“Y-Yes, but-”
“So do it to me. Take away my memories of you. Your name. Your face.” She smiled for a moment, her eyes dropping. “My time in Alexandria. Make me just another guildmember again.”
He could only gape. “Why?” he managed, finally. “Olivia, we just...we just escaped all of those. I need your help. So why the hell do you want me to-”
“I want to do better than them,” Olivia said. She clasped her hands in front of her, but he could still see them shaking. “But...I can’t. Not while I still know...everything. Things I shouldn’t know about the Librarian. Things that might hurt you.”
“You’re not going to hurt me,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “You’re-”
“I used you once already,” Olivia snapped, her eyes glistening. Daniel stopped. She shook her head, looking away. “What if I do it again? What if I’m tempted? What if someone else realizes I know more than I should? I...I can’t. It’s not fair to you. To risk it. I want to help you, Daniel, and I want to turn my guild around. But I want to do it right.”
His chest ached. A pit was opening beneath him, sucking what little light the room had away until only shadows remained. He stood slowly, still staring at her. “I don’t want to,” he whispered. “I...we can do it together. We’ll be better.”
“Owl. Please.” Her hands tightened around each other. “You’re a good man. I told you that before, didn’t I?”
“I don’t-“
“But I know how the world works. This is the only way.”
Something clinked on the end table beside them. Olivia glanced down. Daniel didn’t. He already knew what he’d find.
“This is what I wanted,” Olivia said softly. Her eyes met his again. “This is why I left. I can’t...I needed to be away. From you. Before I...before this.”
Daniel swallowed. His throat burned. “I’m going to miss you,” he whispered. “A lot.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “You’ll see so much of me I’ll drive you insane.”
“But-”
“Get to know me again,” she said, and even if her eyes were dark, a smile played at her lips. “Our relationship doesn’t have to end, Daniel. We can be friends. Properly.”
It wouldn’t be the same, he screamed silently. And it wouldn’t. They could be friends, but as Librarian and guildmaster. Not...Not as Daniel and Olivia.
Which was exactly why Olivia was right, he knew. If they were going to fix things, they needed to fix the foundation first. Alexandria knew it, too.
He’d chosen to be the Librarian. It was time to start acting like it.
Slowly, Daniel reached down, taking the two fluted glasses sitting on the end table. One was marked with a tiny owl at its rim. That one, he kept.
The other one, he held out to her. “You’re right,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’m sorry.”
Olivia reached out, taking it with a laugh. “Don’t apologize,” she said. Her eyes flicked up to meet his as she lifted the glass to her lips.
He hardly tasted the champagne as it went down. Numb, he set their glasses back down.
Olivia was smiling, triumphant. “There,” she whispered. “Thank you. I’m...I’m sorry, Daniel.” She wobbled unsteadily.
He caught her as her legs gave out. The two of them dropped in a heap, his arms still snug around her.
She laid her cheek against his chest, her eyelids drooping. “For everything,” she murmured. “I’m...I’m so...”
“For once in your life, shut up,” Daniel said, biting back something between a laugh and a sob. “I’ll...I’ll see you on the other side. Okay?”
Olivia smiled, her eyes foggy. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Did...Did I do okay?”
He stroked her hair, teasing out the myriad strands. “Yeah,” he said, forcing a smile. “You did g-great. You saved me, Olivia. And my friends.” Another strand slipped between his fingers. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Her lips curled up. “And...don’t forget it,” he heard her murmur, her eyes sliding shut at last.
A heartbeat later, her breathing slowed, slipping into the steady rhythm of someone asleep. The lines of tension creasing her face eased, relaxing.
Daniel swallowed. His gaze lingered on her face, one last time.
And then he gathered her up, lifting her from the ground, and carried her into his room. By the time she woke up, she’d be outside of Alexandria. There was no risk.
The mattress clinked gently as he set her down. He drew a blanket over her. There, again, he paused, his hands still hovering over the blanket.
In a different world, maybe...things could have been different. Maybe they could have been more. But he’d gotten his miracle with Leon, and James, and Maya.
Some things were too much to ask for.
“Goodbye, Olivia,” he whispered, straightening.
Turning, he left her behind, returning to the candlelight.
- Chapter Forty-One -
The sun blasted down from overhead. Daniel winced.
The others drifted toward the car in the apartment’s parking lot—the brand new car, still all shiny and un-dirtied, with the faint odor of its newness seeping out through an open window.
“Still can’t believe you just ran out and bought a new car,” Maya muttered. “This is so unfair.”
“Last year’s model,” Daniel said. “It’s cheaper.”
“It’s still new.”
“W-Well. I needed something to drive,” Daniel mumbled. “Assholes blew mine up.”
Maya rolled her eyes, still ogling the car, but retreated back to the sidewalk. “You’re sure you have to go?”
