Enchantra (Wicked Games, #2)

by Kaylie Smith

Salemaestrus did exactly what you suspected he could: extracted your soul from the Soul Lock and returned it to your corporeal form. I don’t think I’ve ever been in so much pain as I was in those minutes before your heart started beating again. But then it did and you woke up and you… did not recognize me. And that was nearly unbearable. It is a cruel thing. To be looked on as a stranger by the one who knows you best. It is cruel that I was given a taste of what my eternity could have been filled with—your smile, your pleasure, your humor—only to have it ripped away from me in seconds. It is cruel that if your memories never come back that it would only be fair to let you go. The problem is, Genevieve, that I can’t. That I never will. And I know your memories have not come back even with these letters, and that means they likely never will. But I will never stop searching for a way to get them back for you. I will search for the rest of my eternity if I must, because it belongs to you already. I pledge it to you in my vows. I understand if you do not feel the same. If you need to move on with your life. Our vows may have said “eternally,” but as I told you then, nothing is ever truly eternal. Except my longing for you. Sincerely, Rowin

“What about my immortality?” he offered the King. “If you don’t think creatures of Hell should be with mortals, then why don’t you tie my lifespan to hers?” The King perked up at this. “Interesting.” They stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time, the King seemingly willing to make Rowin keep his promise to wait there forever. Then finally, “I accept your trade. Do you have a token I can draw her memories into?” Rowin glanced down at his hand and plucked the signet right off his finger. The one that used to be her wedding band. He handed it over to the Demon guard standing at the base of the dais, and they passed it up to their ruler. “Here’s the catch,” the King began as he shifted the ring back and forth over his knuckles. “You must deliver it to her personally, and she must choose to put it on herself. When she does, your lifespans will be merged. Do you agree to these terms?” “Yes,” Rowin said, his voice ringing out clear.

“An eternity in exchange for such a brief moment in the life of a mortal,” the King mused as he tossed the ring back to Rowin. Rowin snatched it out of the air with a smile. Rowin bowed and turned to leave.

He pulled back, just enough to see her face, the tears that were now flowing down her cheeks. “I was stuck in that house, in that fucking game, for centuries, and yet these past couple of months have felt like the longest of my life.”

“How could you? How could you trade your immortality for me?” she whispered. “What were you thinking?” He reared back in shock. “You saw that?” “I saw everything,” she told him. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you, that day in the Quarter. I hate that you must have been…” “Devastated,” he admitted. “Ophelia warned me that you still didn’t remember. But even that didn’t prepare me for the way you looked at me and there was just… nothing.” “That’s not true,” she swore. “Even without any of my memories, I felt drawn to you. We could be enemies, or husband and wife, or just fucking, but never nothing, Rowington Silver.” His smile was brilliant. “Before you, I was going to spend my eternity alone, in the darkest parts of Hell. I’d much rather spend a single lifetime in your light. Or, at least, for however long you’ll have me.” Then he leaned his forehead against hers. “I want you to know, I really would have waited for you, right here, forever if that’s what it would have taken. I would have stood in this spot until I could no longer distinguish my own soul from the shadows. Until your light came back to me.” She smiled. “I know.” Truth. “Does that mean… does that mean there are strings now?” “As many as you want, Mrs. Silver. And tie them down as tight as you’d like,” he told her.