“Sure, that’s no problem, Jayne,” Carl said.
“Have fun with your boyfriend,” Ashley said.
“Oh, I will.” I handled their teasing with a smile, not fazed in the least. They had no way of knowing the extent of my relationship with Aaron.
*~*
By the time I stepped out of the library, a light snow had started to fall. I held my hand out and let the flakes lick my palm. The icy moisture sent a shiver down my spine, and I smiled.
“I thought maybe you weren’t coming out.”
I turned around as Aaron stepped out of the shadows. His oxford shoes and khaki pants blended in here with all of the other properly dressed students. He wore a red sweater over his collared shirt, and I closed my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me. He smelled like leather and pine and maybe a little bit of the underworld.
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever get out of there either,” I said. I slipped my hand into his, and we started down the walkway toward the apartments below campus. The contact of his skin on mine generated a familiar warmth, something that stirred me deep in my soul.
“Anything exciting happen today?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I learned I don’t really have much of an affinity for biology.”
“You learned that yesterday.”
“It gets reinforced every day.”
“Any deaths I should be expecting?”
I’d Seen more than a dozen today whose fates I had not attempted to change, but the majority still had years in front of them before they died. And not every death required the intercession of the fates.
Nor did every death require assistance to get the underworld. Some souls left their bodies without hesitation and found their way without either Aaron’s or Saule’s help. But for those who didn’t, he was always on call.
I cast him a sideways glance. “Does it ever bother you? That you’ve been roped into this role for eternity?”
“Are you kidding? Being the grim reaper has always been at the top of my career choices.”
I laughed, but then Aaron said, “I get to be a part of something amazing, and I get to be a part of what you do. That makes it all worthwhile.”
“And it fits right in with your job at the hospital.”
When we were in high school, Aaron had worked at the hospital as a private entertainer for birthday parties and special occasions. He still did volunteer work at the hospital, but now he planned to pursue the life of a licensed physician. A pediatric oncologist, to be exact. He wanted to specialize in cancer treatments for children. He no longer dressed up as a clown, either. Instead he went as himself, and he would read books to the children or sit with them at meal time. Sometimes he brought me along so I could scan to see who would die soon. He would make sure to be there when it happened. He thought the children might feel more comfortable with a familiar face when they died.
“They’re not frightened when they see me,” he said. “They recognize me and trust me.”
We had reached my apartment now, and I turned around, leaning against my front door.
“You’re the best grim reaper there ever was,” I teased.
Aaron stepped up to me and put his hands on my shoulders, then ran them down my arms. His hands stopped at my wrists, then slid to my hips. He sidled closer. “Looks like you’re doing pretty good as a goddess of fate.”
“Only pretty good?” I stuck my lip out and pouted. “I’m not the best ever?”
His eyes locked on my mouth, and then he looked at me. “The jury’s still out.”
He bent his head and captured my mouth with his. The snowflakes landed like little shocks of cold on my skin, but the heat of his mouth ignited a fire in my chest. It spread to my fingertips, and I gripped the edges of his sweater, feeling as if I would take flight if I didn’t hold on.
He broke away, taking my hands in his and removing them. Black scorch marks marred the red pattern of the fabric, and he brushed off what appeared to be ash.
“Careful, little phoenix. This is a new sweater. My roommates are starting to wonder why all of them have burn marks. They think I’m a closet smoker.”
I gave a self-chiding laugh. “Sorry. Can’t help it. You have that effect on me.”
He kissed me again, and this time the slow burn started somewhere behind my belly button. It was hard to control the fire in my body when all I wanted to do was give in to the heat of his mouth.
He drew away, his blue eyes looking over my face. “Your hair is smoking.” He took a step back. “I better go before we set something on fire.”
It wasn’t an idle threat; it had happened before. “I love you.” I never missed a chance to tell him. I would never forget what he had done for me.
“Not as much is I love you.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Until next time.”
I hummed as I let myself into my apartment, aware that next time could be tomorrow or the day after or a midnight encounter tonight as the goddess of fate and the god of the dying. And we were still young and taking our time, but the outcome of our relationship had been determined for thousands of years.
This whole time I had feared my marriage to Jumis was written in the stars, something that was meant to be, when really, it was Aaron all along. I was destined to be wife to the god of death himself, and there wasn’t anything that could make me happier.
Bibliography
Alcott, Frances Jenkins: Wonder Tales from Baltic Wizards: Pagan Mythology, Shamanism, and Magic from Finland, Lapland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Compass Rose Technologies, Chicago, IL., 2010.
Baltic-crossroads.com/symbols.php
Eldermountaindreaming.com/category/latvia-traditions/latvia-symbolism/
Forthisjoyousoccasion.com/ceremony-with-wiccanpagan-handfasting.html
Grimes, Algirdas J.: Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology, transl. Milda Newman, Indiana University Press, 1992.
Machal, Jan: Slavic Mythology. Mythology ebooks, 2010.
weddings.traditionscustoms.com/lithuanian_wedding
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Tamara Hart Heiner is a mom, wife, baker, editor, and author. She currently lives in Arkansas with her husband, four children, a cat, a rabbit, a dog, and several fish. She would love to add a macaw and a sugar glider to the family. She’s the author of several young adult suspense series (Perilous, Goddess of Fate, Kellam High) the Cassandra Jones saga, and a nonfiction book about the Joplin Tornado, Tornado Warning.
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Destined (Goddess of Fate Book 4) Page 20
