Chapter 45

Sally

Fear that mirrors my own passes over Ryan’s face, and I hear him inhale. There is so much pain behind that sound, so much emotion in his eyes that it breaks me further.

“You’re not dying, are you?” he asks in a low voice, scanning my face as though I’ve suddenly developed a deadly disease.

It makes my smile grow. “No, I’m not dying,” I whisper, touching his pretty face. It’s a painful realization that it won’t change for years while my face will. I will growl old. I will develop wrinkles. I will die.

Ryan wet his lips. “Then why are you telling me this?”

“Because it’s an important conversation to have.”

“It’s a painful one, too...” Ryan mutters.

“I know,” I whisper, stroking the pad of my thumb over his cheekbones. “To live forever and never changing...I wonder if that’s a curse or a blessing?”

“A curse,” Ryan answers without hesitation and leans in close enough so that we are nose-to-nose, forehead-to-forehead. His breath is hot on my skin. “I would rather die with you tomorrow