Annabeth Neverending (28 page)

“Tell me; what’s your full name?” I ask.

“Seth Gabriel Danvers. But I’ve always gone by Gabriel
—
mostly because C. J. started calling me that when we were kids.”

All those hours of research, all that time spent seizing, and it was right in front of me. But I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, because it’s obvious that C. J.’s was a plot that had long been in the making.

Do memories of Sethe come back to me in every lifetime? Is that why Kha exchanged souls to match? But what about the ankh? Do I always find it? I have so many more questions in need of answers. The most worrisome being
—
where did C. J. go? To plan his next move, no doubt. I fear that this is far from over.

I reach out and caress Gabriel’s…Sethe’s cheek. He puts his hand
—
the one I know so well
—
up to mine, holding it there.

My beautiful Sethe. My wondrous Sethe. The love of my lifetimes.

I’m not much of a soulmate if I can’t even recognize my other half. Hopefully Gabriel will give me time to redeem myself.

“I’m sorry that I kicked your ass.”

“Well, I mean, I wouldn’t go that far,” he says with a chuckle.

“I wasn’t in my right mind.”

He nods with understanding.

“So, how does it feel to be a brunette with hazel eyes?” I ask.

Gabriel sighs, laughing, his decidedly not black or arching eyebrow raised.

“How does it feel to have orange hair?”

“It’s auburn, dammit!”

“Isn’t that what all redheads claim?” he asks, grinning.

Well, it’s nice to know that he’s still…him.

“At least I don’t need my glasses anymore. Now I can see you unobstructed. With my very own eyes.”

I nod, feeling tears of happiness collect in mine.

“We should leave. He won’t be gone for long,” says Gabriel apprehensively.

Unfortunately, I sense the very same thing. And so I unhook the ankh with the lapis lazuli and throw it into the woods. I don’t want it now. I’ll never want anything from Kha again.

I look up at Sethe…Gabriel…And it surges through me. The passion. The desire. The electricity. No matter how hard Kha, C. J., whatever he calls himself, may try to tear us apart, our love is too strong to destroy.

“Do you feel it? I feel it. Even though I tried so hard to deny it,” I say, intertwining my fingers in Gabriel’s. I pause, allowing the gravity of the words to ring out. “We’re soulmates.”

And I can tell that he feels it too. That we were meant for each other. Made for each other.

“If you say so,” he says with a smirk.

That smirk.

“Seriously. You have to stop using that expression!” I cry.

“If you say so,” replies Gabriel, with a shrug. I laugh. Hearing those words coming from that mouth warms me in ways nothing else could.

This will be the life where we love, where we live, where we save ourselves. This will be the life where Ana and Sethe get their happy ending. The one they always deserved.

Gabriel pulls me toward him, and in an instant his lips are on mine. I return our first kiss of this lifetime with everything good and kind and loving inside of me. Because he makes me so much more than I could ever be alone.

And it feels just like it did in ancient Egypt.

Only better.