I ate something quickly and went to the library, where I strolled around the room, running my fingertip along the bookspines. I paused beneath my grandfather’s sword mounted on the wall.
Ghostly memories drifted around me, but whenever I snapped my head in their direction, they teased away, offering me nothing.
Everything I wanted and craved remained just beyond my reach.
Tempest. She was wrapped up in everything that made me who I was. The boy I’d been back then had somehow bridged to the man I was today, one who must desperately love her. If I could only touch what was beyond my reach. Then I could step into the man I could be if we survived whatever was coming.
I needed her. My heart called out to her alone. Loving her was like grappling with lightning, thrilling yet excruciating. My stomach twisted with yearning each time I saw her. It hurt to breathe when she wasn't around, as if the air was lighter and sweeter because she breathed it too.
I was drowning in emotions I couldn’t hold onto long enough to confess them. They ghosted away like the memories of the warmth I’d found here at Weldsbane.
My inability to be the man she needed kept gouging at my throat. If I couldn’t find a way past whatever bound me away from her, I’d lose her.
And that thought gutted me more than anything else.
I was determined to grab onto the memories that my father had stolen along with my power.
Tempest was a woman who would do anything to help those she loved.
She lovedme.
I could see it in the sadness shadowing her pretty green eyes and in the way she’d reach for me, only to snap her hand back before touching. Her face would crater with pain that was also just beyond my reach, as if a film or a mist stretched between us, keeping us from experiencing the fullness of our feelings once more.
I tugged the pabrilleen pendant from my pocket, remembering my mother fingering it in her jewelry box before choosing something with more sparkle. That memory remained solid, as did the torturous ones from the king’s dungeon. If only those had been stolen instead of my time with Tempest.
“Why can’t I remember us?” I shouted to the room.
I flitted to the training area, sensing I needed to be there, though I didn’t know why.
And I sawher, though she wasn’t physically here. Bits of wonderful images flashed through my mind. The sound of us training here echoed around me, and with each pulse of our words and our movements, feelings I craved more than anything roared through me.
My love for her was a constant ache, a raw wound that throbbed with each heartbeat. She filled my mind to the brink, leaving no space for anything else. The sheer weight of missing her crushed me, a relentless pressure that would never go away. She was an obsession that gnawed at my soul. Loving her felt like I was being pulled apart from the inside, only to have her put me back together with one touch of her hand or a smile.
I dove to the side and came up in a crouch, straightening while sending her a smile. Damn, I was proud of her. She blazed throughmy veins with such purity, such emotion. If only I could wrap her in my arms and hold her forever. “You’re getting good.”
“Only good?” She flitted, landing against my chest with her legs around my waist and my grandfather’s blade at my throat, sending me toppling backward. I let her, because I loved when she did this. She was power and raw hunger, and I’d never get my fill.
I slowed our fall, landing neatly, my arms wrapping around her waist. Could I steal a kiss before she tried to gut me? “Such skill with a blade, my storm.” I pinched the tip and dragged it to the side.
“Will I kill him with magic?”
“When it’s time, you’ll know.”
“That’s vague.”
“It’s all I can tell you.”
“Alright. I trust you.”
“Good girl.”
Her lips curled up slyly. “Only a good girl?”
“You’re perfect.” And she was. She was sublime. Utter joy. And the warmth my soul had craved forever.
“Maybe I want to be a bad girl.”
My laugh burst out, stunning us both. “You can be as bad as you want.”
