Derive

  “Tell me why,” I whispered.

  “She was protecting me, like a mother. It felt backwards, like it was my role.”

  I kissed her temple. “Because you are strong, fearless, protective, and you fight for what you want.”

  I heard her breathe a smile, noticed how easily her body eased into that expression. She knew what I was doing.

  “I don’t know,” she said after a moment. “I remembered something about the trees, some kind of connection. It was a star or something that I was glad to see there, but I didn’t sense that mark when I was here, so I made one.”

  “A star?”

  “One of protection. I kept trying to make portholes or whatever you said I made when I moved, but each time I went to move to another tree I ended up at The Fall. Just behind you.”

  I was a bit worried about her right now. If Camlin or anyone ever figured out how to use the passages Skylynn made, then they would be led to her, to The Fall. They had at least five ways to get here now, but I didn’t want her to worry about that.

  “I felt you,” I confessed, feeling guilty for not turning around last night when I did feel that sensation.

  She smiled faintly as she reached to trace my collarbone with tender fingers. “I feel accomplished. I feel the star now.”

  I tightened my arm around her. “I want these visions to ease you. If you saw this home, this family, then maybe we are altering what we saw.”

  “Perhaps. In those fleeting images of the Falcon brothers, they did not see me as timid. I’m not sure I liked the way they did see me.”

  I was starting to wonder how many of her tethers escaped me yesterday. When they first started, my image was what I saw; by the time I forced my focus on her, they were already fading, at least the details were. No doubt, I would have recognized either Guardian or Sebastian there. I would have found peace with them being in her life; they are family to be revered.

  I assumed that all the emotions Skylynn felt in those visions were melding, and her seeing the way the Falcons were yesterday, even today, made it easy for her to see them in a defensive light.

  “The Falcons are merciless when they decide to help someone. I’ve seen them find the will and desire to help those that have crossed them in the past. They would never hurt you.” I pulled her a little closer. “They are a little consumed now. Sebastian was told he would never know the brother he sent over there again. I didn’t have much time with Guardian last night, but he didn’t seem that different. They’re confused.” I let out a sigh. “I’m sure they feel a civil war on the horizon, one that only they have the words to stop.”

  She was quiet for so long that I felt my eyes growing heavy, sleep claiming me. I tried to fight it, but I was sure I lost my battle when I saw those visions we witnessed together playing out in my mind. I wasn’t an outside witness in those dreams. I was living, breathing, and enduring them. It was a frustrating dream because I was searching blindly for the completeness I had already found.

  The maddening dream turned into a nightmare when I saw my twin within a breath of Cashton’s sister. In that vision, I felt evil all around us. Darkness and malice surrounding us. I didn’t understand my emotions in the dream because in some way I felt like I was aiding Cashton’s sister in saving my twin, which was opposite from any outcome that I could hope for—or that was predicted.

  None of it made any sense, why Cashton’s family would be pulled into the time of compromise that had loomed over me for so long. I could not fathom how it all connected.

  I’m not sure what caused me to open my eyes, but when I did I saw Skylynn sitting up. The sun was setting just to her left, basking her in a warm glow.

  I leaned up and then reached to pull her into my embrace. It took me a second to realize that she had been crying.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You spoke in your sleep.”

  I tried to hide a smile. “Did my silent thoughts frighten you?” I asked as my hands moved along her legs and gently squeezed her thighs.

  “You’re going over there.”

  I stopped the seductive slide of my hands across her. I didn’t want to fight about this.

  “I have to.”

  “Then who we are right now will never be again.”

  “Nothing will ever change the way we feel about each other. I swear to you.”

  “You can’t. You said yourself The Fall changes you. You will not come back the same.”

  “I will come back at peace, for all those I was meant to watch are safe.”

  She leaned back on my shoulder so she could look me in the eyes. “Why are you meant to worry for them? Why must you do it alone? Why can I not go?”

  “If I could take you, put you at my side, I would. But it takes time to understand that beast. There is no one beyond my grandfather and Lorecan that has ever studied it as long and diligently as I have. I have little fear that it will change me.”

  “But you are going with false ideas.”

  We were back to this. Skylynn was the only one that had ever straight out told me that ending my twin was the wrong thing to do. I wished I had heard those words years ago, that I had time to believe them, to meditate and contemplate on a different outcome than one I’d spent my life preparing for.

  “I’m not going to hurt anyone unless I have no other choice,” I stated, knowing there would only be one choice before I ever spoke those words.

  “There is no one else that can go?”

  “There is a crest on my soul that I share with Cashton. Guardian has it, too. It was told to me that the two girls that went had one that resembled ours as well. There are five of us that bear this mark that I am aware of. I need to go; the Allurest predict change, and for all I know that change is the close of that passage. The only thing I am certain of is that I must go. I have to heal Cashton’s family, take away any lash that the Hermetic Realm could use against The Selected.”

  “You are not going for them. You’re going for your twin.”

  “Only because he is near them. I can’t tell you how dangerous that is. I never imagined how on point the Allurest at my birth was. Before Cashton did what he did, I never saw a justifiable reason to stop my twin. Karma usually played its role in his life, and even if it didn’t I felt no real connection to the evil he was creating. It was too distant. And the way I perceived time, I always had the hope that he would change, that at his next cycle of life he would steer clear of darkness. In some he came close, so close; others, he seemed born for misery.”

  She was silent for a long while.

  “I don’t know who I am without you, and that angers me.” I felt the tension in her body and decided not to stop her words, but to let her find her voice instead. “This is not my true beginning. My beginning and our end are over there.”

  I hissed a curse under my breath. It took all I had not to stand with rage and tell her to forget all that she had seen with that man before, for her not to bring that doom to us. That I had the solution and all I needed for a safe passage was for her to believe in me.

  Boldly, she held my gaze, blue to green. “I began what I am right now, this dream at your side, knowing everything. There was no discovery. I can tell you what my favorite color or food is, what music I adore, but I can’t tell you why. I have no lessons I have learned firsthand. I watched it all from a distance. I crave the sensation of feeling firsts, for deciding what I like and don’t like and knowing why. I want a new beginning, but I can’t have that until my dues are paid.”

  “They’ve been paid,” I said quickly, hating where this conversation was shifting. “You are a miracle. You were created with a knowledge that takes others lifetimes to find. I understand that you could grieve for the loss of experience or worry that you saw it in a future—not a past that is sealed in some odd realm of time. But I swear to you, this is our beginning. I awoke with you. In a day’s time, this trepidation will be past us, and I will ensure that you have every first you ever want. You do not need to
travel to that abyss to find a beginning when clearly you fell from the Creator’s side.”

  She let my words settle in her thoughts before she spoke again. “I agree that all those that bear this crest you speak of should be together. I don’t agree with the price that has to be paid for that. That much I know. That thought is mine.”

  “It will be swift. Not even a day’s time. I swear to you, I will return the same—if not better than when I left.”

  She reached to caress my face as if she were committing it to memory, her fingers brushing through the dark locks of my hair. All the anger and worry I had was fading as I became intoxicated with her touch. “In the end, we will be at peace, for we will find the problem that we are the solution to, no matter what reality that problem rests within.” Her fingertips grazed my lashes. “I’m yours, and I am grateful that we had this time, no matter how fleeting it is; it will warm me in my darkest moments.”

  Even if I wanted to argue with her, tell her that I would protect her from her worries, I had no words that I could grip when I felt her hinting touch on my face.

  I leaned forward and gently claimed her lips. She breathed me in as if I were a life force. Raw passion was born then. I pulled her across my lap and reached to touch every part of her. Her gasping breaths were setting me on fire.

  When I pulled the strap of her gown off her shoulder so I could kiss the skin there, chills came across her body. I would take credit for that if I did not feel the chill of the night myself.

  A mental argument came then, one that said the cold would be the last thing on our minds, the next telling me that she deserved a better first from me. Then a solution was born.

  I pulled her up with my vim. She gasped, feeling my energy surrounding her. My lips clasped hers, even as I pulled her out of the tent. I only opened my eyes to find my direction. Those balcony doors were still open in the manor. I picked her up and wrapped her around me, then moved us there.

  I forgot my plan, my goal, for a few moments as I relished in the sensation of her lips on my neck, on the power of the pull. She was drowning me in passion without even trying.

  I slowed the rush of my hands, catching my breath and glancing around. This was a bedchamber, a lavish one at that. The bed was shrouded in a dark silk, and high back chairs and couches were arranged in sitting areas.

  “One second,” I said as I pulled her arms from me.

  In a flash, I secured the balcony doors, pulling the drapes over them. I moved to the low burning fire in the stone wall and added more logs to it, then to the door that led out of the room. I opened it only slightly to see where we were. I found a quiet hall, with only a few lamps burning. I closed the door and secured the lock, took in a deep breath, then turned to face her.

  She looked like an angel standing at the foot of the bed. Her skin was blushed. I could see exactly where I had touched her before; a gleaming glow was beneath her skin where my hands had caressed. Her chest was rising and falling slowly. The gown was pointless at this point; it hid nothing.

  Slowly, I walked to her, losing my shoes, my belt, and the first buttons of my shirt as I approached her. Her eyes were wide with wonder and obvious desire, yet a glint of uncertainty was there, too.

  I knelt before her. She sighed when she felt my hands on her calf. I slowly raised her gown, taking my time, letting my lips brush across her legs, not leaving even one trace of skin that had not been felt by my lips or the seductive caress of my hands.

  As I neared her waist, her hands braced my shoulders, as if the strength to stand had left her. I kissed the tender skin around her navel, breathing in her scent, that innocent bouquet of ivory. Her hands were fisting through my hair, and near silent moans were escaping her throat in perfect rhythm with each part of her body my lips found to explore. I rose from my knees, pulling the gown over her head.

  My eyes found hers, and I saw passion there; I saw everything she was, from the fierce soul that I tried to unveil to the timid girl that was trying to understand who she was. I saw my reason for awakening in my existence.

  I sighed as I felt her hands on my chest, as I felt them tremble, trying to hold back, to keep this slow pace but struggling to do so. Her lips met my neck, and I leaned my head back, feeling her hands and those rose-tinted lips across my chest. I could not stop my hands from exploring everywhere my lips had yet to venture.

  I was losing my battle to stay gentle. With a passionate rush, I picked her up and wrapped her legs around me and moved to the bed. The feel of her against me, flesh to flesh, was indescribable. If I ever had any doubt this woman was made for me, it would have left at this moment; our bodies fit together just as perfectly as our souls had. I had never once known a sensation like this.

  We lost ourselves in a fit of passion for countless moments, rolling from side to side, trying to find as many ways as possible to drive the other one wild. More than once she covered my mouth with her lips, trying to swallow my laughter or moans. We had no idea who might be on this hall with us, and honestly, at times we didn’t care.

  At one time, I even regretted coming inside; both our bodies were glistening with glowing, light perspiration.

  All at once, we slowed down. We were edging closer to the point of no return; for all I knew, we had already passed it in her mind.

  She was lying beneath me in the cage of my arms, her legs daring to cradle me. My hands caressed the hair out of her eyes.

  “This is real. Tell me you know that—tell me that you know that even if I passed you on the street without the visions I witnessed, that you understand I still would have felt this pull to you. That I would still know that we are made of one.”

  Her eyes glistened. One slight nod was her response.

  My hands moved down the side of her body. “You are my everything. The rhythm of life that I craved from my first breath.”

  “I love you, Aden,” she breathed. I felt her move under me, her assuring me that she would have no regrets if we gave in to our bodies’ demands.

  Holding her stare, I moved, bringing our bodies to the oneness that our souls had shared before.

  I was the one covering her mouth with mine, swallowing her near silent cry. I stilled, knowing that she had given me something that she could never give another. Her blue eyes gleamed as she reached to pull me closer. That was when I lost it, when whatever control I could hope to have vanished.

  I could not even see her anymore, though my eyes were wide open; I only saw stars, a scintillating light in her eyes. She was taking me past any fantasy I could ever have of this sensation, and I knew why it felt different than it had before. It felt different, it felt right, because she was mine. Only mine.

  Chapter Nine

  I lost count of how many times we had drifted to sleep, awoke, then begun this seductive dance once again. Sometime after the third time, I went back for that basket of food that was left in the tent and found all too much pleasure in feeding her that fruit, even letting the juices run across her skin, only for me to find a new reason to move my mouth across her body. After that little game, we found the bath chamber and lost ourselves once more.

  Sleep had stolen her away from me once again. I leaned over her, tracing her face with my fingertips, thanking the Creator Himself for giving me this gift. I knew I would fight heaven and hell to keep her safe, and that desire all but sealed the reasons I needed to leave for The Fall. I hoped against all hope that she would sleep until I returned, that our night would leave her with blissful dreams and when she awoke I would have returned. All the worries of The Fall would have been quelled.

  A gentle rap at the door pulled me from the vision of her exquisiteness. I found my pants before the fireplace and pulled them on. Another near quiet rap only allowed me the time to grab my shirt before going to answer it.

  The light from the hall spilled in the room, so I had no choice but to pull the door closed as I moved out into the hall. Sebastian was the one that had roused me. A curious smile dangled on his lips as
he watched me fasten my belt and pull my shirt on.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked in a low tone, sure that the door would hide our voices, that Skylynn would only hear the crackling of the fire that had filled the silence of the night. “Is it Guardian?” I admit that near the back of my thoughts, I was not at ease with bringing that girl here, especially not knowing how sound Guardian’s mind was after his travel and abrupt return.

  “He has not left his bedchamber since you arrived with that girl.”

  I was the one with a sinful smile now. I could not blame the man for that. I planned to lose myself in a quiet room as soon as I returned as well.

  “I awoke you because I fear I have brought unwanted attention to The Selected.”

  Any smile that might have been on my face faded; the last thing we needed was more attention.

  Sebastian cleared his throat. “Tonight, the speaker of the Hermetic Realm arrived unexpectedly at our doors. I assumed it was to sway us to believe that Camlin was in no way responsible for any harm that might have come to Guardian.” He crossed his arms. “Halfway through dinner, after all the bleak pleasantries. I understood that not only had they not come to clear Camlin’s name, but they were not even aware that we had been working with The Selected to quench Guardian’s dreams.”

  With those words, I stood at attention. He raised his hand to tell me either to calm down or listen.

  “I have been taught well by my father how to handle a business meeting such as this. I did not reveal what had transpired and listened as he told me of the unrest the other realms had toward The Fall, how they felt threatened by it, that it should be closed, that each of their seers had spoken of a great change. I asked him if he had heard of a Camlin. He hadn’t. He even told me that I was mistaken, that obviously I had been entertaining so many leaders from other realms that I was losing count of the faces and names I had spoken to. After he left, I made a few calls.” He paused as his judgmental gray eyes moved over me. “Camlin is a ghost. No one has heard of him.” He crossed his arms and let the silence linger for a moment.