Epilogue
The west-facing Temple of the Feathered Serpent – or as the locals called it, Templo de Quetzalcoatl – stood in the center of San Juan Teotihuacan, an hour northeast of Mexico City. Dark-colored steps of a once-grand staircase came to a broken end several tiers from the top, forcing one to scale the remaining distance of the crumbling pyramid in the same manner as climbing a mountain.
“I’ve got this,” Melinda said, grunting as she made her way up the last few feet to the top.
“Are you certain?” Already at the peak, Roth watched her with an amused look on his face. She paused to glare up at him and he laughed. “Come on,” he said, offering his hand to her.
Reluctantly, she took it and allowed him to help her conquer the final steps. “I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t even be up here,” she said, still winded from the climb.
“Why not? It is my temple, after all.” He drew her close, wrapping his arms around her as they stood together at last atop the ancient building dedicated to him long ago, by a culture that had revered him as a god.
“Wow,” Melinda breathed. The warm breeze actually felt good against her sweaty face as she took a moment to look out at the land around them. A few strands of hair that had escaped her braid blew across her face and she brushed them away. She pointed to two structures located to the north.
“What are those?”
“The Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, respectively,” Roth said.
The wind played havoc with his white-blond hair, as well, but he didn’t seem to mind. His wild mane danced around his head like the feathered crests of the stone serpent heads circling the temple.
“The Moon, the Sun, and the Morning Star,” Melinda mused.
She shook her head and leaned back into him, her arms resting over his as he enfolded her from behind.
“It’s weird how different it all looks, now, compared to how it did in my visions.” She recalled the first one she had, of the two of them making love on this very spot. “There used to be a room up here at the top, but it’s gone.”
“It was a long time ago,” he said and kissed her neck. “But I agree. There had been more trees, then…and the temple had been intact, not in its current state of deterioration.”
Melinda reached into the pocket of her denim capris and tugged out a folded brochure. “According to this,” she said, opening it up, “the Aztec people had waited for Quetzalcoatl to return. They even thought he had, when Cortez showed up from Spain.”
She craned her neck to grin up at him. “Kind of funny how that’s my last name.”
“Appropriate,” Roth mused. “After all, you did conquer my heart…”
“Oh my God.” Melinda laughed and rolled her eyes. “Can I get some wine with that cheese?” She relaxed into his arms and rested her head against his shoulder. “At any rate, they were expecting you – the sky-serpent who came from the stars – to come back. And here you are.”
She glanced up at his chiseled profile. “Better late than never, huh?”
“The time of dragons has passed for Earth,” Roth said, squinting out over the land that now appeared dry and barren compared to the lush green jungles of long ago.
“There are other worlds to explore, now.” He sighed. “I do not think I would like to be looked upon as a god again. Too much responsibility.”
“Yeah,” Melinda said. “And messy, when you think about all the human sacrifices…”
“No such rituals occurred under my reign,” Roth said with an indignant snort. “You confuse me with someone else.”
“My bad.” Melinda turned in his arms and plucked at one of the buttons on his blue chambray shirt, fighting the urge to open one more and expose the full expanse of his hard chest.
“So, I guess you’ll be taking off soon to go check out those other planets…”
She found it difficult to look into his eyes, knowing he would see the doubts that had started to surface since they returned to Earth.
He touched her under the chin with one finger and gently forced her to lift her head.
“You hide your mind from me,” he said, “and yet I feel your sorrow.” His brows drew together in a frown. “What troubles you?”
She could have let him see for himself, connect to his energy and allow him to feel her pain as she had once felt his.
“Hearing you talk about other worlds,” she said. “You’re an explorer. That’s what you were always meant to be – out there in space, making new discoveries…maybe even finding a way to help your people rejuvenate without having to trick women into being sex slaves.” She grimaced. “I guess I’m just afraid it’s all going to end, now.”
“What will end?”
“This. Us.” Melinda gave a hopeless shrug and shook her head. “You’re eternal, but what am I?” She smiled and finally managed to look up into his eyes. “I want the best for you…but I’m also going to miss you.”
Roth stared at her. A rumbling laugh rose from his chest like the roll of thunder on a distant horizon.
“Still as ignorant as the day we first met,” he said, with a teasing grin. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “As I have told you before, you are mine. You belong to me – but I also belong to you. Our souls are entwined and cannot be separated. Where I go, you go.”
She blinked. “Are you saying you want me to travel the universe with you?”
“Of course.” Roth gazed into her eyes and opened his own mind, allowing all his thoughts and feelings to flow forth like a gentle stream, warm and comforting.
“I spent so many years being angry and rebellious,” he whispered, “I forgot how to be tender and kind.” He smiled. “Then I met you. You unearthed my broken heart, pulled it from the grave and gave life to it once more. You have reminded me how to love. For that and so much more, I will always need you, Melinda. Never leave me.”
Hearing someone say they needed her, to know she held a place of importance in someone else’s life, filled Melinda with a profound feeling of contentment. Something else he said caught her attention.
“Hang on,” she said. “Did you just say...I reminded you how to love?”
“Yes.”
I need to hear him say it, she thought. I need to know it’s real. She had held off using the words herself, even as she began falling for him. Deep down, despite all that talk about bonding and connections and shared energy, she still did not believe she would ever be capable of finding a special place in another person’s heart.
Maybe you need to say it first. Even if you’ve been hurt a million times over by everyone you ever said it to, before.
“Melinda?” Roth looked at her, head tilted slightly. “Are you all right?”
“I love you,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
Roth blinked. Melinda braced herself, certain that she had just ruined everything.
Then he said, “I love you, too.”
Startled, Melinda raised her head and stared at him. “R-really?”
He chuckled. “I see you have reverted to your former habit of not listening to me. Have you truly heard nothing I have said to you? I tell you I need you, I cannot live without you, I want you with me always.”
He spread his arms, palms up, and looked around. “Shall I shout it to the world?” He cupped his hands around his mouth and, drawing a deep breath, began to bellow, “I lo—“
“Okay!” Melinda grabbed at his wrists and yanked his hands down. She still didn’t know if they had permission to be up here… “All right. I believe you. You love me.”
He loves me! On impulse, she reached up, took hold of Roth’s face, and pulled him down to give him a quick, firm kiss on the lips.
“I’m still trying to get a handle on this ‘listening’ thing. Just…be patient with me. I’ve got a lot of years’ worth of issues to clear out.”
“I will endeavor to assist you in any way possible.” Enfolding her in his arms, Roth covered her mouth with his in a deep and passionate kiss that lasted several minutes.
“Guess we should be going,” Melinda said when they separated. She looked back the way they had come and grunted. “Hm. Well, unless you want to do your little teleportation trick, I have a feeling the climb back down is going to take longer than the climb up.”
“Why climb,” Roth asked, “when we can fly?”
As Melinda watched, he unfurled his wings, momentarily blocking out the sun as they flexed up and outward from his shoulders.
“Oh my God,” she said. “Are you serious?”
“Are you afraid?” Roth challenged.
Melinda looked up at him. She saw the love in his eyes, and the smile on his lips made her break into a grin.
“Not with you,” she said. She snaked her arms around his neck. “Fly, Dragon-man.”
Locking his arms around her, Roth sprang into the air, his great wings beating. As they shot up through the clouds, Melinda let out a whoop of delight. She didn’t look down.
And she never looked back, either.
*****
THE END