Chapter 199


    #Chapter 199 – The Long Night


    Rafe carefully ces Victor on his side of the bed while I pull back the sheets. The two brothers


    cheerfully joke about the battle and the siege, about what happened next and how poor Rafe had to


    clean up Victor’s mess while Victor had what Rafe calls a “nice four-day nap.” Victorughs at this and


    teases his brother, but I can see that his heart isn’t in it.


    He just wants to sleep, I know.


    But he’s honestly so sick, so tired that…I don’t know if he’ll wake up.


    It’s a horrible realization toe to as I tuck the nkets in around him. I see that Rafees to it as


    well and does his best to keep the knowledge of it off his face. As Victor looks between us, I know that


    we’re both failing.


    “Thank you,” Victor says, smiling at Rafe. “You’ve been a good brother to me. I’m d that we have…


    fixed things. Between us. After so many years.”


    “Yeah,” Rafe says, a little awkward, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry that I…poisoned you


    during chess. And hung you upside down from a tree. And all that.”


    Victor and I can’t helpughing at this and Rafe smiles at us and then heads for the door. I walk with


    him to it.


    “The boys?” I say quietly, looking towards their room where I can hear them ying. “Will you put them


    to bed? And…stay with them?”


    He nods quietly to me and I can see the grief in on his face now. No need to hide it anymore – not


    now that he’s out of Victor’s sight.


    “Thank you,” I whisper, and then press the door shut. I turn back to Victor, leaning against it.


    Victor sits in the bed, his face still so pale, but he smiles at me. He nces quickly at the closet. “Will


    we be expecting any…phone calls? Tonight?”


    I can’t help theugh that bursts out of me. “I mean,” I say, shrugging. “I can hook it back up, if you


    want to. Who knows who might call.”


    Heughs along with me and then opens his arms. “No,” he says. “No interruptions. I just want you


    tonight.”


    I go to him, then, sliding off my shoes and crawling across the bed, into his arms, my home. He wraps


    them around me as I rest my head against his chest, which rises faintly. I can feel a slight tremor in the


    muscles of his arms. God, I’ve never seen him so weak.


    “Evelyn,” Victor says quietly, his mouth against my hair. “If this all…ends. I want you to know how


    grateful I am to have had you in my life. To have had at least these past few months. Every minute of it


    has been worth it.”


    “No,” I whisper, shaking my head so that he can feel my refusal against his chest even if he can’t hear


    it. “No goodbyes, Victor. It’s not time for that. Not for a long time.”


    He sighs and, after a moment, whispers, “all right. Come and give me a kiss, and then we’ll go to sleep.


    I am…so tired.”


    I do as he asks, raising myself on my arms and bringing my face to his. The kiss he gives me – it


    sweeps through me, the first real kiss we’ve had since…god, I can’t even remember. Since the big


    house burned down, at least.


    For a moment – just a moment, as I close my eyes – he feels as strong and willful as he’s ever been –


    a force of nature ready to take on the world.


    That makes sense to me, though. His love for me is evergreen, even if his body is failing.


    But when I pull away, I can see that his eyes are half closed with exhaustion.


    I help him toy down and get his pillows right. Then, I leave him for a moment to go and change into


    my pajamas. When Ie back to bed and turn off the light, I can see that he is already asleep.


    I curl up next to him, ready for this long night.


    As the hours pass, Victor gets worse.


    I don’t sleep at all, listening to the air hiss from his lungs, his chest rising less and less with each


    passing breath. I keep my hand on his wrist, my fingers feeling for his pulse. It grows weaker as the


    clock ticks the minutes by.


    Finally, eventually, I panic.


    I had thought – hoped – that being home would invigorate him, bring him the peace andfort he


    needs to heal. But things are progressing faster than I thought – faster than he can possibly survive.


    “No,” I growl, my anxiety forcing me up when I can barely feel the pulse at his wrist. “No, Victor. This is


    not how it ends.”


    I sit up next to him, putting my hands on his shoulders, shaking him. I have no idea what I’m doing,


    obviously, and I am sure that the doctors would tell me that this is not the right choice –


    But what the hell else am I supposed to do?


    “Victor,” I growl, shaking him harder – but his head just falls to the side. “Wake up!” I say. “I need you to


    fight!”


    He does nothing – still asleep, or worse. Passed out? Crossing over some border between life and


    death?


    My own breath starts toe faster as my panic overtakes me. s**t, s**t – what the hell was I


    supposed to do?


    Some instinct takes over me. I don’t know what – I couldn’t begin to name it, or its source. But I act


    upon it, having nowhere else to turn.


    I move quickly, pulling Victor t on the bed, carefully removing the pillows from behind his head and


    tossing them to the ground.


    Then, bizarrely, I feel the instinct to take off all my clothes – every stitch of them. So I do it. I don’t even


    think twice, I just do as my body tells me.


    Then, I lean forward and take off Victor’s clothes as well, pulling them off his body and hurling them


    frantically to the floor. When his tshirt won’te over his head, I grab scissors from the bedside table


    and cut it off, pulling it out from beneath him.


    That done – when Victor isying naked before me – I know that I have work to do next.


    So I climb back into the bed and press my body against his, the front of me against his side, one arm


    wrapped around his waist, the other bent between us, my palm t against his ribs.


    There is nothing s****l about the moment – even though our bodies are naked next to each other. Every


    time in the past that we havein like this, it was always because there was a heat and a need. But that


    is absent now.N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    Instead, there is an intimacy here, a deep connection that I feel as my skin presses against his.


    Something in Victor’s nearly-limp form responds to the feeling of me next to him. He doesn’t wake up,


    but his sleeping body turns to me then, wrapping his arms around me so that we are pressed closely


    against one another.


    When wee to rest, our chests and stomachs are t against each other, our legs entwined, my


    head tucked beneath his chin so that my breathes hot on his throat.


    His breath is short, shallow – but mine is hot and frantic. I pull him closer to me, as close as I can get,


    whispering his name.


    Then, I close my eyes, and the world falls away.