Page 49 of Night Fall
She smiled at him. “They don’t need to. Come on.”
Mya led him downstairs to the living room, where he saw a tall man with golden skin and short brown hair whose mouth dropped open when his green-gray eyes landed on Erik. Several different emotions ran over his face, and Erik wished he remembered him, wished he knew who the man was.
Then his eyes moved to Johanna, and he grinned. Her long blonde hair was shiny, her eyes a vibrant blue glistening like the ocean, and she was no longer marred in cuts and bruises. She looked well taken care of, nourished, and exuded a type of peace that he had never seen from her. There was more there, under the surface, but she was thriving, and it was evident in every single way.
“Erik!” she shouted, running to him and tossing her arms around him. He caught her, laughing as he swung her around before setting her down on the floor. She laughed with him, tears rolling down her cheeks when she cupped his face. “I knew you were alive! I knew it, but it still doesn’t seem real!”
He grabbed her arms and pulled back to look at her. “And you as well. You look happy, Johanna, and so incredibly loved. You deserve that.”
His eyes slid to man, and Erik realized he must be Luke. For a moment something flickered in his memory. The figures were shadowed. They had no faces, made no gestures or actions, but he could feel the man’s loneliness, the void he’d carried inside that he constantly tried to keep at bay. And yet, as Erik looked at Luke now, that void was gone.
“You deserve that too,” Erik said.
Luke blinked, uncertain as to how to deal with him, but gave him a small smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Erik looked for Mya and found her leaning against a console table, her arms crossed. She was trying to appear indifferent, but he could see the jealousy on her face, the uncertainty, and when they locked eyes, she quickly looked away.
Erik turned back to Johanna. “Could you please restore my memories? I have a lifetime of mistakes to make up for with my mate.”
Mya’s eyes snapped to his, and he gave her a soft smile. “And I’d say with her family, too.”
Johanna nodded and gestured to a chair. “Of course. You should sit, though. I took a lot from you, and it will be difficult on your mind to get all the memories back at once.”
Erik took a seat, as did Luke and Mya, and then he waited. The fear that coursed through his veins at the thought of getting his memories back made him feel weak. There was time missing between Mya’s story and the days of his capture. He didn’t know what lie dormant there, but it felt dark, depressive.
He was still certain that he did not leave Mya’s side willingly, but in the end it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except her. He had to fix this, all of it—the awkwardness, the distance, the grief and despair. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe it could be resolved overnight, or even within a few years, but he wouldn’t stop trying until it did. They needed that. They deserved that, and Erik knew Mya needed to see him fight for her, for them. He would fight tooth and nail, and he would conquer every single one of his demons to keep her in his life.
Johanna lifted her fingertips to his temples. He felt heavy, weighed down under a humid fog that filled the room. He struggled under it, trying to catch his breath.
And then it happened.
Mya. Gregori. Lucas. He could see their faces as clear as day. He saw them running, playing, climbing, training, fighting. He felt Mya, their first touch, first embrace. He felt the desperation, the hope that welled inside of him when he confessed his past to her, and he felt her love wash over him. He felt the rolling sea as they traveled to America. He felt the overwhelming joy of finally being able to marry her, to know that she would be protected, and then he felt the betrayal and heartache of being rejected. He felt the death of his heart and the complete obliteration of realizing it had all been a trap. He felt the worms that crawled over his skin and the way he’d sat frozen, wishing he could go to Mya when he heard her screams. And then he felt empty, broken, defeated, reduced to nothing as time passed by, until he saw the sky again and was taken captive by Constance.
When Erik came to, he was on the floor of Mya’s living room. The light was too bright, the faces of those peering down at him blurry. He closed and opened his eyes multiple times before he could clearly see, and the first face that came into his vision was the one he’d always wished for, the one he missed most, the only one his heart had ever and would ever beat for.
Mya.
He reached for her, sat up and hugged her. He clung to her tightly and swore that nothing would ever separate them again. Johanna and Luke moved to help him, but he gathered them in his arms just as the tears gathered in his eyes.
They said their goodbyes, and Mya and Erik watched as Johanna teleported away with Luke. But even such a marvel didn’t distract Erik from what he had to do next.
Mya was hurting and so was he, but they needed this conversation for him to right his wrongs, for healing to begin.
“Mya?” he started.
She looked up at him, and for a moment he couldn’t speak. He was lost in the deep, wild forest that lived in her eyes, mesmerized by the shades of green yellowed by sunlight that danced every time she blinked. They were so magical, so majestic, and he had never thought he’d see them again.
He licked his lips and bared his heart to her.
“I used to dream of your eyes. I dreamed of them for years when I was alone.”
His voice sounded haunted, even to his own ears, but he swallowed the feeling. He sat down on the couch, gesturing for her to join him. “Sometimes I wondered if I forgot a shade or hue. Were they darker, lighter, more golden, greener? That was…”
He licked his lips, his throat dry, and swallowed again. “That was the most terrifying part of everything—knowing how many years had gone by and wondering if I had forgotten something about you. But I never truly forgot them. For years, I would stare at the trees when we would transfer locations. I did the same after I escaped. I’d walk through the forest aimlessly. It would feel like something was crushing my heart into pieces, but I didn’t know what it was.”
He drew in a deep breath. “It was you, love. I was always searching for you, always hoping to find you.”
