The house was oddly empty without Lucius there to watch over me. He had been my constant companion for so long, always there should I falter or stumble, that the house was just a shell of a home without him. The fact that I was the one who told him to fly out to America did nothing to ease the ache in my soul.

It was stupid. My heart was stupid but there was no stopping it. The damn thing beat for him despite how much I wanted to protest it. I wouldn't be telling him that anytime soon.

I took a deep breath and settled on the sofa, a mug between my hands as I stared anywhere but at the person standing opposite me. The photo frame hanging on the wall opposite was suddenly a hundred times more interesting even if I had yet to fill the frame.

I didn't want to look at her. I had not met her gaze once since she had stepped into my house. Damn Lucius for giving her a key.

It would be painful to look at her and yet I knew that there would be no avoiding this conversation. We had to have our talk and clear the air.

"Savannah, please look at me." Binah's voice cut through the thick silence, pleading with me even as I stared at the wall behind her shoulder.

I flinched as her familiar voice reached my ears but forced my eyes up to meet hers.

It was the first time I had looked at her properly in weeks and I could see the toll that this had taken on her. Her face was drawn, there were bags underneath her eyes and there were even a few new age lines on her face. She looked as if she had aged at least a decade since our last talk. It was stupid when the woman was an immortal who could change her form at will.

It took me a long moment to realise that the outward appearance was a reflection of the pain within her soul. It almost diminished my anger - almost but not quite.

"I am sorry I asked you to bear this great burden but I cannot do this alone." She spoke softly, her voice little more than a gentle whisper now that she had my full attention. She may as well have been shouting. "Please Savannah. I did not mean to hurt you at all. I need you."

I bowed my head, dropping my gaze away from hers. My fingers clenched around my cup. I wondered idly if the cup would break should I keep squeezing.

"I know. Don't you think I know? You would not have asked me if you could do it for yourself. You would have just left us all and gone off to die on your own." I shook my head when the woman opposite me tried to protest. "NO. You know it and I know it. You are a good person Binah but in this you are selfish. Your family loves you, we all do."

I bit my lip to stop the insults from leaving my lips. I could take someone hurting or betraying me but there was someone who would hurt more than me in this.  A heavy sigh escaped my lips.

"This will break Lucius."

"I'm sorry."

I cussed and loudly, letting the woman see the full strength of my anger.  I'm sure if I had the power to do it, my gaze would have incinerated her with the intensity of my glare.

"Save your apologies for Lucius. I don't want them and I don't need them either." My voice was sharp and my words cutting her deep with deadly precision.

Binah lapsed into silence allowing me a few moments to try and gather my control back. I knew that I was not in the best mental state and although Binah was a cause of part of my problems, she was not the route of them all.

"So how do we do this? How do we end your life?" I asked finally. My stomach protested even as I forced the words from my lips.

Binah cleared her throat and shuffled from foot to foot.

"My gift cannot disappear completely. It is part of what balances the scales of life and death. Without it chaos would overwhelm."

I nodded my head. "I know.  It's why we couldn't kill your brothers even if we wanted to."

The dark skinned woman smiled at me grimly.

"Yes. Yet there is a way for me to die and ensure that my powers do not disappear with me." Binah paced from one side of the floor to the other, her jittery form unable to keep still. "A way for me to die and for the world to keep on living."

"How?" I asked finally when I could not bear the tension any longer.

"We pass my gift on to someone else."

I slumped back into the chair. The solutions seemed too simple. My mouth must have uttered the words aloud because she smiled at me. There was little joy in that smile.

"Sometimes the solution is simple. It is not always complex."

"You obviously didn't Mr Brooks for maths class."

Binah ignored my tart response and carried on speaking. "Yet the difficulty will come in finding the correct vessel for my gift. That task is not so simple." Her voice was grim. "I was born into what I am. The person who will take over will not have the same fortune. They will become a Horseman. To do so and maintain their soul and their sanity, to withstand the mantle of my gift, they must be strong enough in body, but in their heart and soul."

"So it could be anyone?" I asked.

When Binah nodded, I felt something in me unfurl. Dread at the task ahead or was it relief that the task was nigh impossible? It was difficult to tell.

"How will we even find them? There are billions of people on this planet."

Binah met my gaze and I could see the weariness that lingered within.

"They will be drawn here.  All of the possible candidates with the potential to become a horseman will be drawn to us like a moth to a flame. I have made it so." The woman picked at the lint on her dress. "We will need to simply select the best one out of the candidates."

"That simple," I muttered as I massaged my temples. Something within my heart told me that it would never be that easy – nothing about the supernatural life was ever easy.

"Other than the difficulty with trying to find the right vessel, why couldn't we do this for your brothers – for the other horsemen?" I asked before taking a mouthful of cold tea. I shuddered at the taste but swallowed down the chill liquid anyway.

The smile the adorned the Horseman's mouth was twisted with bitterness.

"It is all about free will. It has to be their choice. My kin are far too in love with their power and the dominion they hold over humanity. They would never allow themselves to give it up, to be become mortal. It would be a great weakness and death is anything but weak." She blew out her breath in a weary sigh. "I am not so power hungry. I have spent so much of my life cleaning up their messes and making sure the harm they cause is kept to a minimum. After an eternity of wandering this place with no place to belong I just want to rest. I just want peace. Is it too much to ask for? Have I not suffered for enough millennia to get my own promise of paradise?"

Those questions were not ones that I could easily answer so instead I stood from the seat, deposited my cup on the small coffee table before closing the distance between us. I wrapped my arms around the woman who suddenly seemed so old and frail.

Binah froze, every single limb in her body taught with tension. She sucked in a sharp breath between her clenched teeth before the body within my hold started to shudder as finally she succumbed to her emotions.

"Let it all go. It's okay. I've got you." I murmured into her hair, cradling her to me like I had done to my son so many times before.

Binah's legs gave out under the force of her emotions causing the two of us to fall to the floor. I found myself buried under her form with legs and arms digging into my sides but I didn't complain. I just held onto the woman for as long as she needed me.

The anger at her was still there buried within me but it was muted in the moment because she needed me. And she was family whether she wanted to admit it or not.

"I'll help you Binah. I will. Just please tell Lucius before you do this. He needs to hear it from you." I murmured softly.

The woman in my arms sniffled and then gave an almost imperceptible nod. I felt my own body relax. I could feel my clothes becoming damp under the Horseman's torrent of tears but still I held on, an anchor in her storm of emotions.

"Thank you." She murmured between sobs. "For helping me."

I squeezed her tighter to me and felt a bit of the weight lift from my shoulders. It was a very small victory. 

"Don't worry about it. Just don't leave it too late to tell Lucius. Don't leave this world with hatred between you. And he will hate you for wanting to leave him. Lucius, despite how much he pretends otherwise, wants a family of his own. He wants to belong somewhere."

Binah lifted her head and smiled at me.

"That is the reason I am finally taking this step."

I frowned at her not quite understanding her.

"He has you. After so long of searching, he finally has you to stand by his side through the centuries to come. He does not need me anymore. He has you." She spoke softly, her eyes red rimmed from the crying session but still so beautiful. "You will give him everything he has ever asked for – a home and a family."

I protested weakly, my heart not really in it.

The woman in my arms gave me a motherly smile before pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"You try to deny it but you are his other half. Star is his twin but you are the other half of his heart and soul – even if he hasn't come to accept it yet."

I tried not to analyse the face that my knot in my stomach eased at her words. It was still there but not as tightly wound.

"How did we even get on to this topic? We're supposed to be talking about you."

Binah laughed and dried her face on the end of her beautiful violet coloured dress.

"It's because I need to know that all of my family are taken care of. You are a big part of that. You will take care of them all; Cass, Clem, Lucius, the twins and even Hades. You will make sure they're all okay."

I wiped at my cheeks, surprised that that my fingers came away wet with tears.

"We'll miss you Binah."

"I know." Binah drew in a breath. "But you will all live well without me."