Eternal Eden (51 page)

“NO!” I shouted with such pain, a few of the Councilmen’s faces looked bewildered when they viewed the woman shrieking in agony before them. It was in this weak moment—between the sobs that felt they would tear me apart—I knew the Council saw through William’s assurances of the casualness of our relationship. Even to a blind-mute, there could be no mistaking the love shared between us. I tried desperately to form the words of my rebuttal—to remind the Council who it was that needed to die here today—but my weakened spirit and sobs crippled me as the seconds ticked by.

“Gentleman?” William asked expectantly. “Are we in agreement then?”

“Again, Mr. Hayward, the Council thanks you for your admissions here today, but with all
due respect
,” Draco mimicked William’s words with spite. “We’ve already made our decision.”

John came to his resting place between us, facing the Council with anticipation as Draco continued, “We all agree with you, Mr. Hayward, that you are the more guilty of the two parties in question.”

I tried to straighten the limp limbs of my lower body, but couldn’t find the strength I needed to get them to respond. I rocked like a toddler in the rigid holds of Thomas and Dante.

“But we are also quite aware of the popularity you have within the Guardian community, and your influence on them. While we are the strongest Alliance in existence, I don’t believe we could resist the force of an attack from the entire community of Guardians when they came at us.” A few Councilmen nodded their obvious agreement, but John looked obstinate and in absolute disagreement.

“Our actions of taking your life today would unite them all, and we would have a war on our hands . . .”

William’s face contorted with doubt.

 “You can’t possibly believe with all the previous indicators, and now the newest little addition to your impressive repertoire of gifts, they would let their so-called chosen one’s death go unpunished?” Draco spat the words, as if they were venom in his mouth.

William broke into some kind of frantic rebuttal, but I didn’t hear any of it. The tide had turned. My vision was correct. Relief flooded me, making my head light with euphoria when the dread that had been mine imagining William’s death, wisped away—like a feather in a light breeze.

I was brought back from my euphoric state when Draco’s chair screeched behind him, and he flashed up in his spot. “That is quite enough from you, Mr. Hayward. Another word from you and we will make the continued proceedings today less than comfortable—”

William shouted back defiantly at him, “Make them less comfortable!”

 Draco turned to me. “I wasn’t referring to you Mr. Hayward, when I made my threat.”

Again, these men all knew where William’s weak spot was in his seemingly flawless suit of armor that shone with his courage and selflessness—there was one gaping flaw, positioned over his heart . . . me.

Draco’s normal calm and composure resurfaced just as quickly as his outburst had, and he recommenced the businesslike proceedings. “It is the unanimous verdict of the Council here today, that in order to serve as some penance for the wrongs and treachery done to John Townsend, we rule for the immediate and eternal death of . . .”

Stillness overcame me, and peace comforted me. Not sure of what kind of afterlife was held for those that passed through the confines of Immortality or Mortality, I felt reasonably certain I would be able to carry the sweet memories of the time William and I had shared, and the love that surpassed an eternity of lifetimes in the short time we’d been allotted. With this certainty came the courage and strength I needed to straighten the wobbling legs beneath me, and stand strongly as my verdict was read.

Draco paused, a calculated attempt at creating an ominous air, before speaking the name I already knew.

“Miss Bryn Dawson.”

  The words met my ears with an immediate kind of liberation, and I let out a relieved sigh.

And then I heard the shattering screams beside me, and saw the man I loved fall to the ground, his hands gripping his head. Another scream roared through his chest, causing the edges of my soul to weaken, as if it couldn’t handle the pain searing through the being that made up its other half.

There were no words to describe the agony charging through the form of William crumpled on the ground, nor my instant and equally matched agony tearing through me having to witness his pain. I couldn’t imagine anything more horrific than what was being played before me . . . and I realized this with the knowledge that my own death was minutes away.

I struggled like a lunatic against the men holding me back. They must have mistaken my urgent struggles from being read my death sentence, and not because the one I cared about more than myself lay on the floor wrenching with anguish.

The two men who’d kept hold of William, had let him fall and they now stood over him cautiously, looking uncomfortable. Stella had kneeled beside him when he’d gone down, and she stayed there with her hand continuing to rest monumentally on his back. Her eyes glanced up to mine, with wickedness burning in them. Her lips turned up in a smile of vindication.

I felt a spark ignite within me, lighting something I hadn’t felt before—a physical strength that grew with each passing moment. I lurched forward again, and this time, I was able to budge the monster-sized men holding me back. Their surprise was matched by my own, as I felt their grips tighten with a steel-trap-like effect. A spiteful smile was my only response as I continued to feel the strength building within me, as whatever had ignited it burnt with furiousness through my veins.

John, who’d been standing over William with the stance of a conqueror, turned his head to me and winked. The tongues of spreading fire burst, and when I lurched forward this time, I broke easily through the hands that held me. John’s eyes widened, and he took a defensive stance, as if interpreting my jailbreak and sprint forward to be intended for him, but I wouldn’t waste a moment of my temporary freedom on the likes of John Townsend.

It took me five strides to get to him, and on the fifth I slid into a crouch beside where he laid, covering him with my arms. I looked up briefly in response to the two shadows hovering over us, but the faces of the two men looked just as confused and torn as before, and I didn’t worry—at least immediately—they would be pulling us apart.

 I knew I had precious seconds only, so I leaned my head down to where his forehead rested against the stone floor. His body didn’t respond to my sudden closeness. I could only hope the words I said to him now would make their way to his consciousness someday soon when he recovered—my final tribute and goodbye to all that had been ours.

“William?” I questioned idiotically, not really expecting an answer—although I thought I detected the slightest bit of recognition harden over his limp body.

“You will always know how much I loved you after today, and I will forever know how much you loved me, too.” I removed one of my hands from his shoulder so I could sweep the long tangles of hair that had fallen over his face. When I settled it behind his ear, I kissed his cheek.

I felt a cool hand come to rest just above the silk of the back of my nightgown and all the prior strength tearing through me came to a halt, and I weakened beneath it. I didn’t need to check behind me to see whose hand it was. Only one person I knew of in this room could be guilty of incapacitating the power of another Immortal.

Weakened beyond repair, or so it seemed, John came around me and grabbed hold of me from under my arms, pulling me back—threatening to separate me from the one I held to with urgency. I wasn’t done yet . . . I still had one last thing to say.

John continued to pull on me, and in my weakened state, his efforts managed to pry one of my arms away from William’s back. The instant my arm parted from him, he came back to life—he came back to the wretched reality that still held us.

His head and upper body snapped up from the floor, resting in a straightened position over his knees bent beneath him. His head turned in my direction, and as my other hand tore away from him, William reached for it, grabbing it before it was out of reach. Even against the force of Stella’s formidable gift, he pulled me back to him, easily besting John’s efforts.

I didn’t need anymore than a second now, and as my desperate eyes met his—the emotions blackening them staggered me—I leaned in to kiss his lips for the last time, letting them linger there for a moment, until I saw John and his four men preparing their offensive.

When I removed my lips from his and recaptured my wits—it was silly I was still having these kind of school girl reactions given the gravity of the situation pressing upon us—I stared into his eyes and whispered, “I’ll see you again soon. I’ll meet you in your dreams.”

I witnessed the acknowledgement and the devastation that soon followed. Looking entirely depleted, William nodded his head. No matter what physically happened to me, no one could ever take me away from William’s mind. That’s where he’d been introduced to me, and that’s where I would now remain.

I felt multiple sets of hands affix to me, pulling me away from the haven of his arms, but this time, I didn’t fight it. Having said what I’d needed to, I would only be delaying the inevitable, and I knew every passing second would drip another drop of hemlock into the veins of my beloved; who was now grasping for me frantically as space continued to separate us. Needing no guard to hold him back with Stella’s hand affixed, the four men pulled me behind the Council table.

I didn’t fight against them, but I kept my back to them so I could keep my eyes on William. So it would be his figure that would calm and guide me as I left this world. His face that would be the last one my eyes would see and my mind would process, burning it with the finality of death into my soul.

I felt a hard edge crush against my heels, and then another, as I was drug up the pillar of stairs to the table that had sent a shiver of dread down my spine when I’d first seen it. The table I now knew, for which purpose it served.

My eyes didn’t waiver from William. I witnessed the beads of sweat that formed upon his forehead while he concentrated, attempting to overcome Stella’s hold on him. I witnessed him growl in misery when he couldn’t conquer the numbing power she had on him, as he watched the four men continue to pull me up the stairs. His eyes were wild, and in between surges of concentration, he’d yield momentarily, panting from his useless efforts, before tearing into the next bout of concentration.

I couldn’t decide which had been worse to witness—William’s wreathing body crushed beneath the weight of pain, or the violent frustration from his strength rendered useless exhibited before me now.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. “Please, William, stop!” I shouted, making my selfishness known over the swarms of chaos filling the room. I didn’t want this to be my last memory of him.

His demeanor changed almost immediately at my request. The furrowed brow of frustration and teeth clenched in concentration, relaxed, and a rare beauty came over his face. He was filling my growing darkness with peace. He was making the passage between worlds bearable, and I felt the tears form before they spilled down my cheeks, wetting the pale silk below.

We must have reached the top landing of the stairs, for the steady beat of each stair pounding against my heels ceased. My assertion was confirmed when Thomas picked me up and laid me down on the table. It was even colder and more cryptic feeling than my nightmares had done it justice. My breath grew heavy and labored, and my grip on sanity began to peel away in quickening layers.

I recognized these frantic reactions had only escaped when I turned my eyes away from his. I turned my head, now lying flat against the stone table, towards his still beautiful face—and while the planes of his face remained flat and unlined, I saw molten torture flowing in his eyes.

I smiled weakly at him, hoping I’d managed the level of reassurance in it I’d intended, as I felt the chill of the metal shackles cinch into place over my wrists, and next my ankles. I understood the reason they’d become a vestige of this death doomed table, but they were needless in my case. I was going nowhere. I would accept the deepest of punishments without a fight, with the knowledge William would live.

The metal restraints in place, the four men swiftly descended away from the darkest of Immortal places. I held no contempt for them as their apologetic faces graced over me, before their hurried footsteps could be heard descending the stairs, leaving me alone—nothing but the comforting solace of William’s eyes to keep me sane.

His eyes shot away from mine for a moment, flitting between the seven new figures ascending the stairs. Panic suffocated me as I watched their dark, determined faces survey me with duty-filled regard.

“I swear to you all that I will hunt each one of you down and make you pay.” If I hadn’t been watching him, I wouldn’t have believed the fierce words were coming from his mouth. “Each of you will suffer,” he continued, glaring his hate at each of the ascending Councilmen. “I will not rest until your Immortal bodies are dead and burning in a fire I’ll never let burn out . . . trapping your souls in an eternal Hell,” he spat. His words frightened me, and I didn’t miss that they frightened a few of his intended targets as well.

It was John who responded with his standard, unimpressed tone. “You will try . . . but if you ever come back here, you will suffer the same fate Bryn is now,” John threatened.