Page 54 of Love and Death
My father’s hand spasms, twisting to grab hold of my wrist. Without thinking, I move to jerk my hand away, only to find that I cannot move, cannot speak … cannot even open my eyes.
My body refuses to listen.
A chill whispers across my skin, followed by a shiver that prickles its way up my arm and down my spine, goosebumps rising in its wake.
Then, the frost comes. It burns, creeping deep into my veins as it threads jagged, crystalline trails slowly through each and every inch of me.
Searching.
Hungry.
Desperate.
I wince, sucking air in sharply through my teeth, and can almost hear the crack of ice in my chest as it begins to encase my heart.
Its beat pounds, frantic, in my ears, and then falters.
Once.
Twice.
And then, stillness.
16
EROS
There,I feelit.
I feelher.
The girl is here, although she does not know it yet. Her presence, though faint, isunmistakable, intoxicating—entirelyagonizing, as I wait patiently for her to awake.
Darkness stretches in an endless void around me. It weighs on me,eating into my soul, reminding me thatshe should not have been brought here, but …
Gods, I could not help it!
The moment that I became aware ofher touch. The second that I knew it was her. That she was real, not a dream or a trick of the mind, I could not resist.
I did not want to resist her.
She had to be brought here.
My thoughts rest for a moment before bearing down on me again …
This could kill her.
There is no other way; she has to know the truth before it is too late.
This finally silences the war waging within me, and I settle back to wait.
I must not wake her before she is ready.
Quieting all that is within me, I listen, allowing the sound of her small breaths to sate me as I wait for her presence to become clearer. Tangible.
There is a hitch in her breath as the connection between us settles into place, and I pour out my soul for her.
The void melts away, giving way to color and light to reveal a courtyard garden overflowing in the fullest of bloom.
