Avenging Heart

by Desni Dantone

  “Kind of hoping?” I repeated indignantly.

  “Oh, don’t get your garter in a twist. Of course he hoped it was you.” He paused to give me a calculating look. “He’s going to kill you, you know?”

  “What? Why?”

  “Brothers?”

  “Oh,” I groaned. “Sorry. I couldn’t think of anything else. You two always insisted that you weren’t friends . . .”

  “So you came up with brothers instead?” Alec returned. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s any better, Kris.”

  “He’ll get over it,” I replied. “And so will you.”

  Alec made a face like he wasn’t convinced, and I had the sudden urge to hug him again. He was really there. Not a spirit, or ghost, or whatever it was he had been in death. He was real, and there was no countdown threatening to take him away again. Even so, after everything we had gone through, I couldn’t believe he was standing in front of me.

  I touched his shoulder gently, simply because I could. “I thought you were gone,” I murmured.

  Alec snorted softly. “So did I.”

  “What happened? I don’t remember the last few moments.”

  Alec’s brow wrinkled as he dug up his own memory of the events. “Nathan zapped Hecate with the blade, the portal started to die, and she took you all through it. It was kind of a last second thing, but she called to me as you all were falling through. So I jumped.” He ended his story with a shrug, as if the decision to jump was no big deal.

  It had brought him back to us, so it was a very big deal to me.

  “I guess death can be undone, if you’re not trapped in the underworld,” I mused. That was the only way it was possible. Even that, Hecate had been unsure of, but it must have worked.

  Because Alec was here. He was the best man in my wedding.

  I sighed heavily as the realization hit me. With everything that had just happened, getting married shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. But it was. I had always thought I would rather elope than have an official wedding. Why hadn’t we thought of that?

  Probably Callie’s meddling. She was making me go through with the whole thing. No running away, no five minute courthouse procedure. The real deal—with the dress, an officiant, the walking down the aisle . . . and everyone watching me.

  “Oh, God.” I put my hand on the doorjamb to steady myself. Suddenly the room felt too warm, and Alec’s face blurred through my crisscrossed eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Alec asked urgently.

  “I’m getting married,” I squeaked.

  “Huh. Nothing gets by you, does it?” Alec quipped as he slung my arm over his shoulder. I didn’t have to tell him what I needed. He steered me to one of the chairs by the window, and sat me down. His hand gently guided my head down, between my knees. Amusement colored his voice as he instructed, “Deep, slow breaths.”

  “It’s not funny,” I gasped.

  “It’s a little funny.”

  I ignored Alec’s chuckle as I concentrated on breathing. In. Out. Each breath blew away a layer of anxiety until my heart started beating at a normal rhythm again. My fingers felt a little numb. Other than that, I was okay.

  “Feeling better?”

  “Yeah. Thanks. I just realized what’s happening.”

  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry Nathan. I did. Very much so. It was just crazy that this—our actual wedding day—was the day we had jumped to. This moment was the moment where our lives started anew. It was a lot to take in at one time. I wondered what Nathan thought of it.

  “How’s Nathan holding up?”

  “He didn’t have a panic attack,” Alec laughed, “but I’m pretty sure he puked after I left.”

  I gave Alec a blank stare. My jaw worked, but I had no words.

  “I’m kidding, Kris.” Alec’s hand covered mine when he realized his joke had nearly induced another attack. “He was only worried it wasn’t you he was about to marry.”

  “Go tell him, will you?” I pleaded. I didn’t want him to worry anymore. “Tell him I’ll see him soon?”

  Alec’s gaze slid over my shoulder, and a grin graced his lips. “You’re not going to jump out the window, are you?”

  “No. Of course not.” Alec laughed boisterously, and I realized he was messing with me again. I gave his shoulder a playful shove. “Stop. Today is not the day for your antics.”

  “Fine. I’ll go tease my brother.” He stood, and turned for the door with a parting smile. “I never got to plan the bachelor party. I’ve got to get some fun out of this one way or another.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Callie returned shortly after Alec left with Hecate—or Mom, as she requested I call her now. Gran stopped by a few minutes later, and I flew into her arms before the door had shut behind her.

  “Oh!” She laughed as I buried my face in her neck. I had missed her laugh, her smell, her touch. Mostly I had missed her hugs. “Now, now . . .” She pushed me back to give me a smile. “I just saw you yesterday, dear.”

  I blinked, and turned a questioning gaze on Hecate. Before she could offer a response, Gran whispered, “Even though I didn’t go through it with you, I was told everything later. I know the truth, but that young one doesn’t.”

  Her head nodded in Callie’s direction, and I understood. Gran was playing it cool for Callie’s benefit. But why was it that Gran and Callie had no memory of everything that had happened?

  While Callie buzzed around the room like a hummingbird, Hecate and Gran did their best to answer my questions, and filled me in on what I had missed.

  After the portal closed, we had all ended up in different locations. Though we all remembered everything that had happened, no one knew where to find the others in our group. Hecate had eventually brought us back together. Which had not been an easy task considering she had willingly given up her magical powers. Though she was still immortal, and would always be a goddess, she chose to live a human life. For me. For as long as I needed her.

  “It was difficult,” Hecate explained in a hushed voice. “But I managed to find them all, and bring you all together again. Lillian and Jared were the last. They had found each other before I found them.”

  “Lillian is . . .”

  Hecate smiled warmly. “Her good self.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Do they remember the past year of our new lives?”

  “No.” Hecate frowned as she adjusted the neckline of my dress. “The memory lapses are a side effect of the manipulation. I remember every day of the past year, but to you all, it feels as if you have woken up today, on the same day in which we left Mount Olympus. All of the do-overs that occurred in the past year have led you to this day, but you have no recollection of them.”

  “For Callie and me, it feels as if everything you went through never happened,” Gran added. “I only know because I was told. My experiences as a hybrid prepared me for the wild tale your mother told me. But Callie . . .”

  “She has no knowledge of that existence now,” Hecate finished. “We thought it might be for the best to keep it that way.”

  I nodded thoughtfully. If only she remembered some of it. The good stuff, like her friendship with Alec, and the kindling of something more that had started between them.

  I cheered when another thought came to me. “So I apparently met Nathan again in this life?”

  Gran beamed. “Oh, yes. He actually found you before your mother tracked him down. It only took him two hours.”

  I laughed. “Two hours?”

  “I’m sure it was the longest two hours of his life. Of course, it helped that the two of you ended up in the same town. Unlike the others.”

  “We were both here in Boone?”

  Gran nodded. “You were living with me a year ago, weren’t you? He knew where to start looking. Of course you weren’t home when he came bursting in, scaring me nearly to death.”

  “Where was I?”

  “The mall,” Gran answered. “From what I understand, the two of you ma
de quite a scene in the parking lot.”

  “Oh, I bet.” My face hurt from smiling, but I couldn’t help it. I wished I remembered like she did. At least I had all of my old memories.

  “You learned to tone down your relationship with Nathan in front of Callie, and let it grow as a natural relationship would. That’s why you weren’t married sooner.”

  Though so much remained a mystery to me, the pieces of my missing year had aligned enough for me to understand. Perhaps someday I would get those memories back. Perhaps I never would. The important thing was that we all had ended up together, and we all knew the truth about how we had gotten here.

  They were all here today, of course. I spotted them the moment I left the safety of my room, and began the walk toward the gazebo. Bruce and Lillian sat together in the last row, and smiled up at me as I neared. Fortunately, there weren’t many other guests. Simple and small. Second only to eloping, it was perfect.

  I gripped my mother’s arm as we rounded the last white chair. I stepped into the aisle, and my gaze immediately sought Nathan’s. He stood on the steps of the gazebo with Alec at his side. His eyes popped against the white button-up shirt and khaki slacks that he wore, and didn’t waver from mine as I strolled toward him.

  Few guests meant very few seats, and a very short walk down the aisle. Not that I cared about the dreaded walk anymore. From the moment I saw him, I knew I would have walked a mile if I had to.

  I stood beside him, and sucked in a breath when his hand took mine. Finally.

  “Told you I would find you,” he whispered.

  A soft, but intentional, throat-clearing sounded over my shoulder, and I peeled my gaze from Nathan’s to find the source. Jared’s eyes met mine, and he lifted a shoulder at the bewildered look on my face. I supposed he was just as surprised to find himself in the role of the officiant as I was.

  So much of this day was a mystery. For all of us. As strange as it was, I honestly wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

  The ceremony was short and sweet. There were some laughs, mostly over Jared’s fumbling of his lines. I-dos and rings were exchanged, and everyone cheered when Nathan kissed me, for the first time, as his wife.

  We didn’t wait for Jared’s announcement. We hurried past the rows of seats, hand in hand, until we were out of sight of the guests. There, hidden between a trellis of flowers and the building’s brick wall, Nathan kissed me for real—a not for other’s to witness kind of kiss. The kind that buckled my knees, and forced his arm to tighten around my waist to steady me.

  I heard something that sounded like a bird squawking, and my eyes flew open long enough to witness the tail-end of Callie’s reaction to finding us. I started to giggle when she spun around in a flurry, and collided with Alec.

  Hearing the commotion behind him, Nathan pulled away with a reluctant groan.

  “You do realize you’re pressed up against the wall of a hotel, right?” Alec pondered.

  Nathan’s head dropped, but not before I caught the reluctant smile on his face. By the time he composed himself enough to offer a reply, Callie had started steering Alec in the direction of the gazebo. I heard the laughter in her voice as she reprimanded him.

  Because she thought he was funny. I hoped that meant they would, again, have the relationship I remembered them having. Someday.

  I looked away from the retreating backs of my two best friends to find Nathan watching me peculiarly.

  “What?”

  He shook his head once. “I can’t believe you told Callie he was my brother.”

  ~ ~ ~

  The courtyard was quickly converted for a celebration. When the sun set, the hotel staff lit the torches that lined the walkways, illuminating our small group in a warm glow. Soft music played. We ate, and we danced. Callie caught the bouquet; Alec caught the garter.

  “You think there’s anything to those wedding myths?” I lifted my head off Nathan’s shoulder long enough to ask. Couples danced around us, but my eyes were on one couple in particular.

  His gaze followed mine. “What myth?”

  “The one that says whomever catches the bouquet and the garter will be the next to get married.”

  I knew it didn’t mean they necessarily had to marry each other, but it was nice to dream.

  Gran bumped into me from behind, and she whispered loudly into my ear. “Yes, dear. There is definitely something to it.”

  “I never heard of that myth,” Nathan countered drily.

  “Oh, it’s not our kind of myth,” Gran dismissed with a wave of her hand. “But there is such a thing as instinct, and I have that. I predicted the two of you, didn’t I?”

  “Predicted, or hoped?” Nathan grunted.

  “You see something there, Gran?” I asked her, my eyes on Alec and Callie.

  While their relationship wasn’t where it had been, they looked friendly enough. It was a start, I thought.

  “Whatever was planted is still there,” Gran winked. “Give it time.”

  She ventured off, swinging her hips to the mellow beat like a woman half her age. Nathan and I studied our friends while they danced, oblivious to our eyes on them. Alec leaned close to say something to Callie that prompted her to smile. I recognized that smile.

  “She likes him,” I determined.

  Nathan nodded. “It might be even better the second time around.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Less drama. No history. Only a clean slate.” Nathan’s gaze held mine. “She might not remember everything. Things might be different than they were, but you never know . . . it might be better.”

  I wasn’t sure if he intended for there to be a double meaning behind his words, but I applied them to us, and our situation, as well. It would be hard to make what we already had better . . . but we sure would try.

  “Again with the words,” I murmured before welcoming his lips with mine.

  Surrounded by family and friends, it started off as an innocent enough kiss. In a matter of seconds, I started thinking about Alec’s ‘hotel’ quip. Not so much a joke now.

  A subtle throat-clearing came from behind me, and I reluctantly pulled away from Nathan to find Jared grinning at us.

  “I’ve really got to stop catching you two like this,” he grumbled, but with a smile on his face. He lifted an object in his hands, and it jingled as he passed it to Nathan. “All ready for you.”

  “Thank you,” Nathan returned.

  Jared gave a nod, but stopped before turning away. “You know . . . that should have been a job for the best man to do.”

  Nathan and I followed Jared’s gaze across the courtyard, where Alec and Callie were still dancing, oblivious to the fact that we were staring at them. Actually . . . they looked oblivious to just about everything, but each other.

  “Oh, my God,” I exclaimed, and grabbed Nathan’s arm tightly as excitement rippled through me.

  “Relax,” he told me. “Don’t go planning their wedding already.”

  “Two years,” Gran chimed in as she passed by. “Give it two years.”

  Nathan and I shared amused glances. We both knew there was no arguing with her. Besides, she had been right about Nathan and me. I hoped she was right about Alec and Callie.

  “You going to watch them all night?” Nathan teased. “Or do you want to see your wedding gift?”

  “You got me a gift?”

  His head rolled. “Not really a gift, but I think you’re going to like it. Want to say your goodbyes, and get out of here?”

  “We’re not staying here?” I hesitated, only because history had taught me to not separate from the people I cared about. Bad things happened then.

  “We’re going to see everybody tomorrow,” he promised—again, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

  “We are?”

  He shrugged. “Apparently, we have plans for brunch.”

  I cast Alec and Callie a final glance—they never noticed—before making my way around the courtyard to say goodbye to t
he others. We confirmed brunch for eleven the next day. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was happy.

  I found it was so much easier to be happy without the weight of war on my shoulders.

  Forty-five minutes after we left the hotel, Nathan turned the Jeep onto a narrow dirt road. A feeling of déjà vu slammed into me, and I sat up straighter in my seat. Though it was dark, the road looked familiar.

  “Nathan, where—”

  The headlights swept over an open field, and illuminated a small cabin nestled against the tree line. A cabin I recognized. By the time the car came to a stop near the front porch, my knee was bouncing from excitement.

  Nathan killed the engine, and turned to me. “You like?”

  “Are you kidding me?” I exclaimed. I couldn’t wait another minute. I pushed the passenger door open, and hurried up the porch steps to the front door.

  This was where it all had begun.

  This was where we had started to fall in love.

  It felt like an eternity ago, but now we were back.

  “It’s ours, by the way,” Nathan told me as he withdrew the key from his pocket.

  “How?”

  He shrugged. “No Kala system to monitor the old safe houses, and I was the only one who knew where the key was.”

  “What about Jared?”

  “I told him where to find it, and asked him to come tidy up the inside for us.”

  He impressed me once again. “It’s really ours?”

  “If you want it to be.” He slipped the key into the lock, and swung the door open.

  Spread out in front of us was a dusting of red rose petals that covered the floors, the kitchen counter to the left, the love seat and chair to the right, and the bed in the corner. Though the late summer evening was warm, a small fire burned in the fireplace, creating a soft glow that illuminated the cabin I hadn’t realized until now that I had missed.

  Aside from the rose petals, it was exactly as I remembered it. A feeling of serenity washed over me. This was where my carefree days, snuggly nights, and mornings of sleeping in until noon would happen. We would add new memories to those already created here.