Avow

CHAPTER 15

Charleston 1789

Scarlet shivered against the cold chill the wailing wind brought to her body. She slowly opened her eyes to the cutting sun of a winter sky shining off the snow-covered ground, and blinked.

Where was she? And why had she been sleeping outside in the snow? She could not remember anything about her whereabouts and had just started to panic when she saw him.

A boy—a beautiful boy—stood a few yards away from her wearing a pair of low-slung pants and an open black coat over his bare chest. He was breathing heavily, like he’d been running, and looked at her with relief and fear on his face.

“You’re safe,” he assured her, looking like both protector and predator.

But staring at him, Scarlet realized she did, indeed, feel safe.

Slowly, she stood up and took him in. He was not dressed for winter at all and his shaggy dark hair was tousled and wild. But his eyes…his eyes were breathtaking.

Green and piercing, they looked into her and held her captive. Her heart started to pound and somehow Scarlet knew she knew this boy. She just couldn’t…remember….

A commotion behind the beautiful boy broke out and two other figures slowly approached from the forest beyond.

“Scarlet.” A boy identical to the one Scarlet had been staring at carefully neared her, carrying a large blanket in his hands as he smiled.

The third boy, who looked nothing like the other two, said nothing but smiled broadly.

Unlike the first stranger, the other boys were dressed for winter, with coats and gloves and clothing covering their chests. And they both looked pleased to see her, which was more than she could say for the quiet stranger in black, standing off to the side now, but never taking his eyes from her face. She had the sudden urge to touch him.

His eyes darkened for a moment before her attention was called away by the twin boy who was now standing before her.

“Scarlet,” he said. “Do you remember who you are?”

“Yes. I’m Scarlet Jacobs,” she said automatically.

“Do you remember us? Or when you were born?”

She thought for a moment, fear creeping under her skin as she realized she had no recollection of ever being born, let alone when.

Shaking her head, she took a step back.

The twin boy who, she now realized, had brown eyes and not green, smiled at her lovingly. “We are your friends and you were born in 1523.”

Click.

A burning began behind her eyes and the forest disappeared as she slowly went blind with memories. Hundreds of memories. Swooping into her mind, each memory clicked into place against another one and, suddenly, Scarlet remembered everything.

Struggling to get back to the present, she blinked until the forest returned. “Gabriel!” She threw her arms around him with joy and an overwhelming sense of relief.

But then she remembered Tristan and his green eyes and open heart…and the way he’d loved her and how he had fled from her when she had started to die—

“Tristan!” Her arms fell from Gabriel as she whipped around in search of her Hunter, desperate to embrace him.

But he had vanished.

“Where is he?” Scarlet looked first to Gabriel, then to Nathaniel.

“He has left in order to keep you safe,” Nathaniel said.

“If it is so critical to keep us apart, then why did he come to the forest to get me?” Scarlet put her hands on her hips, determined to argue her way into Tristan’s arms, if only for a moment.

Gabriel wrapped the blanket around her. “Tristan is the one who found you, Scarlet. Because of your connection he can feel where you are.”

“Oh.” Right. Tristan could feel her. Could he feel how she wanted to run after him right now?

Nathaniel cleared his throat, his smile a bit too bright. “You’re alive again. Isn’t that wonderful?” He spoke with a strange accent. Odd.

“How long was I dead?” Scarlet asked.

“About a hundred years.” Gabriel said pleasantly, as if skipping a century of time was good news and not severely bizarre.

His voice held the same accent as Nathaniel’s, no longer sounding English. It sounded…less soft.

“Come,” Gabriel said. “Let us take you back home.”

The boys chatted away endlessly as they led her through the trees, telling her about the new land they occupied and what the world was now like. Scarlet was barely listening.

A hundred years. She’d lost a hundred years. She was overwhelmed and confused. And she was impatient to get back to Tristan, where she always felt at home.

They came upon a large home nestled in a thick clump of trees with tall, white pillars in front and shrubs lining the drive.

“This is Gabriel’s home,” Nathaniel said.

“And it shall be yours too.” Gabriel smiled at Scarlet.

She raised a brow. “I will be living with you?”

“Yes,” Nathaniel said. “And I live not far away, so I shall be able to check on you every few weeks, to ensure you are healthy.”

“Nathaniel has become a doctor in your absence,” Gabriel explained. “And, unlike magic, he is actually quite good.”

Nathaniel glared at him.

They entered the house and took Scarlet to a large open room where Tristan was waiting for them. His arms crossed, his face expressionless. He looked older than before, and more wearisome. He stood on the farthest side of the giant room while Gabriel placed a gentle hand on Scarlet’s arm to keep her at the exact opposite side of the space.

“What is this?” She looked down at where Gabriel was latched onto her, annoyance pricking her insides.

“This is us, keeping you safe.” Nathaniel said.

Nathaniel stood casually in between Scarlet and Tristan. “Since we now have a better understanding of how fatal Tristan’s presence is to your heart, we have decided it’s in everyone’s best interest if you and he are separated in this life.”

“I decided no such thing.” Scarlet’s eyes stayed on Tristan, hoping to break down his icy stare with the anger she knew he could feel swirling inside her chest.

Gabriel cleared his throat. “It’s only until we find a cure for you.”

Scarlet slowly turned her eyes to Gabriel, staring at him with a harshness he didn’t deserve. “The cure you’ve been seeking for a hundred years without success?”

A pained expression crossed his face.

She turned back to Tristan. “And you? What are your thoughts on this?” She started to walk toward him, but Gabriel’s soft grip tightened.

Scarlet snapped her eyes to him. “Let go of me.”

“You can’t touch him, Scarlet,” he said softly, sincere regret on his face.

“I will not touch him. I only wish to speak to him.”

And maybe touch him.

With a warning glare, Gabriel slowly released her arm and Scarlet took a few steps deeper into the room until she was halfway to Tristan.

“What are your thoughts on this plan?” she asked again.

Tristan was silent for a moment. “It was my idea.”

He had the funny accent too. What was happening? Everything had changed. Everything was different.

“Your idea?” She stared at him in disbelief then turned to Nathaniel. “Isn’t Tristan in pain when he is away from me? Surely we can formulate a less severe arrangement. Why should he subject himself to discomfort on my behalf?”

“Because I’ve already lived for hundreds of years, Scarlet,” Tristan’s weary voice matched the look in his eyes. “And pain is nothing when compared to death, so I am leaving. Today.” He kept his eyes carefully mounted to her face. Blank. Empty of feeling.

Scarlet blinked.

Today? He was leaving today?

But she’d barely come back to life!

Her heart started to pound and her throat constricted. For a brief moment, the emptiness in Tristan’s eyes disappeared, replaced by something sorrowful.

Good.

She wanted him to feel her pain. To hate it. To want to soothe it.

But then he was back to standing stoic, staring at her like she was a stubborn child.

After a few deep breaths, and an inner monologue made up of several curse words, Scarlet kept her voice perfectly even. “Very well.”

Without another word or look in Tristan’s direction, she turned and walked from the room. She had no idea what doors led to what rooms, but she needed to get away from Tristan before she screamed. Or heaven forbid, cried. She went into the hallway, randomly chose a door, and found herself in parlor of sorts.

Frustrated and unbelievably sad, she made her way to a large, velvet chair in the corner. Sitting down, she knotted her hands together and stared out the large parlor window. Tristan was going to leave her?

A new century she could handle. Losing Tristan, she could not.

A quiet click sounded from the door and Tristan entered the room.

“Have you come to say farewell?” she asked with all the bitterness her tongue could muster.

He nodded once, shutting the door behind him. “I am leaving in just a few minutes.”

A few minutes. Her eyes stung.

She straightened her shoulders. She would not cry. “So you shall leave and then what? What will become of us?”

Tristan rubbed a hand across his mouth. “I don’t know.”

He had slipped back into his native accent and the gesture was so thoughtful it hurt.

She hated him. “And if we never find a cure, what then?”

“I don’t know.”

She hated him. “Will you leave me in every life?”

His eyes glinted. “I don’t know, Scar.”

Anger pricked her insides. “So because you cannot touch me, you will abandon me.”

“That is not the reason—“

“Isn’t it? You can’t have my body so you’ve decided not to—“

“This isn’t about touching you, Scarlet!” Frustration laced his voice.

“Do not be angry with me!”

“I’m not angry.” He exhaled. “I’m terrified. I could kill you. Kill you. Again.”

A moment of silence passed as they stared at each other, heartbreak colliding in the space between them.

“I watched you die, Scar. I watched my blood tear your heart in half. That is not something I can do again.”

“But I came back to life.” A sliver of hope splintered her chest. “I shall always come back to life—“

“And what of all the years in between?” he said. “What of the years where I live with the memories of watching you in pain, living in guilt of your agony? The years I am completely alone and inconsolable? Shall I just forget those years?”

Her heart broke apart at his words.

“I will not kill you, Scar.” His eyes were bleak, sucking the sliver of hope from her heart.

He looked at the floor. “I put away some money for you. It should be plenty for whatever you choose to do with your life. Nathaniel will make sure you can access it.”

“I don’t want your money. I want you to stay.”

He looked at her. “I am going to leave so you may have a life, Scar.”

She shook her head. “If you leave me, I will hate you forever.”

It was a lie. It was a terrible, painful, desperate lie and Tristan knew it.

He dropped his eyes to the floor and nodded his head. “Your hate would never change my love.”

And then he left.

Alone in the parlor, Scarlet let centuries of tears spill down her face.