Page 46 of A Waltz with Lord Death
They only had one chance to do this.
Meira nodded to Betha. “Drop it.”
Betha placed a trembling hand on the time coffin, and she sucked the power back into herself like a whoosh of breath. Meira cried out in surprise at how quickly Barret’s soul was trying to deteriorate, and she would have lost it if Dorian hadn’t grabbed a hold of it with his own power. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on moving her power through Barret, wrapping him in its cool, healing embrace. Although his body didn’t heal, the place where he’d been stabbed in the chest knitted his soul and body back together.
Sweat clung to her forehead, unused to the amount of energy that was taxing her body. Her breath became ragged, her fingers shook from where she touched his chest.
And then the moment the soul adhered in one piece to the body, Dorian coaxed it back out again. Wisps of soul snaked out of the body, following Dorian’s hand, until it started to take shape at his side. First feet. Then legs. A torso. Neck. And finally, the head began to come together.
Everyone held a collective breath as they waited for Barret’s soul to deteriorate. But it didn’t. The soul was translucent, but it remained standing.
Barret’s translucent blue eyes widened as they landed on her. “Meira? What…what…”
Dorian smiled, relief evident in his expression as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. His touch comforted her insecurity and dampened her uncertainty. “Barret, may I introduce you to my fiancée, Meira, the new Lady Life.”
Her father’s jaw dropped as he glanced between the two of them. He opened his mouth to speak but didn’t get the chance when Betha cried out to him with tears running down her face.
“Barret. I missed you so much.”
“Betha,” he breathed.
They stumbled toward each other, but when they tried to embrace, they passed right through one another. Betha clamped a hand over her mouth, devastation in her eyes at not being able to touch him.
For a moment, Barret’s eyes widened as he glanced down at himself, then at his body that lay on the bed. His hands roamed over himself as if he didn’t believe what he saw with his own eyes. He said nothing in his shock at finding himself dead. But when he recovered, he turned back to Betha.
“It’s all right,” he whispered as he ran a finger across her cheek, though it did not make physical contact but rather passed right through her skin. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I promise you.”
“You swear?” she sniffed.
“I swear. I will wait for you, however long it takes to be with you again.”
Time took a golden pocket watch out of her skirt pocket and stared at it for a long few seconds before returning her attention to Barret. She didn’t take her gaze off him once as she spoke to Dorian.
“Death, I want you to kill me.”
Dorian stiffened beside her. “No.”
Barret also objected. “You cannot throw your life away for me.”
“I have lived long enough.”
Despite trying to place his hands on top of her shoulders, Barret passed right through her. “You are barely ten years older than…” He swallowed and glanced Meira’s way. “…than my daughter. You have not even lived a full mortal life.”
Meira watched the exchange with a growing ache in her belly. She wanted to hate this man. She wanted to despise him. But the way he was sweet on Betha really touched her heart.
Betha shook her head and held her pocket watch tight in her palm. “I have lived longer than you can imagine, Barret. I have seen things in the future so incredible that you would not believe me if I told you about them. I have visited the past and learned so much during my time there. But one thing hasn’t changed. The way I feel about you. You are irreplaceable to me. Am I the same to you?”
“Of course, Betha.” He tried to take her hands but settled for touching the place where they connected. “You are my soulmate. The only woman I want in my life. But I cannot let you die on my account.”
“And I cannot live hundreds more years without you. This is what I want.” She turned to Dorian. “Death, please.”
Dorian crossed his arms beside Meira, his expression blank. “Betha, what you are asking me to do is not fair to me.”
A sob rose up inside of Betha’s throat as she turned away from the three of them.
With a sigh, he continued, “But I will do it. If it is truly what you want. You have not spent months slaving to get Barret back just to lose him now. But think about it a little more. Tell me your answer tomorrow.”
“Thank you, D.”
