What did they mean? I knew who I was, didn't I? I was Rosalia Mallory, a girl left on the doorstep of our town's foster agency to find a new home. From there I went through three homes before at the age of 16 instead of having to live in the group h...
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Rosa's POV:
"You," I mouth, stopping in the doorway when I see who Eris means. There, as if conjured from my tormented mind, Hunter is standing in the room looking towards me with a pained expression in his eyes. "How...how did you get here?" I ask slowly, staying near the door but closing it fully, hearing the lock click into place. "How did you know where I was?"
"I didn't," Hunter replies, his voice sounding tired. "I'd come to visit Eris to talk about..." He stops and looks down. Concern flares up inside me and I give him a puzzled look but he just shakes his head. "I... never mind. Anyway, I'd come to talk to her when she explained it all to me." I regard him with a wary gaze that hurts me to do but until I know for sure if he remembers me I refuse to let my guard down. Unwilling to make my preexisting heartbreak any stronger. Silence passes between us for a few seconds until Hunter looks back up at me, his eyes glistening with tears. "I...Rosa I remember."
That catches me off guard but I just give a calm look in his direction, though inside I'm torn between crying with pain or screaming with joy. "How much do you remember?" I ask in a neutral tone, my eyes caught on something he's holding. "What is..." I gesture to the paper he's got and when he holds it up I see it for what it is. My letter to him that I left the night of the Masquerade. Still, I refuse to let my joy overwhelm me without the proper evidence. "Hunter, how much do you remember?" My voice is a little cold in tone but it's not that I'm heartless. I'm just afraid. Afraid to let all the joy out only to possibly be let down again.
He looks at me steadily. "I remember everything Rosa. Right from the moment, I caught your eye in the hall the day Ash brought you, to the day you danced down the hall with Mara to all the time we spent together." He gives me a desperate, imploring look and my resolve wavers but I still need one last thing. One last piece of undeniable proof that he remembers it all.
"If..." I take a deep breath, steeling myself in case the answer I get isn't what I want. "If that's true then I only ask you one more question," I say quietly, seeing how his eyes linger on mine. "If you really remember everything then what was the last thing I said to you before I died." The words are hard to say, like ground glass in my mouth but I need to know the truth. I need to know it's really him - with all the memories intact - before I let it all in. Before I let the joy in. "What was the last thing I said?"
Now my eyes are wet with tears too but I blink them back and focus my gaze on Hunter. He looks upset and I know it's my fault but I have to know for sure. I need to know it's actually him and that he remembers it. "You..." He breaks off to take a deep breath, sadness pooling in his beautiful, expressive eyes. "You tried to tell me it would be ok but I knew you were lying. But...but the very last thing you did was ask me something. You...you asked me to remember something." His eyes shine with tears when he finishes what he's saying and my sympathy is awoken but deeper than that is my need to know. To be certain. Which is why I asked him to say it, even when I knew it would cause us both pain to have to relive that day. "You asked me to remember a phrase - though we used it as a promise to each other." I wait for him to finish and seconds later he does. "You asked me to remember that you loved me. You asked me to remember Omnia Vincit Amor."
