AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ere could only nod, dry-eyed and mute. It seemed that he’d already used up all of his tears. A good thing too, because he needed to be strong for Sorin. He had to find a way to bring him back.
“When Dalair was like this, I talked to him often as if he could hear me,” Sophia said softly. “I think he did. I think he needed to hear and feel my love for him. Just as Sorin needs you now, Ere.”
He inhaled deeply and let it out in a shuddering sigh, steeling himself with courage, determination and stubborn hope.
“Then that is what I’ll do,” he said.
“Let Sorin know in every way I can that he is loved beyond all reason and comprehension.”
When the others left, Ere remained by Sorin’s side in the healing chamber.
He stroked his Mate’s dull, matted locks. Brushed his fingers across his cold, ashen skin, skimming over each feature with the utmost care.
“I cannot lose you,” he rasped low, vibrating with a vicious desperation.
He barely noticed that his vision began to blacken around the edges. That a haze of red dimmed his perception of the world around him.
“Iwill notlose you,” he vowed.
“Even if I have to bring the entire fucking universe down around its ears.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
Victorian Britain. En route to Scotland.
A little over four hours after they’d set out from Pimlico, London, the travelers arrived at Southend-on-Sea.
“Well,” Annie said cheerfully, “this is the most remote location we can find to do our business. Or rather, for our Pale Prince to do his.”
She craned her head out of the carriage window to look at him as said prince dismounted from his horse and gave the reins to Lord Larkin.
“Will this do, Prince Saiyan?” Annie asked. “What exactly will you do? Dive into the waters and be reborn?”
“Call me Sai,” the dragon said in his smooth low voice.
But Brigid could tell that he suffered.
Even though he emanated an internal strength far beyond human limits, she heard the undertone of pain. He was breathing slowly and deeply, as if he measured every breath. As if he was shoring up his strength so that he could keep himself upright and moving.
“We will stay here and keep watch in case anyone comes this way,” Lord Larkin said, still mounted on his steed, presumably to have a superior vantage point from that lofty height.
“I will go with Sai,” Brigid heard herself volunteer.
“I do not need assistance,” he muttered, not looking her way.
Men and their damnable pride.
She could see plain as day that his limbs were stiff; his body, sore. And it cost him dearly to take each step as he made his way down a rough, rocky hill to the beach below.
She ignored his protest, lifted her skirts and scrambled after him.
The sea was uncommonly blue this day, tinged with a deeper green. Fluffy clouds rolled across a bright sky, pushed along by a gentle breeze. This beach looked deserted for miles on end. No one else was around, not even in the far distance.
The ground itself was littered with shells and rocks, and the sand was rough. Thank goodness they both had on their boots, for she could feel jagged pieces digging into her soles. It must have been about one hundred yards or so between the rock hill that led to the roads and the ocean waves, but it felt farther as she trundled after Sai, heaving with exertion.
It was as if she could feel vicariously how much he thirsted for the sea, how he yearned to be embraced by those soothing waves. How much the tortures he’d endured had cost him.
She could almost feel her own body throb with phantom pain.
