angel rabies. You’re the first person I’ll bite when I’m foaming at the mouth.”  Aloros looks down at me with a combination of confusion and disgust. “You are an odd creature,” he says.  I sigh. Why is it that the Reaper is the only one aside from Ediye to really get me?

“Embrace your end, demon. For these are your last breaths in any realm,” a deep, familiar voice booms above the blinding light. Ember is still screaming when I shield my eyes and look into the light.  Blood pours from her severed arm. Ember’s hand lies in the snow, curled up at me like a dying spider.