Chapter 19

CHAPTERNINETEEN

“Fucking hell.”

Raina’s exclamation would have made her laugh out loud, except returning to her body was every bit as excruciating as she’d expected it to be.

Ramona drew in a ragged breath, punctuated by a moan.

“Shit, get…go get Matilda and Isabella,” Raina barked the order. “And anyone else who knows anything about healing. Or painkillers.”

Ramona sensed people scampering to do Raina’s bidding as she tried to hold her eyes open. It was difficult, because they were flooded with tears, a mix of the good, the sorrowful and holy hell, this hurt.

Though even rolling her eyes caused agony, she glanced down. They’d laid out her body in a dress made of a fabric she’d woven herself, out of silk and merino wool, dyed in swirling colors. It swished around her hips but had a shaped bodice and embroidered V-neckline. Silas would like it. Her feet were bare, and her toenails had been painted. Her fingernails hadn’t, because of how torn up her hands had been.

That was part of the pain. Restoring her life had restored her physical body and was healing it at an accelerated pace, but it was a little like having band-aids ripped off of mortal wounds. Over and over again, by gleeful imps. She wondered if she’d have scars grooved in spirals along her upper arms and legs, a memory of the soul threads. That would be kind of cool. Especially overlaid by those ribbons Silas could summon when he was feeling particularly…Masterful.

“You were going to cremate me in my favorite dress,” she said. “And bare feet. Very appropriate.”

“I’m going to slap her,” Ruby said.

“Wait until everything doesn’t hurt. Though a hug would be nice.” Her voice was raspy. It sounded almost as sultry as Raina’s.

Her sisters leaned over her, filling her vision. She reached up to touch Raina’s collarbone, her sable hair. Ruby’s ponytail twined around her other fingers. Even though the effort made her gasp, she needed to touch them. “We did it,” she murmured.

“We did. Though you did a lot of the heavy lifting.”

“My eyes tell me otherwise.”

Raina’s left arm was in a sling and she had bent over Ramona gingerly, favoring that wounded place in her side. Ruby was sitting in a chair, as if standing was a problem. Both displayed bruises and scratches, burns. “If you two hadn’t guarded The Gate, and helped keep the Loom going, I couldn’t have done anything.”

She closed her eyes, shuddered. “Shit, it hurts,” she whimpered. “I’m glad it hurts, because I’m alive, and I’m going to stay alive, but it really hurts.”

“We’re getting something that will help,” Raina promised. She pressed a kiss to Ramona’s forehead, and Ruby did the same to her hand, holding it gently. “Glad you didn’t leave us,” Raina added, her voice uneven. “We promised we’d be three old crones together.”

“I think we’re going to be more than that,” Ramona said. “Our retirement may be different than we planned.”

They exchanged curious looks, but there’d be time to tell them. Right now, she needed something else. “Silas?”

“He’s not…oh wait.” Amusement threaded through the tearful relief in Ruby’s voice. “A storm just blew all the furniture off Raina’s porch. I’m betting that’s him.”

“Damn immortal males,” Raina grumbled. “No respect for property.”

“Buford…”

“I’ll send Derek to get him. Poor guy’s been beside himself. Cathair’s been keeping him company, though.”

Drawing in a breath was overwhelming enough, let alone finding words. But she nodded, because it was important. So was what she could feel now.

He was in the room.

He was being kind and considerate enough to give her friends time with her, to celebrate her being alive, even as the energy of his impatience to be near her took up all available space.

Raina made a subtle gesture to Ruby, and they withdrew. Then he was there, his green eyes concerned for her, her protective Master wanting to take away her pain, but there were good kinds of pain in the world. This was one of them.

“Being dead felt better, at least from a physical standpoint,” she noted. He picked up her hand, laid it on top of his palm and curled his fingers loosely around hers, just to let her feel the connection. It took her back to The Gate, when they’d touched it together, when he’d been the strong one, trying to help her go through, even though she could already see the desolation in his gaze. It made her grip his hand tight, no matter the cost. The message she was sending made it worth it.

“You’re back,” he said quietly, amusement in his warm gaze. She wasn’t sure what he meant until he tilted his head, drawing her attention around them. There were fireflies, butterflies, hummingbirds, and yes, dragonflies, cutting circles around the room. Raina was firing orders at Li and Saul to open windows to shepherd them out, while closing the doors to the parlor so they didn’t get lost in the house’s many rooms.

Ramona couldn’t stop herself; waves of magic kept coming from her like she was a bubble machine. Which meant now there were also bubbles.

Bubbles of happiness, touched with colors, rainbows of blues, silvers, gold and more. Wind rippled through the room, moving the curtains, lifting Raina’s hair and swirling it around her like a cloak. She shot Ramona a look of mock exasperation, but there was so much love and joy in her friend’s green-gold eyes, Ramona knew she’d be forgiven.

Normally they’d put shielding in place to help her modulate her magic, keep it from disrupting their homes, but today Raina and Ruby seemed to be celebrating the unexpected things her magic was tossing out into the world. Like the unexpected yet welcome things that could be thrown in one’s life path. Her attention went back to Silas.

Isabella approached her other side, had her sip from a tonic. “You taught me how to prepare this, remember? It will put you to sleep, help the healing, while giving you a break from the pain. It will be less when you wake up. You’ll feel better.”

“I can’t imagine feeling any better than I do now.” She tapped a weak finger against his palm. “Silas.”

“I am here. Always.”

“Don’t neglect your souls while I sleep. Help them. And figure out how to help the ones that are still lost.”

He held her gaze. Love united in purpose might make separation no less painful, but it made the bond itself all the stronger. “I will do anything you wish. But I will sit with you a while first. Soulmate.”

They were just beginning this life together, and would have much to learn about one another. But now she was certain he would be with her, throughout every life she lived.

The bond between them would be as strong as the thread of a soul itself.