More Than Words: Kissed By A Muse #3 (21 page)

‘I had no choice, really. It was an eternity of loneliness, or a second chance at a human life and a blank slate with my soul-mate if only for a little while, and I would have died if she had anyway, so yeah, I accepted.’ He shook his head. ‘I blanked after that- Ardos Karalis ceased to exist while on earth, a baby boy named Ryan was adopted by the Weavers and raised in a fancy house in a small town with two best friends- a little boy named Hunter Marks, and a little girl named Callie Clay.’

‘Hunter Marks…’ Leigh gulped as something incredible occurred to her. ‘You’re really from Horizon?’ She moved to the window and pointed to the mauve mountain range in the distance beyond Arulen Valley. When he nodded, her heart skipped a beat. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you grew up one post code away from me?’

Ryan stared at her. ‘And you mentioned the name of your hometown when…?’ He pointed to his head. ‘To the dude with no recollection of where he was from?’

That sobered her. ‘Oh. Okay I…’ she looked back out the window, still beside herself. Horizon was a blink of a town where nothing happened, but when she’d been a little girl, three locals had been discovered from within it- two writers and one musician who came to be so big that people started to wonder if he’d come from Australia at all, or if the locals had just adopted his name for bragging rights. ‘You grew up THERE? With Hunter bloody Marks?’

Well if Ryan attracted a bunch of muses there, then I guess a stroke of stardom isn’t so far-fetched but sheesh...

Ryan nodded solemnly. ‘I did. Not only was he and I attached at the hip but in high school… Marnie Winters had a huge crush on me.’ He sighed and turned away, leaving her to digest that alone and using rapid blinking to do so. ‘But I lived for Callie, my musically-gifted friend who danced like the wind and had a voice like water… and as the years went on, Hunter and I stopped seeing her as the third member of our crappy band, and started seeing her as, well, a bit of a goddess.’ He made a face. ‘Then shit got awkward, and there was this cyclone and she was afraid of storms so she ran and…’ he swallowed, looking uncomfortable. ‘We kind of almost um, shared her?’ He looked at her, wincing like the clever boy he was once he’d dropped that on her. ‘And she freaked, ran and vanished. But before she did- I looked into her eyes and I saw… I saw it all- our whole history, who she was, what I’d done to be with her… and what I’d just almost done in that shitty shed during that awful storm as a simple-minded teenage boy.’ He pushed the strawberries to the side and stared at the side of Leigh’s fridge, his face a mask of regret. ‘She went to Helicon via the storm, the same way she’d come, and once I knew, I followed her. I approached her as she sobbed in the stream, terrified and lost and still clueless, and I told her as much as I could without telling her what she’d done to Imogen- THAT was a memory Imogen wanted her to recall firsthand as a human with a bleeding heart, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell an innocent seventeen year old girl that she’d killed the written word… I guess I kind of hoped she’d stay with me there, and let the whole thing go.’

‘What do you mean?’ Leigh asked, confused on more levels than she could count.

Another sigh. ‘The only thing I had going for me, was the fact that she didn’t recall Ardos, or her resentment over the whole soul-mate thing. As a muse, she was too wrapped up in her art to sacrifice a moment of her time with me, and too scared of having a child with me who would grow to replace her… so she avoided me like the plague. But as a human girl lost in a strange place, she took to me and we had a wonderful day together while I explained what I could without breaching any deals I’d made with The Harmony. If she’d fallen in love with me, as Ardos, she would have stayed and we would have had her father’s destiny and a child of ours would have been available to replace her, solving everything…That way, she would have been safe from falling for a human, and dying as a result, like Imogen wanted her to.’ His profile hardened. ‘But while I was sleeping next to her, something made her go back. I don’t know if one of the other muses told her that I was intentionally trying to keep her there, or if her soul simply could not walk away from Hunter’s destiny and her chance to bring it to pass even as a human girl, or if she just loved either Hunter or Ryan too much too stay away, but she left me, and I woke up in the gorge as a mortal again alone, after a year had passed and she had vanished.’ He shook his head. ‘Things got dark after that, and I was forced to resume my mortal life with a much broader consciousness and yes, that was when I became the brooding, rock star version of myself that Kathryn re-created. I explained my absence to Hunter by saying I’d had a job at the mines for a year, and then he and I enrolled at the conservatorium here in Araulen Falls and got back to the whole band thing. Four years passed before I saw her again, and I began to grow disheartened, convinced that she’d gone off to live as a human and forget us all but in a way, that was sort of okay because so long as she wasn’t falling in love with us, she was safe.’ His expression was pinched. ‘So I gave up a little. I figured this was the only life I had so I tried to live it. I dated, I worked on my music… I spent every waking moment with Hunter, who I loved and resented in equal measures.’ He reached for a tea towel and then began to wipe off his hands, and Leigh knew he was trying to keep himself busy so he wouldn’t have to look at her, so she handed him a beer from the fridge. He stared at it for a moment, and then put it down on the counter, un-opened. ‘But then she came back and…’ he sighed, threw down the towel and turned to regard her with a frank expression on his handsome face. ‘The muse within her had won out, and she’d spent time with one of the other sisters, honing her talents- dancing and singing with a company… and on her return, she started working us- playing us against each other, making the rivalry so intense that I began to hate him, and he me. As talented as he was, he got a bit of stage-fright, being human and a new soul and emotionally immature and-’

‘Justin,’ Leigh supplied, and Ryan smirked and nodded.

‘Not exactly- Hunter was a lot funnier but yeah, they were close and Calliope found him endearing but me…’

‘Irresistible?’

He winked at her. ‘I had a bit of game so yeah, I played back.’ He crossed his arms across his chest and shrugged. ‘It got pretty fucking messy, like she wanted it to. I know now that she hoped that we’d sort of band against her but we were both too smitten and she came between us. She had to date him- had to knock his fucking socks off and break his heart; that was the objective, because it would scrape the shallow off him and lead him to tap into the songwriter within. And what better way to break a guy’s heart, then to make him fall in love with you and then betray him with his best mate?’

Leigh winced. ‘She did that on purpose? Bloody hell… even as a human, she had stones.’

‘It was torture for her. She really did love us both, as much as someone can. I saw my chance to have her and I took it, and we had one perfect night together that… that I woke up alone after.’ He rubbed his lower lip with his thumb. ‘And it killed me. It hurt so much for her to fall into my arms, only to run away after, and it cut Hunter deeply too. She lied, telling him that she had a heart condition that was going to kill her, knowing that only her death would hurt him bad enough to bring his destiny into fruition- only optimistic as he was, he held onto that hope. Until the night we opened, as Lonesome October for… shit… I can’t even remember the name of the band now!’

‘The Fork In The Road…’ Leigh whispered. ‘Some of the kids from school went to that concert…’

Ryan looked up. ‘Not you?’

Leigh blushed and looked down. ‘Some of the cooler kids from school went to that concert. Even if I had wanted to go- which I didn’t- my parents wouldn’t have let me go to an actual rock concert. But I heard about it all…’

‘Yes well it was pretty intense, especially from where I was sitting.’ Ryan cleared his throat. ‘Anyway it was our biggest gig and I was supposed to sing this incredible song that Hunter wrote about her… but I couldn’t. I fell apart onstage and Hunter took over. Calliope must have realised that she loved me then- truly loved Ryan Weaver- and she came onstage and kissed me, and then died on the spot.’

Leigh’s mouth popped open- he’d just given her the backstory to the video that Hunter Marks had been trying to bury for almost a decade, and it made her shiver. ‘That was truly you? You’re not pulling my leg?’ Leigh wished that she could recall more, but what had been international news had been a local tragedy, and the newspapers had actually handled it tastefully. Besides, after a few weeks- it was the band’s collapse and Hunter’s stardom making the headlines, and Leigh wondered if that was the muses doing- messing with reality- playing up the fame and covering up the glimpse into heaven.

‘Fraid not. It made him a star, and me… I knew it was the death of me- that I had to keep my end of the bargain with The Harmony. If I didn’t die right away, she’d be stuck in Oblivion until music recovered from her death, and she’d be tortured without music. So I went backstage, left Hunter a note wishing him the best, then locked the door and swallowed half a bottle of Vicodin. It was a way to go out slowly, you know? I ended up in Oblivion with her, and she turned around and saw me- this face- and understood. I explained everything, we exchanged vows of love, and we held each other…. And then I died, both as a mortal and as a demi-god, and she got her life back- and her power, with the biggest star on the planet as her ward.’

Leigh’s eyes clouded over as his did. He turned away, and the weight of all he had lost and the prices he had paid seemed to hang in the air with the weight of the humidity.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ryan wiped at his eyes and turned away. ‘It’s the first time I’ve actually told that story and…’ his voice broke and he cleared it. ‘Anyway, everything’s hazy after that. I was in heaven, sort of, and I got to see her occasionally… and then, the beautiful daughter she had as a result of our one night together. I loved her enough to break through the realms and touch her with music- like a ghost of sorts… sending her songs, getting in to some of her dreams… but this year, she tracked down Hunter and they were married not long ago. She’s using a different face with him and going by the name Melody Marks instead of Callie Clay, and from what I understand, she’s very happy and Zeus has agreed that Hunter is a bright enough star to warrant soul-mate status, meaning that when she’s ready to give up music and pass her gift along to Rya, she and he will die as they are and live as entities together forever, however they choose to.’ He shook his head. ‘But she hasn’t done so yet, and The Harmony is being jeopardized again by her trying to milk his career, and I don’t know who will pay for that…’

Leigh gave up trying to stand and slid down against the refrigerator, fairly certain that she was the one who was going to pay for that ‘That’s… that’s one hell of a fucking story, Ryan. A really, really sad one for you.’

And as the woman who wants you to be HER soul-mate, I’m crushed! Is my destiny to spend my life weeping on the kitchen floor?

‘Well… there have been times when I could have gotten awards for feeling sorry for myself…’ he folded his long lean legs and joined her on the tiles, taking his hand in hers. ‘But like I said before…. It isn’t over yet. I was brought back because of a guilty conscience, and the power of imagination- just like Marnie Winters brought back Zeus and Memoria, and just like the troubles in Tibet have brought back Hendra, the muse of war…’ he tapped on the edge of her nose. ‘And I know all that because when Calliope pulled me from the street the other night, she took me straight back to Helicon. I was only there for ten minutes, freaking out while she and Imogen dumped everything on me and I forgot about the time lapse thing.’ He shook his head at her, looking mournful. ‘I got back two and a half weeks- and two minutes after I left you, but you were long gone and I was…’ He squeezed her hand. ‘I love you, Honey, and only you. I would never, EVER have left you if the choice had been mine!’

Leigh shook her head, unable to comprehend the notion of him loving her after who he had loved before, though she took his excuse for the vanishing act like bait and swallowed it whole, and gratefully. ‘I love you too, Ry- so much! But something tells me that a two thousand year old demi-god wasn’t reborn to eat my burnt crackling.’

‘Your crackling is perfect,’ he whispered, kissing her earlobe. ‘Like you.’

That wasn’t true- her crackling was definitely overdone but she appreciated his kindness- wished fervently that it was all they needed to work but she knew that simply wasn’t so. She looked down at her hands and it killed her to know that their time together was limited. ‘You must have some purpose, some calling… and even if you don’t… how am I supposed to compete with a goddess, Ry? I was scared enough when she was slightly famous, but you died for her! You’re so important to the world and I-’

‘Am the reason why I’m back.’ Ryan’s hand slipped down her cheek and turned her to look into tearful blue eyes. ‘A bit of love from a million girls didn’t bring me back to life, Honey… but the complete love of one very old, very powerful soul who wants a love like I do- who would do anything, and believe in anything, for that perfect romance.’ He rested his forehead against hers. ‘I’m alive because of your imagination and heart, my darling, and I think you’re heaven sent, to catch me this time.’

Leigh stared at him, shocked. Was he really saying that her fan-girling had brought him back to life? And what did he mean by: ‘Old and powerful soul.’ ? ‘I don’t understand,’ she confessed miserably. ‘I-’

‘Then I’ll show you.’ Ryan got to his feet and took her by the hand, leading her to the living room and back to the couch, she was about to dig in her feet and protest that making her have multiple orgasms wasn’t going to convince her that she was destined for him any more than any other woman with a working vagina and a set of eyes, but he leaned over the coffee table and passed her the framed photograph she’d put out for her parents- the one of her with Santa Claus back in 2000. She looked at the bright red specs she was wearing and the shockingly-tight side-pony and cringed.