Page 72 of Half Dead

“Please,” he said.

Birdie’s voice echoed in my mind.Please.

“I now realize your presence is an opportunity. Think of this moment as not for you, but for me.”

“There could be a way to break the curse. I could leave and come back…”

He shook his head, the movement was slow and laborious, as though the weight of his head had become too much to bear. “Please. Grant me the peace I have long been denied.”

My palms began to sweat as I gripped the sword and aimed the point at his chest.

“You will need your eyes open for this or I might end up with half an ear,” he teased.

I hadn’t even realized my eyes were closed. They popped open and locked with his. “You expect me to watch while I kill you?”

“I expect you not to miss. I assume such precision requires the power of sight.”

My hand trembled. “I can’t.”

“Keep hold of the handle, Lorelei.” His words were as gentle as his paws as they closed around my hands, engulfing them in coarse fur.

Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. “You deserve better than this.”

“I did not deserve the curse that ruined me, no, but how many of us get to choose our moment of death? I consider this a gift from the goddess of death herself.”

His paws guided my hands closer to his chest. I forced myself to watch, to be fully present with him during his final moments. He deserved that much.

“You’re braver than I could ever be,” I said, choking back tears.

“You honor me, daughter of the underworld.” With those words, he pushed against my hands and drove the blade straight through his heart. Blood spurted from the wound, splattering me.

His body grew slack, and his paws slid from my hands. Wincing, I withdrew the sword and tossed it aside. Kumbhakara groaned. He looked so vulnerable, nothing like the monster everyone feared.

I lowered myself to the ground and curled beside his spasming body. I stroked his side, knowing there was nothing I could do to ease the pain. If only I were thegoddess of sweet dreams, I could send him off with happy thoughts. Alas, I could offer only nightmares, and Kumbhakara had endured enough of those.

His breathing grew stilted.

“Does it hurt to breathe?”

Slowly he nodded.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could take away your pain.”

“My goddess, you already have.” With great effort, he turned his head toward mine. “Your immortal one is fortunate to have someone who cares for him as deeply as you do.”

“I’m fortunate to have found someone who wants to commit to me, without knowing what new crisis lies in wait around the corner. Too bad the name Calamity Jane is already taken because the name suits me.” Calamity Lorelei didn’t quite have the same ring to it.

His soft chuckle erupted into a coughing fit, causing more blood to gush from the wound. My arm arced around his body, as far as I could reach.

“Please don’t laugh,” I said. “I don’t want to cause you any more pain.”

“And here … I thought laughter was the best medicine.”

“Not for this.” There was no cure for his curse, and there was certainly no cure for this.

His visible eyelid lowered like a curtain starting to drop. If I kept talking, maybe he would stay, although I hated to prolong his pain. It was selfish to keep him with me for the sake of my own discomfort.

“Tell me about the afterlife,” he whispered.

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