Chapter Twenty-Three

Bones Realizes Cat Almost “Jumped”

Author’s note: This is more of a snippet than an actual scene, but I’m including it because many readers who previously saw it on my website said that they really liked what Bones said to Cat. Because of that, I deeply regret not including it in the published version of At Grave’s End. At the time, I thought I had too many emotional statements already, and I didn’t want to venture into purple prose or cheesy territory, so I left it out. In hindsight, that was a mistake. Emotions should be on overload when you realize you almost lost the person you love most, and I’ve tried to remember that when I write the rest of my stories. For context, I’ve included a few sentences of the published version, which starts when Cat and Bones are finally alone after Bones returns from the “dead.”

“Your body aged almost to the point of truly dying. That’s why your hair’s white, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I expect so.”

It hit me then, staring at his unlined, beautiful face and that stark white hair framing it, that neither of us should be alive. He’d almost been killed by a knife in his heart, and add one more step on a rocky ledge for me, and Bones would have returned to my body being broken beyond revival.

His hands closed around my face, and his whole body stiffened. “What is this you’re remembering?”

I let the memory come, restricting none of it, hearing once again Vlad’s pitiless admonishments and the final question that saved my life. What are you?

Bones let out a cry and clutched me to him. Pink liquid streamed from his eyes, matching my own tears in volume if not in color.

“If I would have come back to that, Kitten, it would have killed me more certainly than any silver in my heart. Promise me, promise me, promise me you will never do such a thing. If I die, I will wait for you, do you understand? No matter how long. I will watch from beyond to make sure you live every year you have to its fullest, and then we’ll have so much to talk about when I see you again… Promise me right now, Catherine!”

I held him back just as tightly even as I choked out a laugh. “Did you miss that part? My name isn’t Catherine. It’s Cat.”