I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t.
I’d never been in a relationship before. I didn’t know what they even looked like… At least, not a functioning one.
Why was life so tragic? I was an orphaned seventeen-year-old virgin who had to experience her death time and time again through visions.
I had been traded to a vampire king to be his meal by my own coven, who had cursed me, making me even more useless in their eyes.
Yet somehow, in this deep dark pit of misery, part of me…
Part of me stared at the landscape, thinking.
Thinking about the vision I’d had. This was the first time I had tried to pursue a future instead of avoid it. How was I supposed to get there? Maybe she would hold me while I died and I had misread it, but that didn't seem right.
I felt so…different. Mature in some way that I hadn’t been before.
I sighed, rubbing my temples as my mind raced.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Rose wasn’t happy. Somehow, that bothered me.
It was fine that she didn’t want to be with me, I understood that completely.
They had been together for so long, and I was just seventeen years old. It didn’t make sense for her to leave him for me, and I would never ask that of her, or anyone. It was insanity.
But what about her happiness?
I wasn’t saying that I could make her happy, but her happiness meant something to me. If I was going to die from this curse, then she could at least be happy if she was supposed to be my fated one.
Then again, maybe some part of me just wanted to believe she was unhappy.
This place was beautiful, and she had painted it…
Looking out over the pond, I could see just from the night view, with the details of the little flickering fireflies and the gently rising mist as the sky changed, a lightening galaxy of stars above…she was beautiful inside.
Magic always called to a part of ourselves, unique to each person, and this…this was all her.
Before I had known this, it was hard to believe one person had made this place come to life.
I had to see it before my time ran out. I only had a few days at best, if I could stomach the pain of this curse.
Opening the window, I climbed out, leaving it wide open behind me and trying to memorize which window it was that I was hopping out of.
Roses. I could see blue roses with purple tips in the dim light of the rising sun. They were planted right under my window, facing the pond.
I smiled a bit and took off at a brisk walk. Once I was past the pond, I tossed off my combat boots before going down what looked to be a sandy trail. I let my toes sink into the sand as I walked. Soon, I found myself on a beach.
The sun creeping over the horizon took my breath away. Pinks and yellows filled the sky over the ocean, which reflected shimmers of the vibrant colors.
In all my life, I had never seen the ocean. I was in awe.
The wind whipped my hair back without straining my ears with its noise. It was like the magic was alive, pushing and pulling with the currents. I was so overcome that I fell to my knees on the sand, where I sat and watched in silence.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Her voice was soft, hesitant, as she came up behind me. The thought of her made me close my eyes briefly.
I didn’t want her to be here when the curse struck. The sun was rising, so the pain was also coming.
I didn't respond, hoping she might leave, but instead, she walked up to sit next to me, pulling her knees up to her chest as I sat with my legs folded under me.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I was rude before. I…I haven’t had anyone but Ian to talk to in a long time and I just—”
“Don’t apologize. You said what you wanted to say,” I said, barely moving my lips as my eyes roamed over the sea.
The water crashed beautifully against some rocks far out in the distance. Little white flowers dotted the golden grass swaying in the breeze. It was…breathtaking.
“You don’t understand,” she said, frowning.
I could feel her gaze on me, but this time, I was the one refusing to meet it.
“I do. You two have been together for a very long time, and you think I’m a threat to that. I didn’t have a choice in this, but you painted me as the bad guy when I’m just a seventeen-year-old girl trying to stay alive.”
She seemed to be holding her breath as she listened.
“I may be young, but I’m not stupid,” I said flatly.
Taking pity on her, I turned to look at her, my face closed off from any emotion, like back when I had to face my enemies in the coven. It was easy to make them think they hadn’t hurt me.
“I also saw something in the hallway. I saw how unhappy you were when you came back the last time. I also see it written on your face and in the scenery around me.”
I was stabbing in the dark, but if everything here was painstakingly made and maintained, the rooms I had seen fading were not fading by accident.
It wasn't a coincidence that they all seemed to have a common theme. Each and every one of them looked like a place to lounge with a loved one.
I was also just guessing that she was still unhappy, but maybe my gift had been more useful than I thought as I saw her face start to crumble a bit at my words.
“You’re mistaken. I’ve just been too tired to maintain—”
“Maintain things, yes. The things that mean more to you have more magic in them than the things that don’t. The library was crawling with life, this place is too, and you just happened to show up here?”
“I saw you running!” she said defensively, trying to look offended.
“And you followed,” I replied, not batting an eyelash. “You followed after you rejected me. You’re apologizing when there’s nothing to apologize for and there’s nothing else to be said.”
I leaned forward, closing the space between us until my face was inches from hers. “Why?”
Despite me being blunt and mean, she didn’t back down. She glared at me.
I half expected her to spit in my face. I would have deserved it, I was being mean on purpose.
But she just wouldn’t leave and I could feel the rays of the sun starting to hit our faces as she looked up at me with her giant green eyes.
As she slid her arms down her legs, pushing her body up with her hands, she lifted her lips to slide softly over mine.
It was like the world suddenly fell away and this moment was suddenly the most important thing that had ever happened.
A moment that seemed suspended in time.
