Page 22 of Winterfall Destiny

My own heartbeat thrumming through my ears grows louder when the First doesn't speak. Even though it's close, I'm not turning to the creature, fixated on the view as if enjoying the scenery, when all I can see is the shadowy anger that I'll hold back for Andrei's sake.

Hairs lift on my arms as the sound of shoes on the earth move nearer and I stay perfectly still, now staring down at the same earth, attempting to calm the gathering dark, as the First walks around to face me.

I lift my eyes from the ground, ready to face the thing, not sure if I need to fake being placid or ready myself to fight. Then immediately step back as I meet Andrei's eyes. Ringing replaces the heartbeat in my ears, and I'm choked by breathlessness, not the shadows that I expected to emerge.

If this is Andrei. How would I know how he—or any hemia—looks in daylight? Andrei's eyes are his emerald-green but flecked silver, and his features the same beautiful hemia sharpness. Although his full mouth lost the bluish hue from earlier, his skin has a smooth luminosity not found naturally in a human. Vampire skin is flawless, but this Andrei's skin is almost too perfect.

Last time I saw Andrei, he lay shirtless beneath one of my fluffy blankets on his bed. Now he's here, wearing familiar black jeans and a faded grey T-shirt beneath one of his many hoodies.

"Andrei?" Silently, Andrei delves into his pocket and pulls something out. "Say something," I mumble. "Or I'll think you're another trick. I saw you an hour ago and you hadn't moved for days. Now you're walking."

Andrei's fringe dips into his face as he flicks something out of a packet and shoves it into his mouth, the scent of mint filling the too large but tiny space between us. "I wasn't sure how I'd react to your blood."

His voice. As if the sunlight changed his tone, lighter and with a smoother edge.

If this is him.

"Or how you'd react to me, Maeve," he adds.

"You're not him. Nobody can simply get up and walk out here after a week unconscious!" I blurt.

"No person. Maeve, it's me."

The gum. I blink. Nobody else would know about the gum, apart from the lost guy I once hid with in the dark, as desperate to touch and taste him as he was me. I'm aware of my breath shortening, a trembling in my hands as I hold everything back the way I did the night I thought he'd died. The way I'd pretended none of this was real. This can't be Andrei.

I look behind him. "If this is you, where are the others?"

"Not far, since Tobias didn't want me to approach you unless somebody else came. I kinda ignored him and snuck off." He smirks. "Very Andrei, right?" Then he makes a move closer, and I back up. "I won't hurt you, Maeve."

My voice won't work properly but I manage to stammer, "I've hurt more in the past few days than ever in my life."

He rubs his forehead. "Yeah. I fucked up. Sorry."

"I almost lost you." The shaking continues to move through me as my mind screams out. Touch him. Kiss him. Know that this is Andrei. But I can't. I'm so fucking sick of tricks and lies. "How can I be sure this is you? There's an entity around who can possess bodies and you sound like it." He frowns and I touch my chest. "Your heart beats the same. I thought you were the First walking towards me."

I tense as Andrei slides a hand across my face, the firm gentleness in his touch familiar. His fingers slide into my hair, across my neck while his thumb rests on my cheek, those not-quite-Andrei eyes shining. He dips his head and the mint I haven't smelled on him for a long time pulls me back to the first moment Andrei touched me this way.

Lips cool from the menthol press against mine with a suddenness that unbalances me. I tip backwards and Andrei catches me, crushing me to his chest. There's no doubt his arms hold a strength he never had, and they obliterate the world once he takes hold of me.

During the days he wasn't with me, I've touched my lips, heart aching as the ghost of Andrei's last kiss lingered there, not wanting to accept that was our last. Now this dreamed of kiss drags our hearts together across the lost days, telling me he's Andrei with more than words could.

I know from this moment that nothing changed, but that everything has.

My legs wobble as Andrei draws away and rubs his lips together. "You taste different," he says, stroking my face, as if I'm as wondrous to look at as a hemia in the daylight. "I can taste the sunshine on your skin... see the real you. You're beautiful, Maeve."

This guy looks like Andrei. Speaks like Andrei. Kisses like Andrei… "Is this real?" I can't lose the thick voice, or the state of confusion and shock. "Nothing feels real any longer."

Andrei hugs me to him again. And he smells like Andrei, the mint mingled with the fresh, subtle woody scent. "I know. You told me. A lot." I lift my head, frowning. "I heard everything you said, Maeve. Distantly, like dreaming, but every word."

"Everything?" I ask. "Including the times I shouted at you?"

"Yeah. But mostly hearing how much you want me, Maeve. How loved I am."

"You know I love you," I whisper. "I've told you over and over, even when you refused to listen."

He shakes his head. "Loved by all of you. Seeing—well, hearing—everything from a distance without being able to push anybody away, I heard what we all mean to each other. How fucking special what we have is."

"You know that too," I say.

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