“No woman could.” He nodded in earnest. “But, well, I don’t know if I should say it.”
“Speak plainly lest you stop amusing me and I kill you with your own sword.”
Cornelius hung his head. “She has a secret… one that keeps her… young.”
The woman’s eyebrows arched. “What is it? Tell me what it is!”
“Apples.” Cornelius shrugged. “Special apples only grown in the most foreign of orchards— They sell them here, for a price.”
The woman didn’t look convinced. “What are they called?”
“Fairest Apples,” he lied. “Ask anyone.”
That was Ash’s cue. He and Pierce walked down the hallway, laughing and stumbling into one another.
“You! You there!” The woman stomped her foot. “Have you heard of these apples?”
“Apples?” Ash slurred. “Are you mad?”
Pierce slapped him on the back and threw his head back in riotous laughter. “My lady, if you are hungry, eat!”
The woman glared. “I’m asking of the Fairest Apples. Have you heard of them?”
Pierce sobered. “My lady, whatever you need such apples for? Your beauty…” He shook his head slowly. “…it bloody well takes my breath away.”
She blushed — actually blushed — and looked down.
“Such beauty needs nothing but a man to admire it.” He slowly stumbled toward her and then pressed his body against hers. “A man to take care of it.”
Her eyes hooded.
“And you are… that man?” She purred.
“My lady… whatever you need me to be… I will be. Simply kiss me and be done with it.”
She hesitated just briefly before Pierce lowered his head and turned so she was pressing him back against the wall.
There would be no way for her to hear the movement.
Nor would she notice.
Ash was swift as he gripped her wrists and tugged her back against him, holding them in one hand. He held a knife to her throat. “Where’s Sofia?”
“Sofia?”
“Play dumb and the knife goes deeper, Your Highness.” To prove his point, he dug the knife further into her throat, causing blood to trickle down her chest. With a shake, he asked again, “The princess?”
“Is soiled… most likely dead by now. After all, I gave him ten minutes, and he said he only needed five. You have failed, you have—”
“I tire of you already, old witch.” With that he slit her throat, callous of the blood streaming from her body as he stepped over her. “Search every room. The guard are blocking each exit. We will search until we find her.” In hindsight, killing the woman probably hadn’t been his best moment, but the rage that had overtaken him was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
The woman had been waiting in the hall.
Waiting for something.
He looked up at the doors to the library and pushed them open.
There Sofia stood, eyes closed, as a man hovered in front of her, tugging her dress from her body. Tears streamed down her face, but she did not cry out, did not beg for mercy. Simply stood there as if a queen receiving her crown at her coronation.
Ash moved wordlessly behind the man and pressed his pistol to the back of his head. “Breathe, and I shoot.”
The man cursed then lifted his hands into the air. Ash pulled the gun slightly back, but that was all it took for the man to turn and lunge, toppling them both to the floor.
The gun clattered out of Ash’s hand as a heavy body collided with his, sending his head sailing back against the wood floor. He hit the guy with a right hook and scrambled for the pistol but was hit in the back of the head. Bloody nuisance, the guy was.
“Ash!” Sofia called, somewhere in the haze.
With a roar, Ash kneed the man in the stomach, his fingers touching the hammer of the pistol just as a gunshot rang out. Something pinched his back. Well, that couldn’t be a good sign.
Eyes blurry from all the blunt hits to his head, Ash tried to focus in on something, anything other than the pain piercing his spine and the man trying to hurt the woman he loved.
He loved her.
Ash loved Sofia.
Perhaps more than he’d ever cared to admit to another soul — even his own.
He turned and quickly elbowed the man in the face; a loud crack resounded through the room and then, without hesitation, he pulled the hammer on the pistol, aiming for the man’s chest.
The shot hit dead center.
The man stumbled backward, said something in Russian, then, with a shaky hand, lifted the gun in his right hand and aimed straight for Sofia.
Ash didn’t have time think; he simply reacted and pushed her out of the way, just as a searing pain hit him in the neck.
Exactly where his scar had been.
Funny, that ten years ago he had given himself that very scar in hopes to end his life… and now, he was re-opening it to save not only his own — but hers.
Love had come full circle, just like life.
And like his namesake, he was returning to the ash he’d been created from, but at least in his return, in his fall back down to earth, he would look upon her face, the woman he loved, and know he’d done absolutely everything he could have to save her.
And succeeded.
With a smile, he fell to the ground as Sofia rushed to his side.
“You’re going to be all right, Ash,” she sobbed. “I swear it.” She rocked him back and forth. “Help! Someone help us!”
“So pretty.” Ash choked, reaching up to cup her soft face. “I’ll love you… forever…”
Sofia gripped his face with her hands and kissed him on the lips, her tears causing her to taste more salty than sweet.
“Ash, you need to stay awake, stay with me. I’m going to stop the bleeding.”
Ash gazed into her eyes and whispered, “But, love… you already did, the minute you said you loved me. You already did…” The room grew dim, and he heard shouts. Was that Hunter or Pierce? Several footsteps crowded into the library. Warmth overtook him as he leaned his head against Sofia’s chest and welcomed the death he never deserved.
One of honor.
One of love.
One with a vision of a girl with skin as white as snow… and lips as red as a rose… eyes the color of lilacs.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Death is not peaceful, for the very moment you imagine you’re ready to leave this earth — something pulls you back, demanding you stay. —The Grimm Reaper