accomplished. Now, how about that
cigarette?”
Kayden tossed his arm over my
shoulder and shook his head. Closing the door to the room, he said, “Good luck,
Tommy.” Tommy’s answering chuckle was drowned out as we stepped out into the
hallway.
I looked up at Kayden. “Good
luck? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kayden gave me an innocent look.
“Nothing at all,” he said.
I gave him a light jab in the
side, and he laughed. “You’re abusive.”
“Umm hmm,” I said. “To say the
least.”
Kayden laughed at this, and
together we walked down the dimly lit hallway, the only light offered from the
tiny glittering stars placed into the walls. When Kayden pushed open the door
that led to the outside of the cottage, the real stars overhead blinked in the
night sky as though we had awakened them. I stepped off of the path that the
door led out to and into the small garden that flanked it. A few Pixies
fluttered around, floating from flower to flower, trailing light behind them like
tiny comets. I took a seat on a carved wooden bench that sat beside the house,
and Kayden sat down next to me.
Retrieving a cigarette and
lighter from my pocket, I set flame to it and inhaled deeply. The smoke felt
pleasantly poisonous in my lungs. I rested my head on Kayden’s shoulder at
stared out at the night. “Kayden, what do you think happens when we die?”
Now who’s being morbid?
“Oh, shut up.”
Kayden was quiet for so long that
I lifted my head to look at him, wondering if maybe he hadn’t heard me. But his
golden eyes met mine and I saw that he had. I waited. Finally, he released a
long sigh. “I don’t know, Alexa” he said, and his soft Scottish accent gave me
goose bumps the way it always did when he said my real name. “But I don’t think
it matters either way.”
I sat back and thought about this
for a time, and as always, Kayden was more than happy to let silence hang
between us. He had always been a man of few words, and this answer was so much
like him that it didn’t surprise me in the least. Also, the more I thought
about it, the more I thought he was probably right.
He surprised me when he spoke
again. “It doesn’t really matter because death is inevitable for everything
that lives.” His head tilted back as he stared up at the stars. I watched his
face, as raptured as I always was when Kayden decided to share his rare bits of
wisdom. “Except maybe the Gods,” he said, “But everything that has a life must
lose it eventually. What matters is that it was a life worth living.”
I felt stupid tears threaten inexplicably
and forced them back with a few deep breaths. My voice was smaller than I would
have liked when I asked, “Is it, Kayden? Is it worth living?”
Kayden tilted my chin up with his
fingers and kissed my lips, and the answer to my question was evident to me in
his touch. “Oh, yes, my Warrior,” he said, his golden eyes burning into my own.
“I really think it is.”
I glanced around me now,
wondering if we were alone enough for me to climb onto his lap and have another
taste of something that made life worth living, but something caught my eye,
and as much as I tried, it was too distracting to ignore it. I stared out into
the night before us and at first could not locate the thing that had caught my
attention. The cabins and cottages were still dark and silent, the red maple
trees still in the windless night. The sky overhead was still black with its
sprinkling of sugar, but something was different. Something was… off.
And my Gladius, where it was
tucked into the waistband of my jeans at my back sent a cool shiver up my
spine. I was on my feet before I could blink, and Kayden’s movement followed
only a split second later. “What is it?” he asked, his voice hard and low.
Looking all around me, hands
clenched at my sides, I said, “I don’t know.”
Then the answer struck me like a
bolt of lightning, and my brow furrowed in confusion. “The Pixies,” I
cigarette?”
Kayden tossed his arm over my
shoulder and shook his head. Closing the door to the room, he said, “Good luck,
Tommy.” Tommy’s answering chuckle was drowned out as we stepped out into the
hallway.
I looked up at Kayden. “Good
luck? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kayden gave me an innocent look.
“Nothing at all,” he said.
I gave him a light jab in the
side, and he laughed. “You’re abusive.”
“Umm hmm,” I said. “To say the
least.”
Kayden laughed at this, and
together we walked down the dimly lit hallway, the only light offered from the
tiny glittering stars placed into the walls. When Kayden pushed open the door
that led to the outside of the cottage, the real stars overhead blinked in the
night sky as though we had awakened them. I stepped off of the path that the
door led out to and into the small garden that flanked it. A few Pixies
fluttered around, floating from flower to flower, trailing light behind them like
tiny comets. I took a seat on a carved wooden bench that sat beside the house,
and Kayden sat down next to me.
Retrieving a cigarette and
lighter from my pocket, I set flame to it and inhaled deeply. The smoke felt
pleasantly poisonous in my lungs. I rested my head on Kayden’s shoulder at
stared out at the night. “Kayden, what do you think happens when we die?”
Now who’s being morbid?
“Oh, shut up.”
Kayden was quiet for so long that
I lifted my head to look at him, wondering if maybe he hadn’t heard me. But his
golden eyes met mine and I saw that he had. I waited. Finally, he released a
long sigh. “I don’t know, Alexa” he said, and his soft Scottish accent gave me
goose bumps the way it always did when he said my real name. “But I don’t think
it matters either way.”
I sat back and thought about this
for a time, and as always, Kayden was more than happy to let silence hang
between us. He had always been a man of few words, and this answer was so much
like him that it didn’t surprise me in the least. Also, the more I thought
about it, the more I thought he was probably right.
He surprised me when he spoke
again. “It doesn’t really matter because death is inevitable for everything
that lives.” His head tilted back as he stared up at the stars. I watched his
face, as raptured as I always was when Kayden decided to share his rare bits of
wisdom. “Except maybe the Gods,” he said, “But everything that has a life must
lose it eventually. What matters is that it was a life worth living.”
I felt stupid tears threaten inexplicably
and forced them back with a few deep breaths. My voice was smaller than I would
have liked when I asked, “Is it, Kayden? Is it worth living?”
Kayden tilted my chin up with his
fingers and kissed my lips, and the answer to my question was evident to me in
his touch. “Oh, yes, my Warrior,” he said, his golden eyes burning into my own.
“I really think it is.”
I glanced around me now,
wondering if we were alone enough for me to climb onto his lap and have another
taste of something that made life worth living, but something caught my eye,
and as much as I tried, it was too distracting to ignore it. I stared out into
the night before us and at first could not locate the thing that had caught my
attention. The cabins and cottages were still dark and silent, the red maple
trees still in the windless night. The sky overhead was still black with its
sprinkling of sugar, but something was different. Something was… off.
And my Gladius, where it was
tucked into the waistband of my jeans at my back sent a cool shiver up my
spine. I was on my feet before I could blink, and Kayden’s movement followed
only a split second later. “What is it?” he asked, his voice hard and low.
Looking all around me, hands
clenched at my sides, I said, “I don’t know.”
Then the answer struck me like a
bolt of lightning, and my brow furrowed in confusion. “The Pixies,” I
Similar Books
