“You don’t know what you’re saying, River. You can’t marry a ghost.”
At this, I couldn’t help but grin. If Ben failed to meet his end of the bargain with the fae, I would indeed find myself engaged to a ghost. As strong as our love was, even I couldn’t see how such a relationship could last. But with the euphoria of seeing him again now, the feel of his body pressed against mine, the taste of his lips on mine, I couldn’t bring myself to think about the consequences. If he indeed became a ghost again, we would have to cross that bridge when we came to it.
There was no way I could think to answer other than, “Ben, I accept your proposal.”
He began shaking his head and even scoffed. “You’re crazy, River.”
“You were the one who asked.” I paused to raise a brow. “And don’t try to pretend you weren’t asking.”
At this, he stalled, even a look of regret crossing his face. “I shouldn’t have. It just… it just came out.”
“Well, my answer just came out, too.”
Seeing his lips part to respond again, I quickly smothered them with my own, drawing him into a series of deep, passionate kisses. By the time we broke apart, he was no longer frowning, and his eyes positively sparkled. Our foreheads pressed together, I ran my nose along the bridge of his.
“Accept my love, Ben,” I breathed. “I’m giving it to you.”
“I don’t even have a ring to offer you,” he replied, his voice husky.
“You’ve run enough rings around me already.”
His eyes surged with warmth as he engulfed me in another kiss, and then without warning, he bolted us both upward, even higher. Soon we had shot out from the island’s boundary completely and emerged in a brilliant sun-streaked sky.
Making out like we were drowning, our legs twining in the air, neither of us could care that we would have to call the attention of The Shade’s witches to be let back inside.
Because it didn’t matter what happened when we returned to the ground.
We’d find a way. I knew it.
My Hero and I.
Epilogue: Aisha
I couldn’t believe I’d let the little nit escape.
After one of the crabs speared Uma the witch through the gut, Julie slipped from my grasp and I lost sight of her on the ship. She must’ve slid into the water. I scoured the surrounding waves before it occurred to me that perhaps she would be so mad as to return to the witch surgeon’s island for her other beloved Bloodless. The one Uma had supposedly been experimenting on.
I cursed myself for not thinking of this before and hurried to the island. But when I arrived, it was to find the operating table the Bloodless had been strapped to empty. I searched every other room in the witch’s castle, but could only reach the infuriating conclusion that Julie had gotten here before me.
I searched the waters surrounding Uma’s island, trying to spot a boat. Finally I spotted it, but it was where I’d least expected to find it. On the shores of the ogres’ kingdom.
The vessel was far too small for any ogre, and based on my memory of the boats that had been moored in the witch’s harbor, this was of a similar build. I was convinced that it must’ve been Julie’s and for whatever crazy reason she’d decided to stop over on the ogres’ island. But entering the ogres’ kingdom would be suicide for her and probably also her skeleton friend. Maybe she’d just abandoned the boat on the beach, but then where else would she have gone?
That was when I remembered that there was a portal to the human realm on the ogres’ beach. Perhaps the two had traveled through there…
The thought that she could have done this gave me chills. She was certainly selfish enough to bring the toxic creature into the human realm. Perhaps she’d thought that was the best place to hide from me, for I was sure that she knew that I would not let her go lightly. Well, she was rather stupid to leave her boat so visible. I roamed the beach until I arrived at the portal. Lowering myself, I shot into the swirling tunnel and through the starry abyss. Arriving on the other end, I burst out through the opening of an old, dilapidated well.
Gazing around, I was in a jungle. A hot, sticky jungle. I drifted upward through the canopy of leaves and arrived out in the open, where I had a bird’s eye view of a small tropical island.
Hmm… Now, vampire, where should we start our game of hide-and-seek?
In spite of the heat, I moved back down to the undergrowth and began my search. A search that proved fruitless. Either they were both exceptionally good at hiding, or they weren’t taking shelter in the shade of the mainland and were instead somewhere along the beaches.
I roamed the shores, and as I’d almost finished circling the entire island with still no sign of the couple, I began to think that maybe Julie had been smarter than I’d thought. Maybe she’d left her boat on the ogres’ beach as a red herring. Just as annoyance was boiling up within me, I spotted something strange on a stretch of sand, about ten feet away and close to the water’s edge. This trip had not been fruitless after all…
The white sand was stained with large patches of blood. There was also hair. Long, fine black hair, strewn about near the blood, and then nearby were shreds of clothing. Clothing that resembled the tattered outfit Julie had been wearing when I’d last sighted her.
It did not take a genius to work out what must’ve happened to the girl. She’d lost control of her friend, and gotten turned into a Bloodless. I couldn’t help but smirk at the irony of it all. Oh, karma. You and I should be friends.