didn’t even realize it until I spotted my reflection in his night-sky eyes. “You won’t take me away. You know that, right?” I asked him.
“It won’t be up to me, Vesta,” Seeley said. “If they save you and your fellow fae before your time is up, I will be more than happy to stand back. But if your life-chain breaks, I will have no other choice.”
“I could—”
“And don’t tell me you could run away from me and linger on as a ghost until you find a new fae body, like Ben did. We destroyed those loopholes. No more tricks. You’ll be wandering between worlds, not belonging anywhere, unable to touch or speak to your loved ones, until a ghoul finds you and snacks on you. That is your future, Vesta, if you don’t allow nature to take its course.”
I was instantly deflated. Settling by Zeriel’s side, I chose to focus on him. My post-death options were too crappy. My pre-death options were blurry, at best, and depended on whether Taeral and his crew could find Death and get her to stop the ritual before it killed us all. The best I could do, right now, was focus on my fiancé… maybe even find a way to talk to him.
“I know it’s not what you want to hear,” Seeley added, but I interrupted him before he could give me the it’s-what’s-best-for-you speech.
“I really don’t want to hear anything, to be honest,” I said firmly, then smiled down at Zeriel. “I would, however, like to be able to touch him one last time, and tell him how much I love him.”
Seeley would’ve said he had no power in this, because of the rules. But I didn’t expect him to do anything. I’d already understood that, and I had no intention of pleading with him to do anything. He’d saved my friends on Hellym. He’d done enough.
Zeriel couldn’t take his eyes off me. “Do you think she’s here? That she can hear us?”
“I am… I can,” I whispered.
“I hope so,” my mom said. “Because if she is, at least she knows how much we love her.”
“As long as her heart still beats, our daughter is here,” Dad replied, his brow furrowed. He was working so hard to keep himself together through all this.
“Good. I need her to hear us. I need her to know that we’re not stopping until we find a way to get her back,” Zeriel grumbled.
Instinctively, I reached out and let the back of my hand gently brush his sharp cheek. I’d done it before, but it had never sent sparks flying through me, like it did just now. It startled him, too. His skin was all goosebumps, and I was electrified.
I jumped back and covered my mouth to stifle a shocked gasp, while Zeriel straightened his back and widened his eyes at my parents.
“What is it?” Mom asked, clearly confused.
“I… I’m not sure,” he managed.
My whole being was still humming from our touch. An actual touch! I’d touched Zeriel, and he’d felt it! I was dangerously close to jumping with pure, unadulterated joy—a rare sight for a semi-ghost like me.
“Something happened,” Mom insisted.
Zeriel blinked several times, then glanced at her. “I… I think I felt her just now,” he said. “I’m not sure how, but… deep down, I could feel her. I knew it was her, touching my cheek.”
Mom was beside herself, hiding her face in her palms, while Dad held her tight, resting his head against hers as he stared at my crystal casing. Zeriel touched his cheek with his fingers, exactly where my hand had been. My entire arm was on fire from that strange contact.
“You’ve got some explaining to do,” I said to Seeley.
The Reaper himself looked surprised, his eyes almost bulging. But there was a twinkle of familiarity in his eyes. It wasn’t shock that had gripped him now. He was more impressed than anything else. He’d seen something like this before.
“Whatever do you mean?” he asked innocently.
I laughed. “Oh, come on. We’ve known each other long enough not to do this silly dance. Spit it out. Does this happen often, or ever? Am I some sort of pioneer in my not-yet-dead field?”
“I’ve seen it before,” Seeley replied, giving me the type of glare that warned me against asking further questions. He should’ve known better.
“Can I get Zeriel to see me, eventually, if I concentrate hard enough?” I asked.
It was his turn to laugh. “You think you managed to touch him now because you concentrated