It was the last evening. Tomorrow she would leave for an unknown destination in a different world. Today was the evening for memories and tears. She looked at the remaining clothes. Enough to suit her and Kieran for a while, and they would fit in her bag. She didn’t plan to cling to physical stuff like clothes. Her fingers caressed the pendant on her neck and then the ring on her finger. These were unique items. She would never leave them behind. As she would never leave her sword behind. The ruby ring on one hand, her wedding ring on the other. She looked like a decent woman. How pathetic.

Kieran stepped towards her. The boy lived with her for a few days now, and the two of them already grew close. He wrapped his arms around her, pressed his face against her shoulder. He felt her sadness; she guessed. She hugged him and smiled while she kissed his hair. “You are my sunlight now, aren’t you?” she asked. His nod was more of a feeling than visible. “Did you say goodbye?” he asked her with an innocent tone. Well, that was to expect. He knew she didn’t. She shook her head. “You should”, he scolded her. “Today is for goodbye.”

Tatjana let out a deep sigh. “It doesn’t matter. He’s still asleep.” Kieran looked at her and within moments his eyes looked way older than he really was. “He will know. It’s you saying goodbye. Even if he’s asleep, he will know.” And, as if he could read her mind, he added: “And maybe if you don’t say goodbye, you will not make it through the veil. Imagine how FURIOUS Marcus would be!” With his words, he pointed at the portrait of her beloved husband.

She laughed. “Okay, Mr. Know-it-all, and do you have any idea where I could find him?” His nose went to wrinkles before he replied. “That’s easy. He is where only you could find him, and where you are always with him.” And as these words fade into nothing, she remembered. She remembered the tunnels he showed her when she was way younger. The old, crumbled rooms underground, where he took her when she wanted to tell him a secret. She hesitated and Kieran repeated: “Marcus would be F U R I O U S!”

“I’ll be back before sunrise.”, she said, while wrapping herself in a dark cloak. At least she needed to try. It has been one hundred and twenty-four years, three months and six days. This was the time he already spent in Torpor, with no signs of him awakening soon. Her steps went a way, that she has gone hundreds of times when she was younger. It was easy, but he told her that only she and he knew about this place. Not even Marcus.

When she arrived at the room, she found him there. Laying on a bed like the corpse he was. Well, she had also become a corpse since they last met. She sighed, gathered her skirts and sat on the edge of his bed. All it took was one look to correct herself. Their bed. She stretched out beside him and laid her head on his chest. Maybe for the last time. In the darkness, without servants running around him, this was easier. She remembered other times when she laid with him like this. This made speaking to him easier.

“This is goodbye, lover,” she whispered. She felt the hot vitae run down her face. Was she crying? “I am chosen, as you always said. But I think you meant something else. Marcus and I have found each other - again. Not even the witch could stop that. And by now, I don’t think anyone would try. We got married, he and I. It’s sealed as an oath, in front of the tower. I only wish you could have been there.” More and more bloody tears stained her pale face.

“Oh. I didn’t survive that I recognized Marcus. Selania embraced me, and to be honest, I hate her, because she almost killed Marcus. We miss you. Both of us. I have to leave tomorrow to join him in a strange new world,” she said. “I do not know what to expect there. But we will be together again, and so I’ll fight off the fear, as I always did. Do you remember that first night? In that alley? I sure do. This was when I knew that you, him and you, will have my heart forever.”

She stayed with him. Cried. Told him what happened since he went to Torpor. Told him how much she was missing him. When she moved away, right before sunrise, she didn’t realize that some of her vitae dropped on his lips when she kissed him goodbye. But she felt much better, much more prepared for her journey.