Page 56 of These Eternal Bones
My teeth chatter loudly in my head as she lifts her palm, spinning her wrist until a small tornado of water erupts. My shock and my anger momentarily forgotten as I stare at it in wonder.
That is, before she sends it straight at me.
The mini twister blasts me in the face, making me cough. I stumble, struggling to get to my feet, wiping the salt water from my burning eyes. The shocked look on her face tells me she didn’t mean to hit me there.
“It went a bit high, mistress.”
The suddenly sheepish woman looks perfectly comfortable in the frigid water while I all but shake to death. Something about it is frustratingly hilarious. My laughter bursts free from my chest, and God, I take abreath…a real one for the first time in days.
Her answering smile is contagious, and soon enough, we’re laughing like madwomen. I suppose that’s fitting as we trade splashes in the freezing water on a snowy beach. Dodging. Dancing and falling in the ocean waves. Our giggles hit the cliffs, bouncing off and tunneling back to us as the cold gets too much for me, making me flee from the water with a breathless squeal. My muscles ache from the sheer force of my shaking as I hit the shore. I’m lightheaded, positive my lips are blue when she slams into me, wrapping me in a tight hug and knocking us backward into the sand. My eyes widen when the air around us crackles with energy, a burst of warmth filling me and sinking into my very bones. Her head rests on my chest before she looks up, smiling widely. “Let’s get you home, yes?”
Another breathless laugh leaves me as I hug her harder. “Yes.”
My eyes dart back to the cliff, steam rolling off my soaked clothes, like being wrapped in a hot towel. The only trace of the fox is the bare, tanned back of a man slipping back between the trees.
A few flurries of snow mottle our path as she winds up the rocky trail that leads over and down the cliffs. Our horse is navigating it with ease. My hands snap out, the pokey needles of what Tien told me were evergreen trees brushing over my palm. A rush of emotion and longing hits me, making my chest ache as I realize how badly I wish to be near Elric. How brutally I miss him, even after such a short while away.
Heavens, is this what he’s felt all these years?
I clear my throat, blinking away the sudden rush of tears from my already puffy and swollen eyes before I steel myself. It’s no grand show of strength. I just sit a little straighter, stretching after days hunched in on myself, my chin resting higher than it has…it's then I decide how silly I’ve been to waste even a moment with him sulking over the past. Albeit, that’s easy to say when you remember nothing of it. My lip trembles despite the magical warmth swathing me as I vow to make him smile as much as possible before I’m gone.
I vow to change this.
I decide to stay. Fate be damned.
28
Books with Bronze Pictures
Molly
I’m soaked, having refused Péal’s help in getting dry as my reddened toes slap the marble stairs. A gasp rips from my lungs when her magic hits the end of its range, leaving me frigid. I barely have a second to regain my breath when Elric blurs in front of me. “Molly, you’re soaked!” his voice is incensed, but I don’t give him time to say more. My hands are trembling as they slap on either side of his face, my lips slamming his in a blinding kiss.
The kind you don’t come back from.
The type of kiss that pulls you under.
I can feel it the moment he floods me, his touch lingering in my veins. It makes so much more sense now that theicy water has cleared my mind. He’s a god, his dominion over blood. I am in love with a god, loved by a god for hundreds of years. The thought itself is mind rattling, but I giggle, forcing myself as close to him as possible when he lifts me into his arms, blurring us toward his bedroom. My dresses don’t stand a chance as he rips through them like they're no more than paper, all but tethering me in front of the fireplace as he gathers blankets. I just smile, watching the immortal man fret over me until I’m wrapped up like a baby sitting in front of roaring flames.
“I love you.” It’s a simple, effortless thing to say. Nothing at all as it leaves my lips.
But to him, it’s everything.
His veins lighten as he gently places his forehead against mine. “I love you more, syringa. Thank you, thank you for coming back to me.”
Tears well in my eyes as I struggle to keep them dry. “I’m sorry it took so long.”
“An eternity, my love. I would wait an eternity.”
After the next few days of being all but restrained to his bed and sequestered to our bedroom, my body aches in all the most wonderful places as I wince my way into the library. My heart feels both burdened and light at the same time, a new sense of urgency rushing my steps. Had business not called Elric to his duties today, I’m sure I would still be face down in silk sheets, my body supported by his tendrils as he takes me from–
“Cartiel,” I gasp, the man startling me as I burst into the library. He frowns, nodding in greeting before shutting his book. I rush forwardas he goes to stand from where he was reading, leaning against the shelves. “Please don’t leave on my behalf.”
“It is fine, I have chores to–”
I cut him off, peeking at the book he was holding, only for him to tuck it behind his back. “What are you reading? You seem to spend a lot of time in here.” That is, until I show up and he bolts like I’ve set the room ablaze. “Is there a library in town, too? You visit a lot.”
The questions vomit from my mouth with little in the form of charisma. Being raised in a gated community entirely cut off from the outside world doesn’t do much to teach that.
