squeezed my arms as she let out a gasp. I let my body rest beside hers and pulled her against me.
“What is wrong?” I breathed, trying to calm my pounding heart. I ’d kissed girls before, more than kissed, but with them it seemed like a routine, something done to catch a rapid heartbeat or a fleeting rush. That was not what just happened. All I cared about was giving her everything she ever wanted, making her complete and exultant.
“I never saw the end. I never saw us at peace,” she said as she caressed her hand across my face and her eyes rapidly moved across my stare.
She knew, just as I did, that something was going to take her from my arms, that we would begin the fight of our lives. That thought was saturating her with far too many emotions at one time, and I had no words to soothe her.
Chapter Four
I gazed at her, falling in love with how the setting sun added to the reflection of beautiful hair against her skin. I’d tell you that I was falling in love with her, but that would be the wrong tense. Somehow I knew I had loved her at my creation, that I had been robbed.
Tarek was right: my time was nearing. If I wanted to give everything I was to Skylynn, I had to sever the ties between my twin image and me. The prophecy spoken over me had to be dealt with.
If I planned my path, I could travel through that Fall, end my twin, and be back before the sunset.
“This is the end,” I promised. “You ’re safe in my arms.”
Her eyes watered, but she would not let any more tears fall. That was the stubbornness I had seen in those visions, the girl that refused to give up no matter how many times she had been victimized.
“I think the end is unwritten, that this time will either break us or save us,” she said, staring at me as if she were demanding that her mind never forget this sensation of lying in my arms.
Right now, I saw a past that I could change. I saw troubled roads I could avoid. The answers before the problem found a reason to exist.
I’d lay down my own life before I let her cross The Fall, but I had seen enough mystical elements to know there would always be a risk, a daunting threat that we would have to endure what she was shown. If that happened, I had to make sure she was strong.
I could not let her become the victim I saw in those swift visions.
I pulled myself up so I was looking down at her. I reached to cradle her face with my hand, gently tracing the base of her eyes, mesmerized by the haunting glow of them; they had never been this bright.
“If I can ’t stop this, if by some corrupt reason you do end up on the other side of that Fall, you have to make me a promise.” My lips rested on hers ever so slightly; even that brush of a touch set my soul on fire.
I pulled away before I lost this train of thought once again and spoke as I caressed her face. “You don ’t care what anyone thinks; you fight and claw your way to what you want. You bargain, you trade, you keep your distance from anyone that you know you can’t trust—and even those that you feel that you can, keep at arm’s length. You never let them know what your price is, what your weakness is. You become fierce, a warrior. You do all of this, and know that it will lead you to me. That one way or another, I will bring you home to me.”
“I could never wrong you—us. I couldn ’t hurt people.”
“Self-preservation, Skylynn.” She gasped when I said her full name. She knew then that I really did see what she had seen. She was searching for proof and logic, too. Deep down, she already knew how to be defensive. I had helped her unlock that. “Listen. Not everything over there is evil, but you have to understand that all of them are there for their own lessons; they are there to find their truth. You have to defend yourself, love yourself, because if you don ’t no one will see reason to do that for you.”
“I ’m scared.”
“Don ’t be. It’s just time. Time moves; forward,
“What is wrong?” I breathed, trying to calm my pounding heart. I ’d kissed girls before, more than kissed, but with them it seemed like a routine, something done to catch a rapid heartbeat or a fleeting rush. That was not what just happened. All I cared about was giving her everything she ever wanted, making her complete and exultant.
“I never saw the end. I never saw us at peace,” she said as she caressed her hand across my face and her eyes rapidly moved across my stare.
She knew, just as I did, that something was going to take her from my arms, that we would begin the fight of our lives. That thought was saturating her with far too many emotions at one time, and I had no words to soothe her.
Chapter Four
I gazed at her, falling in love with how the setting sun added to the reflection of beautiful hair against her skin. I’d tell you that I was falling in love with her, but that would be the wrong tense. Somehow I knew I had loved her at my creation, that I had been robbed.
Tarek was right: my time was nearing. If I wanted to give everything I was to Skylynn, I had to sever the ties between my twin image and me. The prophecy spoken over me had to be dealt with.
If I planned my path, I could travel through that Fall, end my twin, and be back before the sunset.
“This is the end,” I promised. “You ’re safe in my arms.”
Her eyes watered, but she would not let any more tears fall. That was the stubbornness I had seen in those visions, the girl that refused to give up no matter how many times she had been victimized.
“I think the end is unwritten, that this time will either break us or save us,” she said, staring at me as if she were demanding that her mind never forget this sensation of lying in my arms.
Right now, I saw a past that I could change. I saw troubled roads I could avoid. The answers before the problem found a reason to exist.
I’d lay down my own life before I let her cross The Fall, but I had seen enough mystical elements to know there would always be a risk, a daunting threat that we would have to endure what she was shown. If that happened, I had to make sure she was strong.
I could not let her become the victim I saw in those swift visions.
I pulled myself up so I was looking down at her. I reached to cradle her face with my hand, gently tracing the base of her eyes, mesmerized by the haunting glow of them; they had never been this bright.
“If I can ’t stop this, if by some corrupt reason you do end up on the other side of that Fall, you have to make me a promise.” My lips rested on hers ever so slightly; even that brush of a touch set my soul on fire.
I pulled away before I lost this train of thought once again and spoke as I caressed her face. “You don ’t care what anyone thinks; you fight and claw your way to what you want. You bargain, you trade, you keep your distance from anyone that you know you can’t trust—and even those that you feel that you can, keep at arm’s length. You never let them know what your price is, what your weakness is. You become fierce, a warrior. You do all of this, and know that it will lead you to me. That one way or another, I will bring you home to me.”
“I could never wrong you—us. I couldn ’t hurt people.”
“Self-preservation, Skylynn.” She gasped when I said her full name. She knew then that I really did see what she had seen. She was searching for proof and logic, too. Deep down, she already knew how to be defensive. I had helped her unlock that. “Listen. Not everything over there is evil, but you have to understand that all of them are there for their own lessons; they are there to find their truth. You have to defend yourself, love yourself, because if you don ’t no one will see reason to do that for you.”
“I ’m scared.”
“Don ’t be. It’s just time. Time moves; forward,
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