Gabriel.
She was holding hands with Gabriel. He was smiling and she was laughing at something he’d just said.
They were comfortable.
They were…real.
Scarlet blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend what her flashback meant. She looked at Gabriel and sharply inhaled. “I remember you. We were walking through the forest. My hair was longer…and you were dressed weird.”
Gabriel leaned in, a slow smile spreading across his face. “You remember?”
Tristan cocked his head to the side.
“Yes.” Scarlet continued, “It was cold and the sun was about to set and I….” She wound herself around the memory again, gathering as much information as possible. “I had on a long dress…and an engagement ring….”
Was I really engaged to Gabriel in some past life?
So weird.
“Yes.” Gabriel nodded in excitement. “Do you remember anything else?”
Scarlet tried to think harder; tried to get her brain to cooperate with her will to remember, but the memory began to fade—the sound and color coming to a close. Slowly, it receded to the back of her mind, where it silently laid down among the few other precious memories she possessed.
“No,” she admitted with defeat. “That’s all.”
Her head felt fuzzy as she drifted back to the present.
Scarlet stared at the floor as she thought.
It was true.
Everything Gabriel and Tristan were telling her was true.
She had lived centuries ago.
She’d been engaged to Gabriel.
She remembered. She couldn’t deny it.
Scarlet took a deep breath.
It was all true.
Which meant….
Scarlet looked at Gabriel, then at Tristan. “Holy crap. You guys are immortal?” Her small voice cracked.
The brothers nodded.
“And I…I keep dying and coming back to life?” Scarlet could barely get the words out without choking. Or coughing. Or shuddering.
Because dying and coming back to life was totally creepy.
And gross.
Gabriel looked sympathetic as he nodded.
Scarlet took a few more deep breaths. Okay, so she was semi-immortal. She died and came back to life. She could accept that…right?
Her hands started shaking again.
Gabriel sat next to her and put his warm hand on her knee. “You don’t remember…any of this? At all?”
Scarlet shook her head, utterly overwhelmed. “No, Gabriel! Clearly, I do not remember. I think if I remembered I wouldn’t be sitting here, freakin out!”
“Hey…hey.” His voice was soothing as he tried to calm her down. “It’s okay.” He nodded reassuringly. “Everything will be okay. I promise. You can do this. You can handle this. You just have to trust me…okay?”
Scarlet looked into his brown eyes and tried to summon the strength to breathe without crying.
Or, at the very least, not throw up.
She nodded at him and took a moment to gather her thoughts and approach her situation rationally.
Which was impossible, because rationality had no place amongst immortality and curses and elves.
Okay, so maybe there weren’t elves involved, but there were curses, which was just as crazy.
Scarlet exhaled.
She just needed to suck it up, and accept her new—albeit totally bizarre—reality.
She could do this.
“Okay,” Scarlet said, standing up so she could shake off the nervousness inside her. “Just…just give me a minute to wrap my head around all this….”
Or maybe to throw up.
No, Scarlet chastised herself. I will not vomit in front of the two most attractive guys I’ve ever seen.
Scarlet paced.
I’m five hundred years old.
I die and come back to life.
My boyfriend is immortal.
And, oh yeah, and there’s a curse.
So much for being normal.
She stood up straight and took a few deep breaths until her hands stopped shaking.
She had questions—lots of them.
“Okay. So, I die.” She tried to say this like it was a fact, and not a dire fate.
Gabriel nodded. “Yes, but you always come back to life.”
Like that was supposed to make her feel better.
“Do I come back to life right away? Do I just die for a few seconds and then pop right back into a new life or something?”
“Um, no.” Gabriel rubbed his palms on his jeans again. “It’s different every time. Sometimes you’re dead for a hundred years, sometimes only a few decades.”
I sometimes stay dead for a hundred years?
This day officially sucks.
She swallowed, trying not to think about her body decaying in a grave while insects crawled all over her. “And…why do I keep coming back to life?”
Gabriel’s voice was regretful. “Because you have immortal blood inside you.”
“Right.” Scarlet nodded. “Because I’m semi-immortal. Was I, like, born this way? Am I a hybrid or something?”
Both brothers shifted uncomfortably.
“Not exactly,” Gabriel said clearing his throat. “The arrow Raven used to kill you was coated in immortal blood when it pierced your body, embedding the blood in your heart. Immortal blood never dies, so when your body dies the blood inside you fights to bring you back to life.”
Questions tumbled over themselves in Scarlet’s mind. “Immortal blood inside my heart brings me back to life?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Then…why do I keep dying?”
“Because the immortal blood doesn’t belong to you. It’s a supernatural element that’s too strong for your body to contain, so in each new life the blood fights to break free of your heart. It forces your heart to beat faster and harder than a human heart should, straining your heart until it begins to rip. Over time, your heart slowly breaks until…you die. Again.”
Tristan stared at the ceiling, his jaw fixed tight.
Scarlet blinked rapidly, unsure of what to say. “I keep dying of…a broken heart?”
Gabriel nodded. “But the immortal blood inside you brings you back to life.”
“Until,” Tristan said, looking at her from his dark corner, “the same awesome blood tears your heart in half again and kills you. Basically, the blood gives you life…and then takes it away.” Tristan’s words sounded angry but his eyes looked hurt. “You die…you come back to life...you die…you come back to life. It’s a vicious cycle.”
Scarlet swallowed and looked at Gabriel. “Is that the ‘side effect’ you were talking about?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Okay…okay, okay, okay.” She ran a nervous hand through her hair. “So, why did…what’s-her-name, Raven?...why did she want me to keep coming back to life? Why did she put immortal blood on the arrow in the first place?”
Gabriel said, “She…didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Tick…tick…tick….
Scarlet looked back and forth between the silent brothers. “Whose blood is in my heart?” She looked at Gabriel. “Yours?”
Gabriel looked at the floor.
Well, this can’t be good.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “The blood on the arrow wasn’t mine. It was Tristan’s.”
Scarlet’s eyes shot to Tristan—who was also staring at the floor.
Shifting uncomfortably, Gabriel looked back up at Scarlet. “At the time, Tristan and I didn’t know we were immortal. So, we had no idea Tristan’s blood would trap you in a life-and-death cycle. Tristan didn’t know—we didn’t know…anything, really.” Gabriel rubbed the side of his face and looked back at the floor.
“How did you not know you were immortal?” She looked at Tristan and scrunched her face. “And why on earth would you put your blood on the arrow anyway?”
Gabriel swallowed. “No
one deliberately put blood on the arrow. That was…an accident.”
Tension laced the room.
“An accident?” Scarlet looked back at Tristan and waited until his eyes met hers.
He looked haunted. Pained.
Her heart thrummed as she felt something sorrowful settle upon her. Heavy and warm and full of regret, it whispered something to her soul.
Something powerful.
Something sad.
Something Scarlet couldn’t remember.
She searched his face, hoping for answers but he said nothing.
A silent moment passed. Tristan slowly turned away and left the room.
Scarlet’s eyes trailed after him as he disappeared, her rapid heartbeat calming down as he walked away.
Gabriel watched his brother exit with a sigh. “Um…Tristan has issues. So, just try to ignore him.”
Yeah, right.
Slowly, Scarlet sat back down and looked at Gabriel. “How did Tristan’s blood ‘accidentally’ get on the arrow?”
Gabriel pursed his lips. “When Raven shot you, Tristan…sorta…jumped in front of the arrow to save you. The arrow went straight through his heart and into yours. So, the arrow was covered in his blood when it hit your heart.”
Scarlet leaned back, confused. “But you said you guys didn’t know you were immortal.”
“We didn’t.”
“So….” Scarlet’s heart squeezed. “If Tristan didn’t know he was immortal, why would he jump in front of an arrow…why would he risk his life…for me?”
If she’d been engaged to Gabriel, why had Tristan been willing to die for her?
Was that normal behavior for a brother?
Was that normal behavior for…anyone?
Gabriel hesitated. “You’d have to ask him.”
Scarlet narrowed her eyes.
What was going on?
22
Tristan made his way into the study and braced himself against the old mahogany desk.
He was angry.
He was scared.
And he was sad.
Angry because Gabriel had met Scarlet before the curse was broken and now she was in his living room, completely confused.
Idiot.
Scared because her memories could return any second—as evidenced by her flashbacks in the living room—and he couldn’t have her remembering him.
Not entirely, at least.
And sad because, once again, there was nothing he could—or should—do about Gabriel’s relationship with Scarlet.
Except watch it play out before him.
He swore under his breath.
Time was of the essence.
He needed to break the curse immediately, before things got out of hand.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and texted his most recently hired assassin.
Change in plans, we’re meeting tonight.
Tristan slid the phone back into his pocket and took a few deep breaths, his heart pounding recklessly inside him.
He waited a moment, hoping his chest would calm down, but it was no use.
Scarlet was two rooms away, and his soul had never been more happy.
Or hopeless.
The immortal blood living in the center of her heart was pulling for him with its heavy thumping, and breaking her heart little by little with each pulse.
He couldn’t control his blood in Scarlet’s chest—he couldn’t keep it from tearing her heart. And the closer he was to her, the more damage it would do.
It would only get worse if she remembered him.
He needed to stay away.
23
Scarlet tapped her fingers on her knees. She didn’t know where to begin
“So, we were engaged. Your crazy ex-girlfriend shot me. Tristan tried to save my life, but really what he did was turn me into a reincarnating, semi-immortal girl. And you never told me…any of this?” She looked at him in confusion and hurt.
Gabriel drew a long, deep breath. “I was hoping the curse would be broken before you remembered everything. I wanted to have good news for you. I didn’t want to freak you out.”
“But you did freak me out. I’m totally freaked out, Gabriel!”
He nodded and looked at her closely. “I am so sorry you’re scared. But I promise, I didn’t think it would be this bad. Usually, when you come back to life, you remember everything right away.”
Scarlet wrinkled her brow. “You lied to me. You deceived me. You came into my life and pretended you didn’t know me. You played with my head—you played with my heart, Gabriel. That was wrong.”
“I know.” His voice cracked with emotion. “But you have to believe me. I know you don’t remember me, you don’t remember us together, in the past, but I am crazy about you, Scarlet. I swear I wasn’t trying to trick you. I just…I just missed you. And I didn’t want to scare you. Please forgive me?”
Scarlet pressed her lips together, a myriad of emotions coursing through her. She was angry and she was hurt. But, try as she might, she couldn’t hate Gabriel. In a weird way, she almost sympathized with his desire to be in her life. Like she understood what lengths someone would go to for the person they cared about.
Scarlet shook her head, confused and frustrated. “I’m done with the lies. No more. From now on, you need to be honest. Because this,” Scarlet waved about the room with her hands, indicating all she’d learned since entering Gabriel’s cabin, “is not cool. You shouldn’t have kept this from me. It wasn’t fair.”
Gabriel looked like a wounded animal. “I know.”
“No more lies,” Scarlet said.
Gabriel agreed, “No more lies.”
Scarlet pressed her lips together. “Then I forgive you.” She paused a moment, thinking about her past relationships with Gabriel—the ones she couldn’t remember. “Have we been, uh, together in all of my lives?”
He shrugged. “Most of them.”
“And...how many lives have I had?” Scarlet scrunched her face.
Two? Three? Eighty?
“Six.”
Six? Okay, not bad. Six lives.
Less than a cat.
I can handle that.
Scarlet shook her head. “And what about the first fifteen years of this life? Why don’t I remember those?”
Gabriel looked sympathetic. “When you die, you’re body doesn’t get buried or decay. It just sorta…disappears.”
Well, that was good to know. At least she didn’t rot in a grave after every life.
“But when you come back to life,” Gabriel continued, “your body just sorta…reappears. Out of thin air, or whatever.”
Scarlet raised a brow. “What?”
“You don’t get born into a new life,” he said. “You just… materialize in random places. You wake up without any memories—like what happened two years ago—and you’re always fifteen years old when you…reappear.”
Scarlet’s mouth hung open. “I‘ve had six lives, but none of them have been complete lives?”
“Except your first life,” Gabriel said. “You were born into that one, of course. With a family and everything.”
Her heart sank.
Family.
If this was all true, then Scarlet didn’t have any living family members. No family had abandoned her in the park. No family would ever come looking for her….
“Wait.” Scarlet held up a palm. “If I materialize in random places, how did you know I was here in Avalon?”
“Because,” Gabriel shifted in his seat, “Tristan can find you.”
“What? How?”
Gabriel pressed his lips together for a moment.
“How can Tristan find me?”
“It’s really not my thing to tell you—“
“Gabriel!” Scarlet was so sick of all the half-truths and secrets.
“Okay, fine.” He turned and hollered down the hallway, “Tristan!”
Several moments passed before Tristan appeared at the living room entrance, looking annoyed
. “What?”
“Scarlet wants to know how you’re able to find her,” Gabriel said, looking anywhere but at his twin.
Tristan narrowed his eyes. “Nope.” He started walking back down the hallway.
“Please?” All the secrets were suffocating her; she had to know.
Tristan kept his back to her for several long seconds and, for a brief moment, it was as if she were momentarily inside him, feeling what he did.
Fear, anxiety, helplessness… desire?
But the emotional onslaught disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Was she losing her mind?
Probably.
That would certainly explain a lot.
Slowly, Tristan turned around and met her gaze. His eyes were empty of emotion when he said, “I’m…connected to you. Because of the blood. So, I can sense you. If I follow what I feel, I always find you.”
Tristan briefly glanced at Gabriel.
“You can feel me?” Scarlet tilted her head to the side.
Tristan nodded.
“Can I feel you?”
Tristan blinked. “I don’t know.”
“Oh,” Scarlet said, unsure what to do with that information.
An awkward moment passed.
Scarlet cleared her throat. “Is that…is that why your voice seems so…,” Perfect? Beautiful? “familiar?”
“Probably,” Tristan said.
“And Gabriel’s voice?” Scarlet looked at her boyfriend.
“Sounds just like mine.” Tristan said. “Twins have almost identical voices, so your blood—or my blood, or whatever—probably registers our sound and identifies with it.”
“Right.” Scarlet nodded. “Because your blood lives inside me.”
Tristan looked away from her and nodded.
“The same blood,” Scarlet blinked, “that, literally, breaks my heart.”
He nodded again.
Scarlet looked at Gabriel. “And you think…my heart will break again? Like it did in all my other lives? You think I’m going to die?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Gabriel looked at her with pain in his eyes. “Only if we can’t break the curse.”
“Which we will do,” Tristan said, looking at Gabriel sternly.
Scarlet looked between the brothers for a second. “Have you tried to break the curse before?”