Cemetery

"Here we are, ma'am."

A youngish man in a slightly ill-fitting suit looked at Isabella and then again in the direction he pointed.

The cemetery's assistant administrator had offered to take her to Eddus's grave. They'd ridden in silence in a golf cart along a paved pathway for several minutes, past row after row of granite stones, before coming to a halt. After exiting the vehicle, the young man led Isabella a little further up, checking the small numbered plaques beside the path and at the head of each row, with the small piece of paper he carried.

"Would you like me to show you to the grave you are looking for, ma'am?" he asked gently.

Isabella shook her head.

"No," she said, "but I am grateful for your help."

The young man nodded, glancing at the ground for a moment.

"Would you like me to wait here for you, to drive you back?"

Again, Isabella shook her head.

"Very well, ma'am. Please, do let us know if you need anything." The assistant administrator bowed his head slightly and then turned in the direction of the golf cart.

He got in, manoeuvred a short three-point turn, careful to keep the vehicle on the pathway, and then slowly drove off in the direction they'd come from.

Though Issabella watched until the cart was out of sight. Her mind was far away, and she didn't really register it leaving or even that it was gone. She turned to look at the long row of headstones that the assistant administrator had pointed to, but quickly looked elsewhere.

The sun was high overhead. The morning was bright and clear, but there was still a crisp chill in the air. Issabella looked out over what seemed an endless sea of headstones. She knew she had to do what she'd come for, although now that she was here, she was not sure if she could.

Taking a seat on a stone bench to the side of the pathway, opposite the row she'd been shown to, Issabella leaned back against the cold, hard backrest. Inhaling deeply, she looked up, lifting her eyes toward the cloudless sky. She slowly exhaled and lowered her gaze until it stopped on the paved surface in front of her.

As had become its habit, her left hand slid up her right forearm until her fingertips came to rest midway between her wrist and elbow. She missed Eddus. She missed the human she'd fallen in love with – her human, the man who had crossed the realms, unaware of and with no thought of the consequences to himself.

Abbi missed her mate's vibration, though it had been almost non-existent during the long periods of their separation. She'd known the feeling for such a short time before he'd returned to the human world. And although she'd come to see him as many times as her mothering duties would allow, it wasn't enough. At times, the bond they shared was all that kept her going.

She missed it. She missed him. She had been told all her life that the mate-bond was forever, in life and in death. But now that Eddus was gone, so was the link. She longed for even the faintest of vibrations to the point that the lack of feeling his link at all was like constant physical pain.