Blessedly cool rainwater pummeled him, soothing the burning in his chest. Cooling the pain. Nathan opened his mouth to cry out in mingled anguish and relief. And the tongues of flame on his body hissed out their final breaths, and died. Nathan closed his eyes, certain he was about to do the same.
* * * *
NIDABA RACED FORWARD, gasping at the sight of the thin spirals of smoke rising from her beloved Eannatum’s chest. She stared aghast at his scorched shirt, the blistered skin and gaping wound with its blackened edges.
“Put him down, George. Right here in the rain.”
“Did I... did I help him?” the big man asked, dropping to his knees to lay Natum down on the wet grass. He leaned over his friend, his face contorted with worry. Beside him the dog, Queenie, looked nearly as worried as George did.
“Yes. You helped him more than any of us could,” Nidaba said. She knelt on Natum’s other side and framed his face with her hands. “Live, Eannatum,” she whispered. “Live. Damn you, you must. Do you hear me?”
“Nidaba... Mother... ?” Nicodimus knelt beside her, encircled her shoulders with his arm. “He saved my life.”
“He only wanted a chance to know you. He’s your father, Nicodimus. Or he was... in the lifetime before.”
“I know. He... he told me.”
“Live, Natum. Please, please, live. I can’t bear this to be the end, do you understand me? I can’t.”
She pressed her hands to his chest, wishing with everything in her that she would feel his heart beating strong and steady. There was silence, utter stillness, but Nidaba then felt something else. That sensation of another person embracing her. Another hand, surrounding hers. Another force moving though her.
Her hand grew hot, and a soft white light came from her palm, suffusing the entire area of Nathan’s wound in its glow. The heat intensified, grew, nearly scorched her, but she didn’t move. She just let it happen.
And then the light faded, and her palm cooled... and she felt the beating of Natum’s heart against her hand.
“Oh, my Goddess,” she whispered as tears streamed down her face.
Exactly. The word echoed in her mind.
Eannatum’s eyes opened. He stared up at her, lifted a hand, curled it around her nape and drew her face down to his. He kissed her, gently, softly.
“Oh, no, the house!” Arianna cried.
They all turned to look. The living room was fully engulfed in flames, and the fire was spreading rapidly, licking its way toward the roof.
“Puabi?” Natum asked.
“She was still inside.” Nidaba spoke the words with a hint of regret, even though she knew Puabi probably deserved no sympathy, given all the harm she had done in her lifetime. She also knew that she and Eannatum were partly to blame for what the woman had ultimately become.
Natum closed his eyes, bowed his head. “I wish...”
“I know,” Nidaba said softly. “I know.” Drawing a breath, she looked up at her son. “Nicky, we need to get some help. The fire department. This is Natum’s home, he loves this place. We have to–”
“No.” Eannatum sat up slowly and reached up for a hand. Nicodimus closed his hand around his father’s and helped him to his feet. For a moment, the two remained that way, standing there, face-to-face, hands clasped. Natum looked into Nicodimus’s eyes, and his became moist. “Good to meet you... Nicodimus. At long last. You make a hell of a first impression, you know.” As he said it, he rubbed his nose, which was already healing.
“So do you,” Nicodimus said with a grin. “Saving my life, I mean.”
“Natum... your house!” Nidaba tugged him around to face her, trying to get him to pay attention to his home. But he only looked at George, and smiled broadly.
“You okay, my friend?”
“I’ll be okay, Nathan. I’m just glad I left the pigeon coop open.” He looked up and pointed. The pigeons were already fleeing into the night, vanishing instantly, swallowed up by the darkness.
Natum turned to Nidaba. “We need to talk.”
“But Natum, your house!”
He glanced toward Nicodimus. His son gave him a nod. “Hey, George, what do you say you come with Arianna and me? We’ll fix up your scratches, get you something to eat, some dry clothes, okay?”
George looked down at the Rottweiler by his side. “Can Queenie come with us, too?”
“Sure.”
“Just a minute,” Nidaba said, and she moved forward, put a hand on the dog’s head. No tingling jolt rushed through her. She nodded, satisfied this one was the real dog, and gave her a loving scratch between the ears. Then she nodded her assent. “It’s okay. She’s the real Queenie, not the impostor.”
Nidaba glanced toward the flames and felt a heavy sadness for Puabi, in spite of herself. They’d had a lot in common, the two of them. Both willing to fight and die for the love of one man.
Natum gave George a nod and George walked with Nicodimus and Arianna toward the car the two had arrived in. Queenie ran along beside him. Nic called back, “There’s an inn nearby. The Hampton. You know it?”
Natum nodded. “We’ll be along. Later.”
“Natum?” Nidaba whispered.
“I know, I know. My house. Come on, love. We still have not finished our conversation. I had no idea I had so much more to say to you, but I find that I do. Besides, we have a proper farewell to say. To Sheila.”
“But the house...”
“Let the damned house burn. I don’t need it anymore. What I need, Nidaba—all I need—is for you to come with me. Let me say what I need to say to you before you walk away from me again. I’m not going to let you go this time until you’ve heard everything I have to tell you. Everything I’m thinking and feeling. And until you’ve told me everything you are thinking and feeling in return. You understand?”
She nodded, looking into his eyes, and seeing a familiar gleam there. He radiated a familiar power. He was himself again, she thought. At last. She had located her long missing king.
* * * *
AS THE DAWN broke over the waves, Eannatum and Nidaba sat in the small boat, staring down at the still water. It was the same spot where they’d lowered Sheila’s body, and while the currents had long since carried her away, they returned to this spot to honor her. Nidaba had chanted long prayers in Sumerian, and Eannatum had joined her. There hadn’t been time before for more than a hurried farewell. So now they said their good-byes, wished her soul well on its journey, shed their tears. Looking back at the shore, all Eannatum saw was a pile of smoldering wreckage, charred beams, refuse where his house, his haven, his make-believe world, had once stood.
“You were right, you know,” he said very softly.
“Was I?”
He nodded. “I’ve been living a lie, Nidaba. I’m not an ordinary man. I’m not a quiet antique dealer from New England. I am Eannatum. Immortal High Witch. King of the greatest nation of its time.”
She smiled. “You’re more than that, you know. More than even I realized. We both are.” She clasped his hands in hers and stared into his eyes. “We’ve been given this gift for a reason, Eannatum. Not just so we can live forever, grow more powerful, battle the Dark Ones. There’s more to it. There has to be.”
He hesitated for a moment. “I saw... something back there at the house. A being... surrounding you like a nimbus.”
“It was... something greater than any of us,” she whispered. “A force beyond what I understood before. Beyond any God or Goddess I know by name... more like... All. Like All that ever was or ever will be, combined into one being that is you and is me and is... everything. Even Puabi.”
He stared into her eyes. “And what does this being want from us?” he asked, his voice touched with wonder.
“I don’t know. I only know... there’s more to this than I have understood. We need to find out what, and set about the business of doing what we were put here to do.”
“It has taken me four thousand years to understand one of the most impo
rtant things I was put here to do, Nidaba. But I know it now. So perhaps we can start with that.”
She nodded. “Yes. Of course we can. What is it, Natum, that you believe you should be doing?”
He lifted a hand, cupped her cheek. “Loving you. Endlessly, deeply, passionately loving you, my beautiful priestess.”
A joyful smile spread across her face and her eyes gleamed. “Eternity is a long time to love one woman.”
“You are more like... like a collage of all womankind. Far beyond one woman. And I have already loved you for an eternity. If I couldn’t stop in four thousand, five hundred years, even when I tried, why should I expect it to change from now until forever?”
“I cannot live as a mortal, Natum.”
“And I cannot live without you, Nidaba.” He smiled very slowly. “We should marry. The way we should have long ago. In fact, we should marry a hundred times, in every form of wedding rite that exists. We’ll have a Christian ceremony, and a Buddhist one, a Wiccan handfasting, a Sumerian marriage rite, and everything else we can think of. Just... just tell me you still love me, Nidaba. Even if it’s only a little bit. I know I’ve hurt you deeply, but I swear—”
“Shh.” She pressed her lips to his and kissed him tenderly. When their lips finally parted, he was stunned to see tears in her eyes. “I have loved you for all my lifetimes, Eannatum. And for all those yet to come, I will love you still.”
He looked at her beloved face, into her beautiful, dark eyes, and he knew she meant it. They were meant to be together, had been from the very first day they had met, a young prince and a precocious little priestess who wanted to learn to write. Chosen and placed on this planet for some purpose, yes, but one they could find, and understand, and ultimately accomplish only if they were together. This was their destiny.
“Gods, but we’ve wasted so much time,” he said, pulling her close, savoring the miracle that was Nidaba.
“Yes, we have, my love. But we aren’t going to waste any more.”
THE END
If you enjoyed Immortal Love you may also like
The Witch Collection
Three unrelated witch novellas by Maggie Shayne
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author Maggie Shayne has published more than 50 novels and 23 novellas. She has written for 7 publishers and 2 soap operas, has racked up 15 Rita Award nominations and actually, finally, won the damn thing in 2005.
Maggie lives in a beautiful, century old, happily haunted farmhouse named “Serenity” in the wildest wilds of Cortland County, NY, with her soul-mate, Lance. They share a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer & Daisy, and a little English Bulldog, Niblet, and the wise guardian and guru of them all, the feline Glory, who keeps the dogs firmly in their places. Maggie’s a Wiccan high priestess (legal clergy even) and an avid follower of the Law of Attraction
Connect with Maggie
Maggie's Website
Maggie's Bliss Blog
Twitter
Facebook
MySpace
Also Available
THE FAIRIES OF RUSH
Fairytale
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Forever Enchanted
Amazon | Barnes & Noble |Kobo | iTunes
THE IMMORTAL WITCH SERIES
Eternity, Book 1
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Infinity, Book 2
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Destiny, Book 3
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
STAND ALONE TITLES
Annie's Hero
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Forgotten Vows
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Dr. Duffy's Close Encounter
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Miranda's Viking
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
NOVELLAS
The Fairy's Wish
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
The Bride Wore A Forty-Four
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Witch Moon
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Musketeer By Moonlight
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Everything She Does is Magick
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
BUNDLES
The Fairy Collection Boxed Set
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
The Bad Ass Brides Collection
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
The Witch Collection
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
AND MAGGIE'S NON-FICTION
Shayne on You
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Magick and the Law of Attraction: A User's Guide
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Eternal Love: The Immortal Witch Series Page 95
