Seeing her here, all wild waves and wide gray eyes, her skin like burnished copper… “Leela…”
She sighs. “No. Don’t get caught up in the illusion. There is no time for that.”
Illusion. “You’re not real.”
“I believe we established that. Now up. Let’s walk.”
There’s a part of me, the ancient godly part that recognizes this for what it is. Recognizesherfor whatsheis, but I’m tethered too strongly to the soul I am now, to Araz, that the full significance escapes me. But whatever this is, it carries her face. It exudes her essence.
She crouches and holds out her hand. “Come, my love. Let me walk with you awhile.”
Something inside me shifts and melts, warmth traveling through my limbs, lending them renewed purpose.
I stand and take her hand. Solid. Real.
She raises our joined hands and smiles. “Well, look at that.”
The veins under my skin glow brighter, and as she moves our hands to the left, they begin to pulse.
“How are you doing this?”
“I’mnot doing anything, my heart.Weare.”
“What are you?”
“I’m your flame, Araz. I’m the soul of your connection to Leela. When you sleep, so do I, and when you both awaken, then so do I. I am separate, and I am a part of you. I am the tether that refuses to break, but…”
“But what?”
“I cannot hold on to that which no longer exists.” She gives me a pointed look, and I remember the significance of her appearance.
“I’m dying, aren’t I?”
She presses a palm to my cheek, her eyes filled with regret. “Yes, my love. You are dying in the only way that a god can. You’re being devoured by a force equally if not more ancient than you. But we can stop it. We can claim back your power. All of it.Ifwe can find the core.”
I know she isn’t Leela. I know that she is our tether manifest, yet for a moment I allow myself to believe differently. I cup her face and press my lips to hers. “I’m coming, Leela. I won’t let you down.”
She smiles up at me, that cocky lopsided smile, the one she wears when she accomplishes a particularly difficult task. “That’s my guy. Now let’s go.”
The golden veins under my skin pulse, and we follow their rhythm.
Chapter 8
EVIL STOLE WONDER PECS
BLUE
I’m drifting in a sea of green, and it should feel safe and warm, but it doesn’t. Tonight, it feels as if I’m drowning. Something is wrong, and I need ta surface and find out what.
“Wake up, little mouse. I want to hear you speak.”
That voice…I know that voice. I crack open my eyes and stare up at Araz through a haze of green. Why did he call me a mouse and…Wait…Memory comes rushing in like a tide.
Fecking hell.
I scramble up and back away, smacking into something cold and hard.
Bars…
