Coldhearted (9781311888433) (43 page)

Not frightened, Arianna merely cocked her
transparent head to the side. “Happy?” she then questioned. “Are
you happy, Tristan?”

“
Overjoyed,” he said dryly,
and then smiled, somewhat genuine. “Why shouldn’t I be?” He reached
out for Edie’s hand. She hesitated, and then joined him, knowing
there wasn’t much use for resistance. He pulled her to his side.
“I’m with my soul mate. It’s Edie, not you, Arianna. I was a fool
to think I was in love with you.”

“
You’re right,” Adrian said,
stepping protectively in front of Arianna. “You’re a fool. You’re
coldhearted, hateful, deceitful, and a murderer, but I still love
you, brother, despite your sins. I forgive you.”

But redemption was the furthest thing from
Tristan’s mind.

He turned up his nose, and then spat on the
ground, at Adrian’s feet. “I don’t need your forgiveness! I never
loved you! I never loved our parents!” He lifted his lips into a
half smile, devilish. He looked like Lucifer himself; a beautiful
mask covering the beast beneath, full of never-ending hate. “I
killed them too, you know?” he said with glee.

Adrian gasped, wide-eyed. “No!” he exclaimed
in disbelief.

Tristan widened his devilish smile. “I did. I
extracted the poison from the Grimlock flower; when boiled, it
turns clear and is undetectable. I used an entire plant and laced
their food with it. How do you think, oh, dear brother, that they
happened to die at almost the exact same time?” He shook his head.
“It wasn’t old age. It wasn’t their time. I. Killed. Them.”

Arianna was holding onto Adrian’s hand,
comforting him, but Edie didn’t think even she could calm the rage
building up in her beloved.

Adrian was shaking his head. He tore his hand
from Arianna’s grasp, and with his other, grabbed his head,
clamping his eyes shut. “No, no! You cried at their funeral.”

“
Crocodile tears, Adrian,”
Tristan said. “It was merely an act, as was my declaration of love
for you, and for Arianna.” He drew Edie closer against his cold
body. “I finally found love, true love with her.” He kissed Edie’s
cheek, and then pressed his lips to her ear, saying, “In time,
you’ll love me back. I’m the only one for you, Edie. I’m the only
one who understands you. You’ll find that out one day, my sweet.
We’ll live happily ever after like in the stories, the great tales
told generation after generation, ‘til the end of time.”

It was heartbreaking that someone so poetic
could be so cruel. She imagined him as a villain, in the stories of
old. Tormented, he was doing foul things for attention, because
deep down, he feared being alone, and he was terrified that no one
would ever love him.

Yet this basic human need wouldn’t save him.
He would die because he’d done so much evil that he couldn’t be
redeemed. No one would ever love Tristan because there was nothing
to love. Edie was sure that God loved him because God loved
everyone, even when he was disappointed in them. Like a parent with
a wayward child, this love never faded, but was fixed, even when
all hope seemed lost.

Adrian’s arms were by his sides, limp, and
his eyes were open, staring at Tristan, absent of love. “What’s
wrong with you?” he asked Tristan, shaking his head. “Why are you
filled with so much hate? What happened to you?”

Adrian wanted answers to the great mystery
that was Tristan Lockhart. To Edie, this mystery was forever
unsolvable.

Tristan let go of her and advanced toward
Adrian, face to face. “There’s nothing wrong with me, brother.” He
jabbed his finger into Adrian’s chest, making contact. “It’s the
world that’s screwed up…”

Tristan kept talking, ranting really, but his
words were being drowned out. Edie thought that she was going deaf,
until she heard her name being called: “Edie.” It was Arianna.

“
We don’t have much time,”
she said. “He can’t discover what we’re doing.”

She made contact with Edie and took her hand,
placing the poisonous petal on Edie’s palm. Edie curled her fingers
around it, as if it were a great treasure. As swiftly as that was
done, so was Arianna removing Edie’s necklace with her cold,
transparent hand.

Before Edie could protest, Arianna explained,
“A token of great importance must be relinquished, otherwise, the
poison would be inert. I’m sorry about taking your necklace, but
out of all that you possess, on this night, it radiates with the
most power.” She curled her fingers around Edie’s necklace and
placed it against her heart. “I’ll keep it safe for all
eternity.”

“
Thank you.” Edie realized
that perhaps it was really safer in her hands.

For some reason, Tristan hated that necklace,
and had torn it off Edie’s neck, once before. Perhaps he’d known
all along of its power. Perhaps he’d known all along that she would
need it, in order to imprison him back inside Lockhart Manor. Or
perhaps he just hated it because she loved it and not him.

She turned to find him, still arguing with
Adrian. Adrian glanced at Edie, and she knew in that one quick look
that he’d been stalling Tristan, so she and Arianna could make the
exchange without interference.

Edie nodded to him that she was ready, and
then she whispered goodbye to Arianna, who gave her a parting
smile. Edie thought that she and Arianna really did look a lot
alike. Maybe one day, she’d learn just why.

Afraid that she’d chicken out and run away,
Edie took determined steps toward the house, threw open the door
and went inside. It was dark and oppressive. She found the light
switch, covered in dust, and flipped it on. She’d been expecting
nothing, considering how no one had paid the electric bill in
decades, but the lights mysteriously came on. It illuminated the
dark and scared away the shadows that haunted Lockhart Manor. She
ventured into the foyer.

“
What are you
doing?”

She turned around to see Tristan, standing at
the threshold. He looked curious, not suspicious. She didn’t want
to take the poison yet, not until he was fully inside the house. So
she didn’t answer him and went into the next room, turning on the
light there. The chandelier above her flickered to life,
illuminating the dusty paintings, the old rotary phone, the wooden
furniture, and the tattered tapestry on the wall.

She stood before it and waited. As she heard
Tristan’s pronounced footsteps enter the room, she deftly placed
the poisonous red petal on her tongue. It tasted sweet. She let the
toxic juices flow inside her body, where, after some time, it would
target her heart, slowing it down, until it beat no more.

She waited for death, as Tristan stood behind
her, suspecting nothing, as his cold hands caressed her arms. She
swallowed the now dry petal, hiding the evidence of her
deception.

She found that she could speak. “Do you truly
love me?”

Tristan gently squeezed her arms. “Yes, Edie,
I do, but I hate this place.” He kissed the side of her neck, and
then pressed his cold lips against her ear, asking, “What are you
up to, my love? Hmm?” He kissed her again, now suspicious. “What
are you hiding from me?”

Just a few more seconds,
Edie, and then you’ll be dead
.

And Tristan would be trapped inside Lockhart
Manor, never to harm another again.

She found some strength and lifted a frail
hand. “Read it to me,” she said, pointing at the tapestry on the
wall.

“
No,” he refused, almost in
a growl. “I’ve tried to destroy many times, but it’s always defied
me.”

“
Why?” she asked in a weak
voice, dying.

“
The words paralyze me,” he
divulged, still unaware of her imminent death. “Literally, like an
incantation, designed to keep me in chains.” He tugged on her arm,
not so gently. “I’ve had enough of this place. We’re free now,
Edie. We can go wherever we want.”

When she didn’t move, he tugged on her again,
agitated. “Let’s go!” he barked.

She managed to break free of his hold, and
then began to recite the words that he feared so much: “‘The Lord
is my Shepherd—’”

Tristan cursed, cutting her off. “Damn you!
What are you doing?”

She looked over her shoulder to see him
literally paralyzed, unable to move, unable to speak. The hatred
was evident in his dark, blue eyes; both for her and for God.

Nevertheless, she continued, despite how much
it hurt to speak. She was near death and had to hurry. “‘…Yea,
though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no
evil; for you are with me…surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.’”

The last words came out as a
whisper, as her heart took one last beat—a faint
bum-bum
—and then it
stopped.

Before Edie died, she called out for Mason,
but he didn’t answer her.

Chapter 29

After an immeasurable amount of time, Edie
opened her eyes to see Tristan standing above her, as she lay on
the floor.

“
You bitch,” he cursed, and
then fell on his knees beside her, no longer paralyzed. He was
crying. “I love you and this is what you do to me?!”

He beat his fist against his chest, anguished
and angry. She noticed that he was still corporeal, touchable,
despite her sacrifice. She guessed that some things didn’t
change.

She found herself reaching out to him, and
noticed, strangely, she was corporeal too. Her hand, solid and
whole, was making a desperate attempt to touch him. He recoiled
from her gesture before she could make contact with his cheek. She
didn’t know if she wanted to caress him or slap him.

“
I hate you! I hate you!” he
spat.

She withdrew her hand, keeping it away from
his violent reach.

He pushed off his knees, stood up, and walked
away. He started pacing the room, raking his fingers through his
hair, distressed. He still looked the same, as did the house. Edie
had thought being dead, she’d see things with new eyes, but
everything looked now, as it had when she’d been alive: old, dusty,
and sad.

She sat up and immediately felt for her
pulse. There wasn’t one. I’m truly dead. She took her finger and
poked around her body, putting pressure into her skin. She didn’t
feel dead, although she felt no pain, or discomfort from her
constant probing. She was still wearing the same clothes, but she
was no longer cold. Yes, her skin felt cold, and the temperature in
the house was like an icebox, but it didn’t bother her.

She stood up, found that she was steady on
her feet, and then removed her coat and scarf, no longer needing
them. She kept her sweater on; it was blue with little red hearts.
It reminded her of home, where it’d used to hang in her closet. Not
Uncle Landon’s mansion, but her modest-sized home down south, where
winters weren’t severe, but they were cold enough to freeze any
born and bred southerner.

She looked down on the floor, confused.
“Where’s my body?”

Tristan stopped pacing and spun around to
face her. Wildly, he waved his hand up and down toward her body.
“What are you, an idiot?! Have you gone blind?! You’re in your
body!”

Well, someone’s in a foul
mood
.

She put her hands on her hips. “I’m a ghost.
I’m supposed to be transparent, not corporeal, not like you. I
mean, I didn’t know what I’d do with my body, but I expected it to
be around here…somewhere.”

“
Oh, Little Miss Scheming
Bitch didn’t plan this out,” he spat. He put a finger to his lips,
in a dramatic gesture of being deep in thought, before removing it
to speak. “Oh, let me guess: Arianna. Oh, dear, sweet, Arianna!” He
turned toward the window that looked out into the woods, and
yelled, “You bitch! I should’ve known you were behind this! Adrian,
you too! You could never be happy for me, never! I’ll make your
existence a living hell!”

“
You can’t,” Edie
enlightened. “You’ll never leave this house again.”

Tristan rounded on her. “Oh, we’ll see about
that!”

He took off out of the room and went to the
front door, but when he opened it and tried to leave, he couldn’t.
It was as if an invisible wall were preventing his departure. He
slammed his fist against it, and then slammed the front door
shut.

“
You!” he growled deep in
his throat. He’d been staring at the closed door, but now he turned
toward Edie with those cold, dead eyes. “I’ll make your afterlife a
living hell.” His voice was soft, but no less menacing. “We’re
bound, Edie, together, forever and always. If I’m trapped, then so
are you, my sweet.”

“
That was the plan,” she
enlightened, again. “We’re bound, yes, attached to each other, and
I used that to save this town from you, but…I had to die in the
process. And I had to die here, so I could watch you, restrain you,
so you’d never kill again.”

“
Restrain?” he repeated with
contempt. “You think you have power over me?”

Truthfully, in that moment, she didn’t really
know, and as he rushed toward her, she was afraid that Arianna had
been wrong. Tristan could never be restrained; not at least by the
likes of her. As quick as a striking snake, he grabbed her arms,
and an inferno of volcanic proportions consumed her body. She was
on fire. She struggled out of his grasp, desiring to put out the
flames that he’d set on her. But…she wasn’t on fire. She was just
very, very hot.

Tristan reached up and cupped her cheek,
tenderly, and she realized that he was overheated, as well. “You
feel so alive,” he said in astonishment.

She reached up and placed her hand over his,
still so gentle on her cheek. “So do you,” she said, just as
bewildered. She immediately dropped her hand, realizing that she
was caressing a monster. He didn’t let go of her, pressing her
closer against his chest. “No,” she pleaded. “Don’t touch me.”