Page 59 (2/2)

Tears tracked downin the freshness of the early- for the one scent that would never, ever, be there again

He was gone forever I could accept that But I could never escape the guilt of it

I bent and picked up the bottle of wine I'd brought with- one of his favorites, notthe cork, I took a drink, then raised the bottle to the dawn skies, the tears pouring down my face

"May I one day earn your forgiveness, my friend" My voice was barely audible, but it seemed to echo across the mountains "Andmares in the fertile meadows of afterlife"

With that, I poured out the wine, letting it stream away on the wind When the bottle was e it fall until the shadows claiainst the rocks Perhaps the ghostly fingers of a bay-coloredbefore it could

I took another deep, shuddering breath, then swiped at the tears on ain on the other side And I hope I'm a smarter friend then than I am now"

The sun chose that olden fingers of light across the shadows and al the chill from the air and my skin

If it was a sign from Kade, then it was appreciated

I dried the last of my tears, blew a kiss to the sunrise, then turned and walked back down the path toon the front seat along withWhich meant there'd been a call for e

I dropped into the driver's seat and reached for the phone, then hesitated I kneithout looking that the call would be fro me when I least expected or wanted it Besides, everyone else in ood-byes, and they wouldn't have interruptedless than a disaster And if it was a disaster, there were better ways to contacta phone Hell, Quinn could have just found er since Kye's death

Kye

The thought of hi I closed er and the pain that always rose at the ly And now I had to live with the consequences

Even if part of me still just wanted to curl up and die

I glanced down at the phone again It was tenore Jack's call, but I couldn't I'd chosen to live - and whether I liked it or not, the Directorate was a part of my life

I flicked a switch on the phone and brought up the call data It was definitely Jack I'd told hio back to work, but now that the time was here, I wasn't so sure