Falling

by Christina Lauren

“You’re beautiful, little lamb. Everyone in that room noticed you.” He smiled. “I’d wager everyone in any room notices you.”

Madness, he thought to himself. This is what madness feels like, to want to exist in a moment that isn’t reality. And what a relief it was to know that he couldn’t fall in love with her, was incapable of it, because if this was a fraction of love, he would never be able to let her out of his sight.

The only question Brigan needed to ask Catalina was right there at the tip of his thoughts, but he already knew the words wouldn’t form on his tongue—no sound would emerge. He’d tried to ask it before, of course he had. Over the span of nearly nine centuries. Do you notice anything different about me? Do you see anything?

Details like how he’d paid for these crimes first by having to watch the murder of his wife, his soul, his beloved. How he’d watched Annora tied to the stake and burned to death. And then he’d been killed too—at least, in a way he had.

In shadows draped with feathers night, A fallen soul awaits the light. Eternal dusk, your heart’s refrain, Break this spell, remove your pain. Immortal chains, your tethered plea, Only when found, will you be free.

“If I’d given you another, what was your final question going to be?” he asked her, his voice hoarse with emotion. Catalina looked up at him, her eyes adoring and concerned. “I was going to ask you whether you could fly.” He could; he could fly and glide and soar and dive, but right in that moment, with his soul and heart returned to him, with Catalina standing before him and their future spreading out ahead like a vibrant, luxurious tapestry, Brigan could only fall to his knees.