Chapter 8

The ceremony was quaint. Elizabeth wore a simple, white dress and held a small bouqet of red roses but to Will, she was dressed as beautiful as the Kings and Queens of the world. As promised, Jack performed the ceremony before returning to the living world and offered up his cabin as a wedding gift along with a beautiful golden chalice which he insisted was a gift for the bride.

"I don't want to leave you" Elizabeth whispered once they were inside the darkened room, lit only by soft candlelight.

"Nor do I want to leave you, but we have no choice I'm afraid" was Will's response.

"But there is a choice. I could stay and let Jack have my soul too. Then we could be together forever and not have to worry about the pain of separation ever again."

"Elizabeth, listen to me. It doesn't work that way, you know that. Jack can't take your soul, you know that, and if you stay here we'll never be together again. At least this way you'll be in my heart. You must go back with Jack."

"I don't believe that. Jack's a liar, I'm sure he could make this happen if..." But before she could complete her sentence, Will pushed her gently onto the bed and softly kissed her lips, quieting her voice.

Elizabeth responded and began to kiss him back, sinking into the warm bed, smelling Will's scent in a way that she had never really smelled him before. Then she realized that what she was breathing in was actually a mixture of Will and Jack. Jack's scent was on the bedding and in the room and upon inhaling again she discovered that she found it quite mesmorizing and seductive. She stretched her arms up over her head and ran them across the cool, smooth hardness of the intricately carved headboard, enjoying the soft curves of the etching on the pads of her fingers. She continued to linger there when suddenly she felt a cool sensation around her wrist, followed my a familiar clink that she associated with another seductive kiss. Opening her eyes, she saw that Will had chained her to Jack's bed and she looked at him questioningly.

"I know what you're thinking Elizabeth, and I know what you're going to do. It's wrong, I can't let you compromise yourself for me, you don't belong here and everything we've done thusfar will have been in vain."

Eyes wide, she looked at him, amazed by what he had done. She had indeed planned on staying with Will but she had underestimated his perceptive abilities. Jack had been right about him, Will did see her truth.

Eyes brimming with tears, forced to accept her fate, she nods and closes her eyes sending a single tear trickling down her cheek. He kisses it away and strokes her face, admiring her beauty, moving his head slightly he kisses her lips, then draws away and stands next to the bed.

"Goodbye, Elizabeth. I'll always love you. Be free."

He opens the cabin door and steps out, leaving her for the last time.

"Will!" she crys as she squeezes her eyes shut, not able to stand the pain of watching him step out of her life forever.