And the moment he saw her, he couldn’t breathe.
Her voice was magic. Her scent so potent, he was aching. Even if he shouldn’t be near her, he couldn’t resist her pull.
Alora faced him, then with a wave of her hand, a harp bloomed into being. Elegant and otherworldly, its frame shaped from twisted golden wood, strings spun from silver light. He inwardly smiled.
Your magic has grown.
A small smile rose to her lips, then her fingers strummed the strings.
A soft note hummed through the forest, pure and trembling. Her voice followed, a lilting cadence that made his being tremble. For she had sung this song to him before, in another life.
Where darkness reigns and stars do fall
I find fate waiting beyond it all
A crown of shadow
A kiss of flame
Still the wind calls your name
As she sang, vines sprouted around her with moss and pale pink blooms. Ivy climbed the trees and stone, white flowers unfurling in her wake as she danced. The harp shimmered with golden light beneath her fingers, and the night itself shimmered.
Rune watched, unmoving. Breath still.
He had ruled death. Wielded nightmare. Made kingdoms bow with a glance. Yet this girl, with a pure voice and glowinghands, summoned more power with a song than he could with a sword.
Her voice illuminated the longing he could no longer bury. Rune moved before he realized it, his hand lifting, then stopping short of her cheek when he caught himself.
Rune looked away as he dropped his hand. He couldn’t look her in the eyes because then he would see that she trusts him.
Her voice was faint with sadness. “Why do you turn from me?”
He had many reasons to stay away. Before he had been selfish and lost her, yet now he’d lose her still.
“I fear I am cursed to chase you across a thousand lifetimes...” Rune murmured.
Alora exhaled a heavy sigh and let the enchanted harp disappear. “Oh, I have had enough of your cryptic words.”
She took a step away from him, straight toward the cliff’s edge.
His eyes widened. “Alora.”
She gave him a sly smile as she opened her arms wide. “Then come chase me.”
And his mate fell, vanishing from view.
CHAPTER 53
Alora
The wind rushed past her, tangling in Alora’s hair as she descended through the clouds. Yet the descent through the sky felt like floating through a dream. A smile rose to her lips when a cloud of black shadows surged downward, halting her descent. Rune’s arms closed around her, and for a heartbeat, the world stood still.
She was weightless in his arms, held not only by shadow and wing, but by something more primal.
Rune’s leathery wings unfurled with a snap. They stretched wide, glorious and terrible, lit by the silver blaze of the full moon behind them.
“Are you mad, woman?” he snarled, but the words truly held no bite. Simply unease born of her recklessness.
