Palindrome

The Epilogue

“William?” I didn’t say it loud, a part of me was enjoying seeing him sleeping, even though we needed to leave soon. He wrinkled his nose but kept on snoring lightly. I gave him a small kiss on his forehead and continued down his face. When that didn’t wake him, I planted featherlight kisses on his shoulder and the part of his chest visible above the cover. When I came as far as the scar from the sword, I let my fingers glide over it lightly. I had given up my immortality to save him, my eternal life in change for his. There was still so much magic inside me, sometimes it was like a storm in my veins – I didn’t feel like I had given up anything.

We finally had the house for ourselves, everybody else had gone home or moved into their own homes. Natan and Belinda with little Ada had built their own house and had moved in just two weeks ago, leaving us alone for the first time in six months.

I let my fingers caress William while my mind drifted off, thinking of everything that had happened. If I dwelled too much on it, the everlasting bad conscience came to get me – I felt like I had gotten away so easy, my family had taken the brunt of it. When I mentioned it, they pointed out that I had died two times, but still…

A hand took a hold of my knee, and I flinched. William hummed a low laugh. “Where is your mind?” His voice was gruff and made me homesick even though I was home, and he was right in front of me. I shook my head, not willing to voice my dark thoughts on a lovely morning. His hand travelled up and ended up on my hip, where he used his grip to pull me on top of him. I felt the sun warm my shoulder, but his skin was even warmer, almost burning. He let his other hand slide into my hair and pulled gently. “Do you want me to distract you?” Hypnotized, I leaned in to kiss him, soft lips met mine, filled with promises. I sighed against him, “We don’t have time, we`re supposed to meet Benjamin in half an hour.” William rolled me over and pressed himself suggestively against my responsive body. I wrapped my legs around him, annoyed that the cover was between us. My hands followed the sway of his back and ended up on his ass, I felt the muscles twitch under my fingers.

“Hannah, if you ever deny me because of my brother, I will show you who I truly am.”

I giggled, the dominant twinge to his voice did things to me that I never would let him know about. “Are you saying there are things about you I don’t know about?” I faked a fearful look, playing along. William growled deeply, and bit down on my neck with just the right mount of pain to make me forget about Benjamin altogether. He licked my blood of his lips as his eyes burned purple down at me, “I still have things to show you, babe.” I felt the small tingle in my neck, telling me the wound had healed already. I put my face in a serious mask. “Is that all you got, Beast?”

William drowned in my eyes for an eternity, forgetting all about his threat. “Babe, you have everything I got, and you have it forever. Don’t ever forget it. Sometimes I think that if you knew just how much I love you, how much I worship you – you would think me a mad man and run.” I put my hand to his face, the small stubble rough under my skin. “Do you think I love you any less? Do you know I stay awake at night just to watch you sleep, because I`m still mad I fell asleep that first night?” He smiled slightly at the memory, kissing me quickly. “Are we about to fight about who loves the other the most?” I asked breathless. William paused his kissing, “No, of course not. We both know I will win.” He laughed at his own wit and put a quick stop to my bashing. “Babe, if you had ANY idea what you`re doing to me…” He didn’t finish the sentence; I had gotten the cover away and used body language to show him just how much I loved and adored him. When I had him distracted, I moved my hand to help my spell and smiled widely as he opened his mouth and forced the words out. “You are right, darling, you love me more than I love you.” ¨My giggle ruined the moment a bit, but I soon forgot all about laughing when I had to still the Beast.

Was every morning going to be like this? Probably not, but that was ok, I had him and he had me. Forever.