Page 150 of White Raven
“Are you ready to die?” she asked, her voice like gravel.
Poe only smiled back at her, lifting his arms to the sides like a crucifixion.
CHAPTER 29
HIS HIDEOUS HEART
Athan took a good, hard look at the man before him. The man with his arms outstretched in surrender to his fate. A fate he deserved…and yet…
This was a man with too many demons to wrestle over too many years. Years that no one should have, but…do.
He did.
Sarah did.
So many years of being shoved to the side. To be ridiculed. Broken. Deceived. Misunderstood. Sarah was to him,exactlywhat she was to Athan. His only peace. His savior. His heart. Hislife.
His Corbeau Blanc…
This was a man who was mentally ill. Sick, and forever searching for his cure. A cure he didn’t even find in immortality. One he longed for in death.
He just wanted to beremembered, not for his darkness…not for his works, or his mistakes. Not for his insanity, or his brilliantly twisted mind. Not for the lives he took, or the light he’d extinguished in the world…
He wanted to beremembered.
To beloved.
To die, knowing he’d left one bright thing in the world.
Athan’smate.
Poe’s daughter.
His legacy.
His little bird…
“Sarah,” Athan whispered, laying his hand on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder, and he tried to reach her through the seething anger…the grief.
He dies tonight. There’s no question. I won’t take that from you…I’ll take him apart piece by piece…but…let that man hold his daughter. One last time.
Sarah swallowed, saying nothing, as fresh tears slid down her face. He wanted to take them. To taste them. To promise her they’d never have the pleasure of touching that face again. But he knew it was a lie. He knew that after this moment…there would be more. And he would be there to catch every single one of them for the rest of eternity.
She turned her face back to Poe. They both did. His arms remained out. Still. Ready. Accepting. He watched her with remorse, staring so deeply into her eyes, that Athan could feel every word he didn’t say. Athan pulled his service weapon that Sarah had brought. She took another slow step forward, and he followed her. Another step, another thundering heartbeat. Poe watched only her…in eerie silence. His bird ruffled his wings on the bust against the wall. Sarah stood abreast to him, and Athan cocked his gun.
“Presently…my soul grew stronger,” Sarah whispered, staring her father in his eyes. “Hesitating then, no longer…”
Poe smiled softly, arms still extended, as Athan pressed his barrel to the temple of that incurable mind. “Madam…truly your forgiveness, I implore,” he rasped, tears welling in his soulless eyes.
Sarah nodded slowly, reaching her arms around his body, and pressing herself against him. Her head rested against his breast, and Poe breathed her in as he brought his arms down around her. Tonight…he shed tears again. For the final time, as his eyes closed, and his arms squeezed Sarah’s body tight. She cried softly against him, and Athan’s heart ached as he watchedthe master of darkness cradle his child…softly swaying back and forth.
“My rare, and radiant maiden…who willalwaysbe my Lenore…”
Tony stood quietly, pulling his cap off, and holding it in reverence at his chest as he bowed his ginger head in farewell.
Poe reached down, tilting her chin up to look into her eyes a final time. He nodded once, releasing a shallow breath, exhaling a single word as Athan pulled the trigger.
“Nevermore...”
