Now, in the mid-year of twenty twenty-one, Tani could no longer boast like a fledgling. His heart was already torn to pieces, numbed and stabbed by his beloved’s consistent choice. A choice, which never included him.
Tani could no longer boast to Cale, who watched his defeat materialize with each century past.
The family living in the two-story house meant his beloved had, once again, chosen another soul instead of him. At the end of his thousand years in this mortal world, he now knew how silly he must have looked to his father hundreds of years ago. Love was not enough to make a life together, nor was it enough to convince his beloved to choose him.
Tani had lost, thoroughly.
His sentence awaited him back home in the Ekho Realm.
It was time to give up on the mortal realm.
At what point did love turn to hate? And, why did his heart never hate his beloved?
“You are facing the last chance in your thousand-year calamity, Tani,” Cale said, his voice low, free of contempt and teasing. “I know you’re weary. I would be too after all the years you’ve pursued him. Your beloved mortal is thirty-five years old. I’m surprised you waited so long to find him.”
Tani shrugged. The reason he waited…or hesitated to find his beloved was that he was tired. No longer confident in his love and his choice to bind his heart to the mortal.
He just wanted the trial to end.
Tani took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The warm night air made him wish for the cold of winter. At least then, the weather suited his mood.
“What happens if I decide not to meet him?” Tani asked.
“Nothing. Live out the century until its end,” Cale said, his tone matter of fact. “Your beloved will die in his chosen life. You will have no right to enter the human realm ever again. A fact, which hurts you because I know the life you’ve built in this realm. The punishment of not returning here will devastate you. Are you willing to ignore that you need him desperately?”
Tani closed his eyes. Sorrow filled him, and Cale sighed with pleasure next to him. It was expected. At this point, Cale would be his only companion in the years to come. There was no need to push him away.
The thought of never seeing his beloved’s face again filled him with acute sadness.
In a cruel twist of fate, his many centuries in the human realm managed to give him a community of souls he did not want to forget or leave behind. He had created a home he cared for, a world he nurtured. All of it lost to him if he could not get his beloved to choose him.
“Your pain is the best kind,” Cale said, stretching his arms over his head with a pleased smile. “Fine, delicious pain, old and refined, it’s like nothing I’ve ever fed on. It’s hard to give up. I ask you, Tani. If you don’t complete your part of this trial this time, the past nine hundred years will have been a waste. Is this the outcome you hoped for?”
Tani opened his eyes to stare at the two-story house.
A light turned on downstairs, the picture windows showing off a neat open kitchen. A tall man walked deeper into the room, sending Tani’s heartbeat racing in his chest. His eyes feasted on the toned body dressed in a plain white t-shirt and old pajama bottoms. The urge to cross the backyard to the kitchen windows was strong. Tani ground his teeth and reminded his stupid heart that the man in the kitchen had already made the choice of love before they met.
Unable to look anymore, Tani started to turn away, but Cale’s next words stopped him.
“He dies in a year, you know,” Cale said.
“What do you mean?” Tani asked, looking at Cale in shock.
“You always ran away after he made the choice to marry and live with his mortal mate,” Cale said. “You hide in the conservancy network you have built. Waiting for the next century, hoping he chooses you the next time. In the last cycle you got very close, so it broke you harder when he chose the woman, Violet. You never bothered to discover how long they stayed happy.”
“He has chosen her again this time,” Tani said, hating the anger coloring his voice. It was never easy to watch the man he loved with someone else. “She is the opposite of everything I stand for. She gives him children, a legacy, then and now. What is the point of interfering? Death is part of mortal life, Cale. I might not come to look for him before he dies, but I do make sure the children he leaves behind are looked after, as he once asked of me. They lack for nothing.”
“Yes, you take care of the descendants. It’s admirable,” Cale said. “However, you have never known why he dies. You have refused to notice that it is a common occurrence. Never once changing in the past nine centuries. In every reincarnation, he has never lived beyond thirty-six. I never understood why and wondered if you noticed. Then again, you used to rush to meet him early, and by twenty-five, he rejects you so thoroughly you run off. Within five years, he makes his choice and while living his chosen life, you leave to nurse a broken heart. Each time he lives with this woman, he only makes it to thirty-six years old. The century ends and the reincarnation restarts.”
Tani’s gaze returned to the man drinking water from a glass in the kitchen.
“Why did you never mention it?” Tani asked.
“You never want to know what becomes of him after he leaves you,” Cale said. “Tani, you’re as petty as your fox mother. She has refused to see your father until this day. You both take rejection too personally. Perhaps, the reason why your beloved never chooses you is that you abandon him too.”
“That’s not fair,” Tani said, shaking his head.
“What if his soul disappears after this century?” Cale asked. “What if your calamity has given him the chance to reincarnate when his soul wishes to move on to something else?”
“Don’t joke around,” Tani said.
“I’m not,” Cale said. “I’m pointing out a variable you have refused to notice. He is mortal. I can’t interfere with the rules of his world, his choices. Maybe you rushed it before and missed a crucial clue. Approach him, Tani. He might surprise you and choose you this time. He is an archeologist. His work tells me he looks for you in his own way. I think he will make an interesting encounter. There’s something about him…”
“You are trying to get me to meet him,” Tani scowled. “Cale, he has chosen Violet in this life. Her name might be different now, but I recognize her from earlier centuries. They have two children. The choice is done. There is no hope for us.”
“Perhaps,” Cale said, then gave Tani a startling smile. “Perhaps not. You have a year to meet him and discover why he dies at thirty-six.”
Tani started to respond, but Cale chose to disappear as fast as he appeared earlier. Tani returned his attention to the man in the kitchen.
His beloved stood tall, always filled with confidence. Tani knew if he got closer, he would look into piercing, expressive brown eyes that saw into his soul. Best of all, his fox eyes loved the gold mist aura surrounding him. If Tani got closer, the scent of jasmine coming off the mist would fill his nostrils. Intoxicating, it called to him, forcing him to reach for his beloved with his entire heart.
With each century gone, it had become harder to exist without the scent of jasmine or seeing the gold mist surrounding his beloved. Tani always felt ripped apart when his beloved walked away from him. It took everything to feel complete again.
Tani sighed and pulled his hands out of his pocket. He started to teleport and leave, but then he paused when the kitchen door opened.
His beloved came out, his gaze intent on the tall tree where Tani stood.
“What are you?”
The question startled Tani.
Tani froze on the thick tree branch, staring at the man watching him. He did not speak, afraid he was misreading the situation. There was no way the mortal could see him. Tani was using an illusion to hide his presence on the tree.
“You follow me. I can’t see you, but I can feel you. I felt you in Istanbul at the airport. This is the third time this month. You’re strong, whatever you are.” His beloved spoke in a cajoling tone. “Why do you watch me?”
Tani held still, afraid if he moved his beloved would see him, discover him.
Then, he scoffed at the thought. Silly, you can always leave without him noticing. He started to complete his teleport.
“Kendini göste,” his beloved said.
A large wave of heat rushed toward the tree. Shocked by the intense power, Tani stopped his exit. Years of devotion to conserving forests had him bringing his right hand up to absorb the damaging wave of heat. The impact of the heat spell was damaging, the fire singed his palm and coat sleeve. It took Tani considerable effort to reverse the damage. The effort he could not waste on healing his palm, so he got burned.
His beloved’s spell was simple enough. It held an order for Tani to reveal his true form or die, a warning. The force behind the order, hot enough to singe Tani’s palm, spoke of power: Bloodborn warlock power.
Tani stared at his beloved, who still stood in the garden studying the untouched tree, in surprise. Shock filled Tani because he could never have imagined his beloved would be Ekho-blessed.
When had a Bloodborn warlock joined his beloved’s bloodline?
It looked like Cale had a point, for once.
Tani had missed something.
“This is new,” Tani murmured, looking at his stinging red palm.
“I’m sure I’ve hurt you…somewhere. If you want your burn healed, come down here,” his beloved said with a satisfied chuckle.
“How dare you,” Tani said, then turned and returned to his domain without giving his beloved the satisfaction.
Tani needed to meet his uncle before he met Dante Arturo face-to-face. He needed to understand how his beloved would end up a bloodborne warlock.
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