Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
The taste exploded on my tongue, breaking up the dreariness and drudgery of this tedious world.
Another clap of thunder, demanding we move apart as a third droplet clung to my chin, reluctant to part from me.
Darro pressed his forehead to mine.
His love and devotion bled through every unspoken whisper and prohibited touch.
And I loved him back.
Defiantly, dangerously, endlessly.
The sky turned black with final warning.
We both stiffened for familiar punishment.
But then, my tear fell.
It glittered with sunbeams and daybreaks, splashing onto the dry dirt.
He stared at the small pock-mock. He shifted to touch it. His lips parted, and the silver tones of his skin shimmered beneath the cloud-curdled storm.
He never had time to touch that single salty droplet.
In a fleeting heartbeat, my sacrificed tear became the first liquid on this desiccated planet. A stream sprouted from that very spot, bubbling with freshness.
The damp scent of it was sublime.
The feel of it as it cascaded over my hands was cool and comforting.
Water.
Life.
Hope.
I cried harder.
My tears joined the gushing, frolicking stream, and it became a river. A torrential river, washing away the earth, revealing wetted stones and giant boulders, all twinkling in the suddenly-returned sunshine—
“Runa! Wait.” A strong hand latched around my wrist, yanking me to a stop.
A hand that felt so familiar, too familiar.
And out of sheer habit from before, my eyes snapped to the sky, so sure that the clouds would churn and thunder would boom and lightning would crack in furious warning.
Darro exhaled loudly, his own gaze going to the heavens.
I shuddered as he let me go—from prior conditioning or present confusion, I wasn’t sure.
But then he lowered his jaw and pinned me with his smoky stare. “Before...when we touched. The sky would punish us.” He wiped his mouth with a dirt-smudged hand as Zetas sat on her haunches beside him. His voice was nothing more than a gravelly whisper. “Lightning would strike us if we disobeyed. That’s why we still carry the habit of looking up.” He shook his head. “I-I can still feel the pain of it, punishing us for loving—”
A soft cry escaped me.
A cry of absolute agony.
He dared speak that word when we’d been forbidden love in the past and were now forbidden love all over again?
I would happily take the lightning.
I would hold out my arms and let it crack right through me if it meant I was no longer betrothed to Aktor.
I bit my lip, doing my best to stop my grief. The bees that’d chased me sank back down into the flowers, their buzzing sorrowful and sorry.
My heart couldn’t take any more pain.
I couldn’t stand in shared memories that we finally, finally remembered. Broken memories that brought a thousand more questions. Memories that proved just how much our love had been doomed, right from the very beginning.
I didn’t have the strength.
Not tonight.
Possibly not ever.
Back then, when I cried, a river had sprung.
Now, only my cheeks grew wet.
With a hitched inhale, I sucked back the rest of my tears and rubbed the heel of my hand over my tripping, tormenting heart. “I-I remembered something. When you helped douse the light I couldn’t put out.”
He stayed silent, sensing I didn’t want him to speak.
“I remembered the sky threatened us. I remembered thirst clawing at my throat. I remembered my tears turning into a river, a lake...an ocean.”
He scowled, raking a hand through his hair. “I don’t have that memory. Not yet at least.” He paced away a little before turning to face me and dropping his hand. “Do you know what you are, Runa? Do you finally remember?”
I shook my head. “It was just a glimpse. I don’t understand it, nor trust that it was even true. How could a single tear turn into a river?”
He came toward me.
I flinched back.
He stopped with a grimace. “I don’t know. But I won’t stop until we do.” Reaching out, he grabbed my hand, making the fresh bee tattoo sting from the salt in his skin. “We’re leaving. Right now. You’re not going back. We’re starting to remember. Eventually we’ll know everything and—”
“Still have everything and everyone trying to keep us apart.”
“We won’t let them,” he snapped. Glaring at Zetas and Syn, who sat comfortably side by side, lynx to wolf, antler to horn, he added a bit calmer, “We’re touching, and they’re not biting us for a change.” His dark eyes flashed with defiance. “I’m going to kiss you, and they can’t do a single thing about it.” He yanked me into his chest.
I crashed against him, my lips parting in shock, just as his head came down and his mouth smashed to mine.
I stiffened, but only for a moment.
I worried.
I blamed.
And then, I melted.
His lips moved with delicious pressure, coaxing me, imploring me, begging me to kiss him back.
The tip of his tongue licked the seam of my mouth, and I opened for him.