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)
“You can’t keep saying that.”
“I can and you are.” His eyes glowed black. “Because if you aren’t, how do you explain the visions? Have you had visions too? Do you remember how I used to kiss you, hold you, love you—”
“Enough. Please...enough.” My heart tripped over his words.
Words!
My hands clamped over my mouth.
Oh, no...
We’d been speaking in the same lyrical, guttural tongue he’d used when he first found me in the grasslands. The language that’d unfurled in my head and granted me the gift to converse with him.
It wasn’t Firenese.
It was his tongue.
The language that came from my heart and felt like home.
A chill ran through me.
If Solin ever finds out about this...
“W-Where did you learn that language?” I whispered, glancing up into the sparse treeline to make sure we were still alone.
He swallowed and hugged his ruined arm, the sickly gleam on his skin turning silver with moonglow. Opening his mouth, he went to reply but then licked his lips and shrugged. “I must have known it before I lost everything else.”
“Do you remember other things? Do you remember another land beyond this one? People who have gifts granted to them by water or air or earth?”
“You mean like the mortals you live with? The way they can cup fire in their hands and not burn?”
I stilled. “You saw that?”
“I was watching you.”
“All night?”
He nodded.
“I thought...I thought Syn chased you away.”
“Syn?” he asked in his deep, rough voice.
“The lynx.” I hung my head. “I’m...I’m sorry about her attacking you. I shouldn’t have told you to go. That was...ill-mannered.” I stepped closer to him, drawn against my will, unable to fight the ease I found in his company or the rapidly building desire to know more. “I didn’t ask her to hurt you. I tried to stop her.”
“You tried until I scared you too much.” His lips quirked into half a smile. “I didn’t mean to. I just...seeing you after so long?” He sighed heavily. “I can’t control myself. I can’t hold back how I feel. You make me feel...” He trailed off with a soft exhale.
“How...?” I asked despite myself. “How do I make you feel?”
His feet shifted, his maleness thickening between his thighs. “You know how. I’ve told you.” His gaze dropped to where I hugged my bare chest. “You’ve walked in my thoughts since I can remember. Each time I dream of you, I wake with a hollowness that leaves me begging. Even being this close to you is enough. I can breathe again. Breathe after an eternity of suffocating.”
Tears came to my eyes. “I’m sorry. So sorry about your arm.”
He smiled gently. “I don’t hold you responsible. You can be friends with a wild creature, but their will is still their own.” He stepped a little closer, sending my skin prickling. “Just like you can’t blame yourself that I returned instead of left. I couldn’t leave without seeing you again, even if it comes with the risk of another bite.”
Touching his damaged arm, his voice came thinner. “I won’t lie and say I’m not in pain, and I’m sure it’s obvious that I’m not well, but whatever the lynx did is not your fault.” His gaze locked onto mine. “I would welcome a thousand bites if it meant you remembered me.”
I blushed.
He spoke with sage wisdom like Solin did, yet he had none of the lines around his eyes or weathered existence on his body. If I knew my own birth year, I would’ve guessed he would be only a few years older.
A few years where we could’ve known each other, travelled together, loved one another...or a few years where we’d never met and every fluttering, feathering feeling inside me was confused and wrong.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” I rubbed at the chill in my chest.
“Say you believe in us. That’s enough.” He stepped nearer again, carefully, slowly, waiting to see if I’d run. He lowered his voice until it whispered darkly over my skin, still in the tongue he’d taught me, still unknown to the Nhil. “I’ll go slower. I’ll do my best not to scare you. But I can’t deny that there’s a hunger inside me. Right here.” He tapped his heart, his fingers tightening into a fist on his chest. “Ever since I found you, the hollowness I mentioned is gone. It’s been filled with such agonising hope.”
He took another step until we were close enough to touch. “I chose you the moment I saw you. I don’t care anymore about memories I can’t recall or visions I can’t hold onto. I don’t care that your lynx attacked me and made me too weak to run home. I’ve found you now.” He tilted his head, sending his tangled dark locks to the side. “And that’s enough. It’s more than enough. It’s everything.”