Keeping one hand atop of hers, I lifted the other to her face and stroked the side of her neck, her skin soft and inviting. Leaning down, I let my gaze hover just above her. Her breath caressed my cheek in warm, gentle waves that brought a smile to my face. I leaned closer still, my lips brushing hers for a brief moment. Goddess. Please let this be the right thing to do.
I kissed her. It was gentle and brief, as I did not wish to linger. Not, at least, until she could permit me to do so. I pulled away, scared to open my eyes. What if it didn’t work? Nazli had said nothing could stand up against the power of real, experienced love. It was the only unfaltering truth in the universe. I couldn’t help but fear that what I felt for Aurora wasn’t the kind of love she’d spoken of. Or, if it was, perhaps it was necessary for the princess to return my feelings. Did she? I hoped so. I thought so. But I wasn’t sure.
Then a soft hand caressed the top of my knee. “Talia,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. My eyes flew open. Aurora sat upright, her head tilted as she rested on one arm, the other moving from my knee to my neck. I grabbed hold of her hand and pressed it tighter against my neck. She was real. She wasn’t a dream or a spirit or some sort of illusion. She was there. With me.
I don’t know if the sound that burst from my mouth was a laugh or a sob. Perhaps it was both. She smiled at me, as she had so many times before, but this time, she pulled me to her and pressed her lips against mine in a kiss that made me forget every other kiss I’d experienced in my life. Tucking both my legs beneath me, I wrapped one arm around her shoulders, the other reaching for her hair, my fingers becoming lost in its silken threads.
“Ahem,” Amir coughed. I laughed and turned to look at him. “Seems you managed to break the spell.” He dropped his hand from the pommel of his sword as he grinned.
“Of course, she did,” Aurora said, her face still so close to mine I could feel the heat of her skin. “She was always going to. I just had to wait a while.”
My smile was so wide, I thought it might touch my ears. Every single event in my life had led me there, to that chamber. To her. I was grateful for all of it.
I held both sides of her face and kissed her again, her lips, her arms, her body, all of it awakening me as if it had been I who’d slept for the last hundred years. When I pulled away, I yelled for a moment, startled that Amir had appeared directly next to us. I hadn’t heard him move. I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow.
“Hey!” he protested. “I didn’t want you two forgetting I was here. That could become…awkward.”
Aurora huffed at him cheerfully. “You’re taller than you looked when I was projecting.”
“Well, I can’t comment likewise, I’m afraid,” he replied with a boyish smirk. “Whenever Talia spoke to you, she just seemed like something of a lunatic, mumbling to herself and shoving herself about the place.”
From somewhere outside, a loud trumpet sounded throughout Oldpass.
They were waking up!
“It’s working,” Aurora said. “That’s the call for a gathering in the square. My father must be out there somewhere, only he can give the command to assemble. My family! We must go find them.”
My heart grew heavy as I remembered what had happened to Anton. “Aurora, I-I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.”
Her face grew ashen, her eyes hardening. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Anton. He…”
“I’m sorry,” Amir said, saving me from my inability to speak. As gently as he could, he explained what’d happened in the castle courtyard. Aurora’s eyes glistened, until, finally, she cried out, covering her mouth with her hands. I engulfed her with my arms, holding her. She needed to know I was there. That I would support her. Love her. Whatever I could do.
“Wait,” she snapped back, suddenly calm. “Talia. We can help him.”
“What do you mean? He’s gone. I don’t know what we could do. It’s impossible to bring people back from the dead.”
“Only because there would never be enough power to drive such a spell.” She spoke quickly, and I had to concentrate to understand her words.
“What did Nazli tell you? Remember! There are three key philosophies.”
“Well, so she said. I never did find out the third.”
“But you have! You’ve always known the third. How do you cast your spells?”
“It’s difficult to explain. I suppose, at their heart, all spells are energy transferred. Taken from one place, often somewhere unseen, and moved somewhere else.” My mouth fell open as I realised what she meant. “Tanit’s curse! The power behind it isn’t gone. Only displaced. It’s still here, stuck to the web!” I jumped to my feet. We could fix this.
“If we can harness the residual power, draw it to us—”
“And redirect it, we can call Anton back through the veil—”
“And return him to his body!”
Amir clapped his hands together and drew his fingertips to his lips. “Is this possible? Can you bring him back? I would do anything to see my mistake undone.”
“The third philosophy—” Aurora started as she looked at me.
“Is that anything is possible,” I said. “Because no truth—” I took Aurora’s hand in mine and brought it to my lips, kissing her palm softly. “—is unfaltering. Not even the truth of death.”
“No truth, that is,” Aurora said, dropping her head to rest on my shoulder, “but love.”
About the Author
Rebecca Langham lives in the Blue Mountains (Australia) with her partner, three children, and menagerie of pets. A Xenite, a Whovian and all-round general nerd, she’s a lover of science fiction, comic books, and caffeine. When she isn’t teaching History to high schoolers or wrangling children, Rebecca enjoys playing broomball and reading.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RLanghamAuthor
Twitter: @rlangham85
Website: www.rebeccalangham.com.au
Other books by this author
Beneath the Surface
Also Available from NineStar Press
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Finding Aurora Page 7
