prologue

 

Did you ever wonder if the life you’re living was meant for you? I have. I still do sometimes. I got used to living the life of Rebecca, or Wendi, or Sarah, or Emily – take your pick. There are so many personas I have assumed over the past several decades. When you become Emily, does Charity disappear? I have wondered that. I’ve assumed that. Until Link.

When Lincoln came into my life, I realized that I never needed to give up Charity. I am Charity. Emily is just a suit that I wear, that I wear well. I have learned that I can step away from her whenever I need to.

Another question I ask myself is... What if Charity had never met Lulach? Then she (I) never would have (or could have) saved Link. I would still be an Immortal One, just not this particular brand of Immortal One. Crap, I don’t even know what kind of Immortal I am anymore. Lulach said I had changed, when he’d given me his blood so many years ago. But what had I changed into? And if I didn’t know after seventy something years, would I ever know?

There is one thing that I am absolutely sure of... there are no absolutes in life. Everything is fuzzy around the edges, nothing is what it seems, and within the darkness of black and the light of white there are always shades of grey. But sometimes, life is overflowing with color.