That night – whether from the time spent with Gabe or just from being back in her own bed – Reine's dreams weren't cryptic nightmares, but vivid memories. By morning, she inexplicably remembered both Noor and her past few years at the university.

She also no longer felt sick, but as she brushed her teeth, Reine tasted the salty, metallic aroma of blood. Checking the mirror, she saw a small, vertical crack running down the middle of her bottom lip. Knowing that fever could cause dehydration leading to chapped lips, she ran her tongue over the wound. Once again tasting the reappearing blood, she repeated the process numerous times over the following seconds.

Giving up once all signs of the cut disappeared, she wasn't convinced if this was due to natural clotting or to her usual supernatural regeneration. After running a comb through her hair, she headed downstairs still dressed in her pajamas.

As she'd hoped, Gabe had stuck around. She found him reading at the kitchen island casually perched atop a wooden barstool.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said while setting the newspaper down.

She hastily walked past him toward the counter. "Morning."

Grabbing a large butcher knife, she opened her left hand above the adjacent sink and slowly drew the sharp blade across her palm. She held her breath from the excruciating pain, as a thin, red line slowly turned into an oozing gash.

The stream of crimson blood poured down the drain, and Gabe could no longer watch her curious actions in silence. Jumping to her side, he grabbed a clean kitchen towel from a nearby hook.

"Are you mad? What are you doing?" He asked, frantically wrapping the towel around Reine's hand.

She remained still and calm. "Just a test."

Seconds ticked by, but the familiar healing process wasn't yet apparent.

Gabe continued to press the increasingly red towel to the wound. "Crazy girl! Couldn't you have given me a heads up? It's freaky as hell to see. And what if it doesn't heal?"

Reine didn't answer. It was becoming more and more likely that he may be right. The bleeding wasn't stopping, and it was possible that the wound would need stitches before it could properly close. She may have lost her ability to heal, which could mean she would age. Most importantly, if she died, it would be permanent.

While previously this thought may have frightened her, spending a mortal life with the man standing beside her was now a possibility. She smiled with hope.

A familiar feeling quickly crushed that emotion.

A wave of warmth flowed through her body, and beads of sweat broke out on her face. Lightheaded and short of breath, she clutched her wrapped hand against her chest and disappeared out the back door.

The snowy days were gone and the grass was getting greener every day. Buds were even beginning to appear on the once bare trees. However, the air was still crisp and cold, allowing Reine to see her breath vaporize into opaque clouds enveloping her.

She wasn't alone for long. Because she'd left him without a word, Gabe quickly followed for an explanation. "What's going on? Why did you run out like that?"

She unwrapped her hand and showed him the wound. The cut was still there, but the bleeding had slowed. "I needed to cool off. It makes the process easier."

His movements were still jerky, and his voice was uneven. "Is it getting better? The ones I've seen have all been quicker than this. Is this what you were testing? Whether you can still recover? It doesn't really look like it. Come on, I'm driving you to the hospital."

She put up her good hand in protest. "No! It was a lot worse. But it's getting better. I'm healing."

She still couldn't risk being examined by a doctor. She had to be completely sure, and she also needed to convince Gabe of that, too. "You're right, it is happening much slower, but you even said last night that there's something different about me. It's different, but it's not gone."

Hopefully, he'd interpret the words as a sign of her returning invincibility, even though she was now wishing the opposite were true.

"Okay, we'll give it five more minutes, but if there isn't marked improvement, I'm taking you to the ER." The worry still wasn't completely gone from his tone, but he held up a finger. "I'll be right back."

He sprinted through the house, opening the front door before slamming it shut. He'd left the house.

Reine was back in the kitchen by the time Gabe returned with a small white box in his hands. "Max had us carry one of these in our cars so we could cover up the novices' injuries before anyone noticed they were rejuvenating."

He held up the first aid kit, but Reine frowned.

Once again, Max's name had come up in a conversation between them. Although he was the reason they'd met in the first place, she felt uncomfortable – or perhaps guilty? – thinking about one while being with the other. It was an awful feeling, and she had to do something to stifle it.

Gabe guided her to the stool he occupied earlier. "Here, sit down. You look a bit pale from the blood loss," he said.

He was right, she did feel weak. Whether it was from the injury or the mix of emotions stirring in her, she didn't know. He set to work on temporarily bandaging her hand. Because she enjoyed having him fuss over her, it was finished much too quickly.

"That's so you don't get it infected or reopen the wound before it closes." He expertly tied off the gauze. "I'm going to check on the progress in a little bit, okay?"

"I can't wait." She pouted, but getting an idea, she jumped off the stool. "Now it's your turn to sit back down."

He complied, and Reine stepped toward him, placing her hips between his knees. By resting her hands on his thighs, the usual difference in their height was now reduced. She was finally able to look at him without straining her neck upwards.

"Last night, I dreamed about Venice. I think they were memories about things that happened there," she whispered.

He reached toward her waist with both hands and gently pulled her even closer, forcing her to move her hands up to his shoulders. "Really? What kind of things?"

Mere inches separated their bodies, and she noticed for the first time several light freckles on the bridge of his nose. Shaking off the momentary distraction, she returned to her hastily crafted plan.

"Well, I remember the masquerade ball. You practically tripped over your feet during the dance, no? But you did look very dashing in those yellow pantaloons," she said with a smile.

He threw his head back and laughed. "I kind of wished you'd forget that part. Go on."

"We also spoke about birthdays and watched the fireworks," she continued more seriously, not once lifting her gaze from his face. "I remember running through the crowds in the piazza and feeling happier than I have felt in a very, very long time."

He remained silent, watching her intently and waiting for the rest. She took a deep breath and proceeded with the recollection of events from that night.

"I was sitting next to you in the gondola and realized that . . .." She looked away, trying to focus on the half-full coffee pot on the other side of the room.

"What? What did you realize?" He moved his head, trying to get into her line of sight and regain her attention.

She looked back at him and forced a smile. "I realized that being around you brought out another side of me, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to accept that."

Hopefully he'd believe the quick cover-up of what she had almost allowed to slip out. Just in case, she needed to move on, so she plowed through with the story.

"Anyway, I'm also pretty sure I got tipsy from one tiny bottle from the mini-bar, and you brought me my shoes, which I had idiotically forgotten to put back on in the gondola," she said.

"Damn." He pressed his lips together into a thin line and shook his head. "I thought you'd left them on purpose so I'd have a chance to go up to your room after you."

She laughed again, very aware now of the touch of his hands still resting on her waist. "Oh, believe me, I'm not that slick. But I suppose it could have been subconscious."

"Do you remember anything else? By the time I got back up to you, you were a bit . . . wobbly."

She sighed. "Not much. I mean even all of that was spotty, like seeing certain quick frames from a movie. But the rest is much vaguer."

"That's too bad," he said with a frown.

"Is there something you want to fill me in on?" she asked with increased curiosity.

He took a deep breath. "Let's see. You asked for help with your dress, and if I remember correctly, you had your back to me something like this." He pivoted her around to illustrate his point.

She glanced back at him over her shoulder. "And then you fidgeted with the lacing of the corset."

He lightly touched the base of her neck with a gesture meant to mimic the actions of that night. A shiver ran up her spine in response to his touch. There was no way of hiding the goose bumps on her bare arms.

He continued to move his warm fingers along her skin. They were no longer reminiscing about the past, but instead in a brand new moment.

Reine swallowed. "Was there, uhm, anything else?" she asked.

Instead of answering, he stood up and slowly spun her back around to face him. His baby-blue eyes under the familiar mop of tousled blonde hair made Reine's heartbeat accelerate. Surely, it was going to explode right out of her chest.

"No, nothing else. Because I never got to do this." He cupped her face in both hands and bent down to kiss her.

It was exactly what she needed, but nothing like what she would have expected.

Unlike the night before, her attention was fully focused on him, and the passion was almost overwhelming. This time, there wasn't any hesitation on either of their parts. Grabbing the front of his shirt with her good hand, Reine drew him closer until there was no space separating them. This just fired him up even more. Before she knew it, he had sat back down on the stool, pulling her between his open knees.

Her senses exploded as she tasted a faint hint of coffee on his lips and smelled his usual soap on his skin. The sounds of their mutual exhales and soft moans intermingled to the point where she wasn't sure who was making them.

When they paused for a proper breath, he only drew his face a few inches away from hers. "Hmm, I've been looking forward to that."

She cocked an eyebrow. "You were that confident in yourself, huh?"

He winked back. "It was just a matter of time."

"So, did it meet your expectations?" She smiled.

"Well, let me just double-check." He softly parted her lips again with his own. "Absolutely. But before I triple-check, I think it's time to see that hand."

After removing the bandages, he drew his finger along the now unblemished skin of her palm. "You know, I wouldn't have minded if this hadn't healed."

Although Reine had wished for the same thing, Gabe's reaction to it surprised her. "Really? You mean you wouldn't have missed being with a girl with superpowers?"

"I'm sure it would have been a huge deal for you, but frankly, I think life is only worth living when you have something to lose. I wouldn't give up my humanity for any price."

She tilted her head. "Your humanity? Don't you mean mortality?"

"Humanity, mortality, they're all the same," he said with a shrug.

Reine pulled her hand out of his grip and took a small step backward. "No, they're not. Because if they were, that would mean immortals were inhuman. Surely you don't think that?"

"I didn't say that, but living forever is unnatural."

"What about Mal?" She asked as she spread her arms out. "He's your best friend, after all."

He nodded. "Yes, but that's in spite of being one of you, not because of it."

"One of us?" Reine snapped her arms back to her side. "All right. So what about me, then? Have you even really considered how I fit into your life?"

He crossed his arms. "I could ask you the same thing."

"What are you talking about?" She took another step backwards.

He frowned. "Not what. Who."

"Seriously?" She rubbed her temple. "You're going to drag Max into this? Because that's who you mean, right? He has nothing to do with this conversation."

Gabe stood. "I beg to differ. He has everything to do with it. Don't you see that until your issues with him are settled, he'll always be between us? And you know what? You are going to have to make a decision sooner or later. Call me when you figure it out."

He stormed out so fast that Reine didn't even have a chance to protest further. She was left wondering how Gabe managed to manipulate the topic so smoothly that even though he basically referred to her as inhuman, she ended up looking – and feeling – like the bad guy.