Free The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4) by Conner Kressley

if I was dead.
    “Dead?” I murmured, realizing I had no idea how to answer that.
    “It’s a troublesome realization,” he answered as I took his hand. He was stronger than he had been back in the Hourglass and, as he helped me step over the broken body of the wolf he had just cut in half, I caught a glimpse of the sword in his hand.  It glistened in the red light, stained with blood and sweat. “I wonder, are you older now? Did things go your way? Did you die an old woman in your bed with my brother at your side? Is that why it took you so long to get here?”
    The questions took me aback.
    “I do hope that was the case,” he added, his eyes flickering to the dark ground below.
    “Sevie, is this real? I mean, are you…you know, you?” Looking around this place, I saw that it was even more barren than the desert I had just escaped from. Wind raged around me, ice cold and terrifying. Still, Sevie was pouring sweat. Why was that? How could he be so hot while I was practically freezing to death?
    “Yes Cresta. The last time I checked I was, in fact, myself.” His brows knitted together worriedly. “Of course, that was quite some time ago.”
    I shivered so hard that I began to jerk, my teeth chattering together. “S-Sevie, you’re not making any sense. It’s only been a few weeks, a month at the most.”
    While I wasn’t one hundred percent sure exactly how much time had passed since I escaped the Hourglass, I knew it wasn’t near the expanse of time Sevie was talking about. To think I had grown into an old woman with Owen by my side; that would take-
    “Years, Cresta. It has been years.” He looked out into the distance. “Decades have passed since the last time we spoke, since the last time I spoke to anyone. That is how I know this is death, because times passes but nothing changes. I am as I was, and you are-” He cleared his throat. “You are as beautiful as you ever were.”
    He shook his head hard. “I am sorry. I know that things are not as they were. I have had time to see things as they truly are now, as they always were.” He swallowed hard. “And I am afraid that I owe you an apology.”
    “Sevie…” I murmured. Though none of what he was saying made any sense- decades had passed and this was death- the idea that he owed me an apology was unquestionably the most absurd.
    I had never met a person as caring and kind as the boy who stood before me. Even Owen, who I loved more than life itself- paled in comparison to Sevie when it came to things like beauty and purity of heart.
    To state it plainly, Sevie had no equals. And the things I had done to him, even if they were in the name of love, still haunted me a little. He was my perfect, after all. Even if I didn’t believe in that sort of thing, even if it was the stupidest idea that ever graced my ears, Sevie believed it. He had built a life around the idea of me, of his perfect. And I crushed that.
    So why on earth would he owe me an apology?
    “Please just hear me out,” he interrupted. “When we were together, back in the real world, I thought I could be the person I was meant to be. I thought I could be a Breaker and a brother. I thought I could be your perfect, that I could stand beside you, raise your children, and make a home that was worthy to house someone such as yourself.” Tears began to pool in his chocolate eyes. “But none of that was true. I could never be those things Cresta. That boy died at birth. Do you understand? Sebastian Lightfoot died a long time ago. I couldn’t be a brother because I was born in solitude. I couldn’t be a Breaker because that is not what I am. And I couldn’t belong to you because I have always been hers.”
    His voice cracked and the boy that was to be my perfect swept fresh tears off his cheeks.
    I put my hand against his shoulder. It was hard and tense, but I squeezed it just enough to let him know I was here…wherever here was.
    “Sevie, sweetie you’re not making any