Page 72 of Zel
Rudy’s glance aside said all Zel needed to know, but still Rudy added, “And return to where I started when I wish it.”
“And here I believed it such a thoughtful gift.” Zel grabbed his own pendant, broke its chain as he tore it free, and threw it at Rudy to join the other.
“I only wanted to be close if you needed me!”
“I do not need you! Why do you persist when you know I can never be your bride? I am no woman, Rudy!”
Rudy looked up at Zel with the worst of emotions, because it was soft and kind and full of devotion. “Who or what you are could only ever be beautiful to me and worthy of my love. Learning your secret could never change that. But do you truly lovehim?”
Why now, when Ulrich might be dead already, did Zel spare tears for his friend? He could feel them making his eyes grow hotter than his anger.
“Please, Zel, I only ever wanted to see you happy and safe,” Rudy continued. “Even if not by magic, how can you be certain the sorcerer hasn't been manipulating you by having you locked away with him all this time?”
That at least made Zel smile. “Because I wasn’t locked away. I have had more freedom this past month with Ulrich than in my entire life. Even if I had been free to love you, Rudy, I never could have as more than a friend. But I do love him. I was never bewitched, and the only one manipulated between us was you, letting Lothar control you with whispered lies. Can youunderstand that? Can you respect my choice? Or were you only ever my friend in the hopes of one day convincing me to be more?”
It clearly pained Rudy to be asked that, even seemed to horrify him. “I would always still be your friend, Zel.”
“Lothar said you didn’t know your spectacles could spy on me.”
Rudy’s look of horror intensified, proving he had not. “I assumed they did something, or he wouldn’t have given them to me. But I didn’t—”
“I don’t have time to hear more.” Zel looked up at the tower, then back at Rudy. “I want to believe you. I want to always be friends. To love each other as friends. But you better hope he is not lost to me, or I know not what I will do to you in the moments that follow.”
ULRICH
Ulrich had lost all sense of time. Whether Zel had been gone moments or hours, he did not know. The curse was spreading rapidly, with pain worse than any he had ever known coursing through him, originating from where his arm had oncebeen, but making him throb everywhere each time he gasped for breath.
This was what he had wanted. This was what he had planned. But now, in his final moments, knowing he might never see Zel again, he realized he would give up every good year of his distant past along with the monotonous torture it became if he could simply touch Zel's cheek once more and see his smile.
Yellow light shimmered before Ulrich's vision, and he turned to it, struggling to focus. Golden hair, a sweet, feminine smile...
But that was not Zel.
Was it?
“Ulrich!”
Thatwas Zel, calling from the window. He had returned, but who was this golden apparition? And now there was a hint of orange to its left, now green to its right...
How was all this color spilling into the tower in the dead of night?
“Ulrich?” Zel was touching him, holding him, but Ulrich could barely feel it. “How do I fix this? Can I return some of the magic to you?”
Ulrich was struggling to stay conscious, let alone think clearly. “I-I… do not know.”
“Please. Let me try.” Zel leaned over him and pressed his lips to Ulrich’s.
He barely felt that either, and at first, nothing seemed to be happening. Soon enough, however, Ulrich felt the presence of the magic Zel was attempting to force into him. The way it soothed him only for the throbbing pain to immediately return was such cruel mockery. Zel was giving him too much, yet none of it was making a difference.
With Ulrich’s arm gone, such efforts were too late.
Zel kissed him harder, tried to push his magic into Ulrich faster, but it only meant he was left gasping breathlessly too.
“Z-Zel…” Ulrich sputtered with a turn of his head. “Stop. It isn’t working. You will only die with me.”
“Then I will die—”
“No,” Ulrich commanded, wincing as the effort sent a fresh spike of pain lancing through him. He tried as much as his dwindling lifeforce would allow to focus on Zel’s face, but more colors had joined the first, red and blue now, and they were taking on clearer shapes behind Zel. Figures.Facesthat Ulrich remembered so well...
