I Love Him, I Love Him Not - 26

Omg.

Absolutely no time whatsoever.

Sorry for not replying.

Enjoy.

~x~

---Aunt's POV---

I knew what was happening. I knew everything. The words, wanting to be free, out in the open, were poised on the tip of my tongue, as if anticipating a freefall. I bit down hard on my flesh and silenced myself.
Summer did not know the whole truth yet, and she may never find out.
The air was cold around me as I bundled up my skirts and swept up the staircase. So many things had changed quickly. The inevitable end was coming soon, the end which would break Summer's heart so badly that I wondered if she could rule afterwards. It would certainly be a struggle, I knew.

My room may have been warmer than the rest of our home, but I only felt cold, as if a blanket of chilly fog had wrapped its way around me and was refusing to leave. I stepped into the grand threshold, closed the door behind me and locked it firmly. Rattling the doorknob, I checked it was fully closed before hurrying to my bedside table.

Underneath layers of silk, velvet and chiffon, there lay a mirror, handle carved, ivory marble, cool to the touch. I reached out and clasped it. As soon as my fingers closed around the handle, my whole body began to tingle.

The beginnings of magic engulfed me.

"Show me my niece's fate. Show me what destiny has in store for her." I whispered, absent mindedly stroking the fine carvings that laced around the handle. A present from my brother, from a man who had picked me off the streets and pronounced me family without a thought for himself.

The man who had been poisoned with the darkest magic as he slept, the man that used his last remaining energy to crawl back through the portal in hope that he might find solace in his wife's arms. He never made it that far, and the thought tore me up inside every time I pondered on it. Which I tried not to do for very long.

Because of this felony, this murder that had been committed, Summer had gained too much. She had the powers that were meant for her and her brother both, combined with the last dregs of golden light from her dying father. She had a power beyond compare, and I was a little scared of it. A little afraid of what the magic might do.

Poor Maximally, the small, fair haired child that looked so much like his mother, whose fate had been twisted and bent and stolen and left bereft. Poor Summer's mother, who had lost not only a husband, but a daughter as well, to the same dark force she never even knew existed.
I pitied them.

The mirror, still stagnant in my palm, began to change. The glass clouded with the faintest green light, and then images began to dance across the screen. No - not dance - dancing suggested grace. The gruesome future that the mirror showed me held no grace.

Only war, and darkness, and heartbreak so harsh that it left me - who was only watching - gasping for breath.

Summer and Cole. Bound by the cruelest, most bittersweet fate; the one of soulmates. They had found each other, and their souls knew each other, and it was only a matter of time before they joined in bliss.
But after that, after they had sampled a sweet taste of the honey of happiness, it would be torn away from them, and the darkness in Cole would take over, the darkness his true father forced upon him, the darkness that was through no fault of his.

It would take over, and it would rip them apart, sever their love like it was simply melted butter to a butcher's knife.

The mirror showed my nieces tears, the sobs that racked her body, and I turned away, placing the looking glass back into its proper place. I would not torture myself with images of despair. I would help my niece live her life in happiness, and then remain by her side as everything fell apart.

---Cole's POV---

The overwhelming urge to cry washed over me. She was near, I could feel it. I placed my guitar down on the bed and crept to the door. The last notes of my sad song still lingered in the air, like a bittersweet aftertaste to something bad I ate.

I opened the door, and there she was. Crumpled down on the floor like the strength to stand had left her. I reached down, scooped her up.
Her fancy dress was drenched in rain and streaked with mud. Her dark hair stuck to the edges of her face in swirling tendrils.

She looked at me as if she wasn't quite there. Her lips curved into a smile, and her hand, wet and cold, reached up to cup the side of my face.

"Did I ever tell you that you're beautiful?" She murmured softly, rubbing my skin with her thumb.

I looked down at her, so weak, cold and shivering. How long had she been there? How long had she waited for me in the rain?

Growling in annoyance at myself, I stood up with her still in my arms and reversed back into the hut. I boarded up the glass that didn't have a window and set the logs in the fireplace alight. When I had a roaring fire going, I lay her down on my faux fur rug. She smiled, as if she was perfectly content, and curled up onto her side. Her eyes were closed, as if she merely slept. I didn't know what she was doing.

I didn't know what was happening.

"Summer, what's wrong?" I asked her desperately, patting her cheek in an effort to wake her up. She swatted my hand away, looked up at me. The smile slipped from her face.

"I love you so much. Why can't you see that? I love you." She said, sitting up now. Her hair was half dried, hanging down her back as lovely as a silk waterfall. She reached up, pushed it back from her face almost absent mindedly. Her eyes bore into mine. "I love you."

My world, which had seemed so dangerously off tilt before, righted itself. Something flared in my stomach, and began to blossom and grow.

"What did you say?" I asked, leaning forward, placing my hand near hers on the mat. She looked down at our touching fingertips.

"I said I love you." She repeated, and her voice was soft, mellow and happy this time. I blinked hard, and then swallowed. I licked my lips nervously.

"Do you really mean that?" I asked. She looked up again, caught my eye. Her other hand lifted up and rested on the side of my face. She leaned forward, her eyes still staring into mine. When her lips were just millimeters away from mine, she whispered,
"With all my heart."

And then she kissed me.
---Summer's POV---

I didn't know how long I was out there, in the freezing cold, listening to him sing. A very long, long time, I knew that much. Somewhere, something was telling me that I was shouldn't have been looking so bruised and blue, but I didn't care. I would die, just as long as I could stay there, listening to him sing.

It was a surprise when he found me.

Even more of a surprise when he lay me down and listened as I poured my heart out to him, leaving nothing out, telling him everything.
It was a surprise when he carried me to his bed and took the mat for himself, curling up on the hard stone floor.

"Here, you take the bed," he said, setting me down gently. "And I'll take the mat." He kissed me on the forehead, grabbed a threadbare blanket, and went to lie on the freezing ground beside the fire. I nodded in agreement, thanked him and curled up on my side, watching him as he watched me.

We were silent for a long time, just staring into each others eyes and contemplating things. Thinking things over, namely our fast, turnaround relationship. He huddled further inside the blanket.

I smiled, gently, and held a hand out. "Come here."

He looked bewildered. "What?"

"Come sleep here." I repeated, watching as his eyes widened. Then, carefully, as if I were a deer he didn't want to startle, he stood. I scooted up in the medium-sized bed, and he climbed in.

"You sure about this?" He asked, immediately turning and enveloping me in his arms. I placed my head on his chest, listening to the sweet song of his heartbeat beneath my skin.

"Never been surer."