He sinks into a crouch in an attempt to make himself a smaller target. “Damnit we need to move or else we’re going to die here.” He shifts closer to me, the warmth of his body beckoning me closer as my body chills with the breeze picking up into strong gales of wind.
“Kass,” I stutter, emotion threatening to surge, “I need to know that this is the real you. Not some trick from Orlin. I’m … I’m just so tired.” A sob breaks through my resolve, “I don’t know what’s real anymore.”
He looks like a divine entity the way he looks beautiful in the midst of all the mayhem. It’s devastating in the best way.
Time seems to pause as his hands wrap around my cheeks, so tenderly I barely feel his grasp. He holds me, reverence in his gaze turning his green orbs even brighter.
“Alora,” he whispers against my lips as he brings his face closer to mine, allowing me to forget about the likelihood of us dying here, “I would breathe you in as my last breath if I could. With my dying moments, I would kiss death's feet if it would grant me the image of you, right now, suspended in time for eternity. I would accept a wretched ending if in the end I could close my eyes and see your image as I crossed the veil.”
My body threatens to give out as he wraps his arms around me and brings my head to his chest. He threads his fingers through my hair and murmurs into my ear, “You’ll never believe there was a time where we justwere.If these are my final moments, I wouldn’t even miss the time I could have had elsewhere.”
He does something then, his hand warming unnaturally against my skull. A tickling inside my brain happens, like he was pulling on a thread and tugging it towards the surface. Scenes unfold in flashes within my mind, images of him and me in various stages of activities. Running naked through forests while he prowled after me, dark desire that was met with soft bites andcarnal kisses, a necklace he places around my neck with a gem moon and stars with an opal faceted in the middle.
Suddenly, Iknowthese memories even though I haven’t lived them in this lifetime.
I remember the little token that’s still enclosed in my fist and bring it before my eyes all the while still laying with my head brought to Kassiel’s strong form.
The same silver pendant with the moon and stars, down to the dark fire opal, resides within my grasp.
“Impossible…” I whisper against his chest. His magic continues to heat my body as more memories break through the waves that I’ve been treading through.
“No one knows of this magic Alora, not even Euron.” His voice sounds strained, as if it’s a challenge to concentrate while doing this.
“Kassiel!” A shout from behind our backs has us both turning to face them.
My mind still floats between what’s happening in the present and long forgotten moments from another lifetime with Kassiel so I don’t recognize right away the man who forces his way towards us.
Caym has made his way through the maze of stone and arrows. His face is contorted with worry that flattens his lips. He’s maybe ten paces from us as he hides among stone.
He’s a welcome sight as he outstretches his hand for us. Kassiel urges me forward and I begin to crouch and crawl forward.
I’m still reliving memories from a far away place, too distracted by the revelations to notice Caym yelling at me to get down.
A piercing, hot agony jams into my back, making my arm immediately go numb. The pain is blinding, enough to make my vision swim with darkness.
A feral scream tears from my throat.
“NO!”
Kassiel’s voice booms from behind me and I feel his warm hands begin to lift me under my armpits as he drags me to Caym.
It’s debilitating, each pulsing moment that passes.
Caym and him hover over me as I begin to lose my vision.
“It hurts” as I croak out focusing on his predatory eyes.
The green irises begin to shatter, leaving black shadow that fills the crevices.
“I know it does, little warrior.” He seems to have barely whispered it as it sounds too far away.
His hands come to my chin then, tracing my jaw down to where my throat and ear meets.
A black curl sticks to his sweaty forehead and I want nothing more than to wrap it between my fingers, but I can’t. My body is too heavy.
“Alora,” he rasps, “believe me when I say, I will not let you leave me.”
His arms move to pick me up, sliding skillfully, cautiously under my prone figure. He drags me to his chest once more. I see his jaw flex with tension as he swiftly stands. Gods, this is it. I feel my head swim with dizziness. Darkness marries itself with my vision while my limbs are weighted against my chest. I don’t want to leave this realm. Him.
