Forever in Darkness (novella) (Order of the Blade #4) by Stephanie Rowe Page A

bearing the name Augustus Fitzgerald, his
ancestor who had earned the curse that had doomed all of his progeny. A man so
powerful that he had been widely recognized as one of the most dominating Order
of the Blade members ever to live. A man who had been so plunged into despair
by the strength of the curse that he had taken his own life over a woman, an
act of dishonor that had banned him from the annals of the Order for all
eternity. A man who had carried such power that the earth around his grave
still vibrated with the sheer raw Calydon power that had made him such an
indomitable force before he'd angered the wrong warrior.
    Ian was going to take that power
and use it to save the woman he couldn’t access on his own. He leapt off the
bike, cradling Catherine tightly as he strode across the grass and set her down
beside the marker.
    She gripped his arm as he laid her
on the grass, and Ian swore as he finally saw her face. Her skin was ashen, her
lips pale, her eyes glazed with pain. Denial roared through him, and he
straddled her, his knees on either side of her hips. He leaned over her and
took her face in his hands. "Listen to me," he said. "You're my soul
mate, so I can heal you."
    She shook her head. "I'm not
your soul mate—"
    "You are. I knew it the first
moment that we met, when you died in my arms on the mountain side. Everyone
there knew it."
    She stared at him, a furrow of
confusion on her brow. "On the mountain?"
    Shit. She didn't remember? Not that
it mattered. He bent his head closer, his whole body stirring with the
intensity of feeling her beneath him. "Open yourself to me, Catherine. Let
me inside your soul."
    She sighed. "No, I can't. I'm
not allowed—"
    "Screw that. You're allowed to
die?" Ian stretched out beside her and pulled her against him, wrapping
his legs around hers so they were entangled along the lengths of their bodies.
He closed his eyes at the sensation of her body against his. Desire rushed
through him, and a sense of absolute rightness that this was where he belonged.
    And then it was followed by a
ripple of fear of what it would be like if he lost her again, now that he'd finally
connected with her.
    This was how it began for each of
his ancestors. Finding that woman. Finding that peace. And then the loss…the
despair… and then death by the most dishonorable, most ignominious, way
possible: suicide.
    Then her body began to tremble, and
he didn't care about the past anymore. All that mattered was healing her.
"Okay, Catherine, you need to close your eyes and relax your mind."
He pulled her closer against him, tangling their bodies together. "I'll
pull you into my healing sleep, and use my powers to heal you."
    "You can do that?" She
snuggled closer to him and laced her hands behind his neck. The tentative feel
of her fingers on his skin sent shock waves all the way through him. God,
Ian. It feels so incredible to have you against me. It shouldn't be like this.
    "Of course it should." Rightness
vibrated through him. How could this ever be wrong? He pulled her closer and
pressed his lips to the side of her neck. "Just close your eyes and relax.
Since you're my sheva , I can heal you." But even as he said the
words, doubt niggled at the back of his mind about the fact that making love
hadn't made his brands appear on her arms. What if he couldn't heal her without
that mark? "Just relax."
    Pain rippled through her, and Ian
swore, placing his hand over the wound in her belly. "Hang in there,"
he said urgently. "I can fix this."
    "Okay." But her voice was
pinched with agony and fear, weak with the effort of trying to hang on.
    Ian immediately closed his eyes and
let himself drift into the dreamlike state of his healing sleep. He reached out
for Catherine and found her spirit immediately. She was open to him and allowed
him right in. The moment he was connected with her, he felt the poison rushing
through her body, like a powerful river of black water, destroying every cell
it passed. Ian let