Page 393 of Eight of Swords: Part One
‘See?Riddles.Riddles and poetry.I’m sick of it.’
‘If my sister and I could have told you from the start with even asmallhope of you still taking the job—’
‘Yeah, go on and justify it.Talk all your shit about the bigger picture.Theneeds of the many.Whatever you need to tell yourself.’
‘You, for all your faults and failings, are the key.’
‘The key to what?’
She stares out at the city.‘To worlds beyond.’
‘What memory did it take?’he asks.‘The demon?’
‘There was no demon, Lachlan,’ she says at length, turning away and hopping down onto the safe side.‘Only a mirror.Now drop yoursulkoff the side of this building and go back where you belong.’
To him, is left unspoken but Lachlan hears it all the same.
She’s probably long gone when he says, ‘Not yet.’
Lachlan Tanner postpones his hunger for now.
He sits down on the ledge, gaze fixed where the compass of his heart naturally swings.There’s rain coming soon, clouds gathering for hours now.
He’ll finish his account tonight, give the notebook to Kade tomorrow.
He’ll return to the Tower and make it right somehow.
It’s a selfish plan, in truth.
He just wants to see him, be near him.
Jules.Julian.HisJewel.
The love of his fucking life.
Maybe there is still some good he can do.
There has to be.
Staring towards the Tower, Lachlan hopes Kade is getting some sleep, though if he knows his boy, he doubts it.Night was always when Jules got up to his best tricks, caused the most trouble.Lachlan smiles to himself, holding the memories close as they come flooding back.
Bodyguard.
What he wouldn’t give to go back.
But that time, no matter how fresh writing makes it feel, is gone forever.All he has is now, and a handful of tomorrows.
It starts to rain.Slow at first, then a cascading downpour sets in.Thunder rumbles somewhere out across the city, but there’s no lightning yet.
‘Four more nights,’ he whispers to himself, sodden.
Four more chances.
He’s not going to waste them.
Not this time around.
