“You what?” His face turned an angry shade of red and a vein bulged in his neck.
“Yes, in case you didn’t know, there are other people in the world that I prefer to you and your overstuffed ego.”
“Who is it?”
“I told you already. It’s the composer of that music Nikki bought me. That just happens to be a really weathered piece of music.” It was basically true. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
The vein continued to bulge while a muscle ticked in his jaw. “You know, this music obsession of yours is absolutely out of control. You need to get a grip.”
“I need to get a grip?” She choked out a laugh. “You know what you need to do? You need to get out of my house!” She stabbed her finger toward the door.
“I can’t believe you’d entertain some fantasy about some stupid musician when you have me right in front of you.” He shook his head with another snort. “Screw this. I’m taking care of this once and for all. This music crap has gone too far.” He strode over to the piano before she realized what he was doing.
Her eyes widened as he snatched Liron’s score and headed into the kitchen. She ran after him, but his swiftness was insane. By the time she caught up to him, he’d already pulled out a cigarette lighter and lit the corner of the score like a torch. Because of the age of the brittle paper, it went up like dry grass. She screamed and watched in horror as her connection to Liron and his world burnt to cinders and ash while Rob dropped it in her sink.
She stared for several heartbeats, which sounded like thunder in her ears.
“Now maybe you’ll stop being a baby, get over all this stupidity about music and your parents, and realize what you have in front of you,” Rob spat. “I’m sick of being put on the backburner for your little games.”
Terrific, blinding rage swept through her with the force of a volcano. With a half-scream, half-growl she barely recognized as coming out of her own throat, she strode to Rob, pulled her arm back and socked him a good one. Her fist made contact with the hard line of his jaw and actually snapped his head back. The utter shock on his face should have appeased her somewhat, but all she wanted to do was hit him again, then again and again until he was black and blue. And after that, she wanted to yank every last piece of his hair out.
“Get out!” she bellowed.
The shocked expression didn’t leave his face, but he didn’t move either.
With another primal snarl, she snatched a butcher knife out of her knife block and wielded it at him threateningly. “You have exactly two seconds to get the hell out of my house before I cut your balls off right here in my kitchen!” She advanced a step and must have looked as crazed as she felt because he dashed out of her path and around to the doorway of the kitchen.
“Melody, what are you doing? Are you insane?”
“I told you to get out!” She started toward him, still clutching the knife. “If you think I’m joking, go ahead and try me!”
He made a hasty retreat out the front door, still muttering protests. She followed after him until she could lock her screen and assure herself he couldn’t get back in. “If I ever see you on my property again, I’m getting a restraining order. Do not come over here. Do not call me. Do not stand across the street and holler. If you do”—she waved the knife again—“I’ll say it was self defense.” She slammed the inner door so hard it shook the frame.
The silence of her empty house was deafening, and she dropped the knife to the ground as she started to tremble. Her rage abated into panic and a strangled sob escaped her throat as she ran to her piano.
She sat down and tried to remember Liron’s score. She closed her eyes, forced the overwhelming panic down, and focused on the notes. She had played the score by feeling alone in the past. She could do so now.
She blundered through the first few measures, but then it all disappeared. She tried again, and again, but she couldn’t remember, and the more she tried, the more of it slipped away. It was like the connection had just vanished, and along with it, her ability to play the song based solely on the emotions the music created.
Finally, she slammed her fingers down on the keys with a thunderous crash and screamed as her panic turned into the all-consuming sorrow of utter loss. She had no way to reach Liron now. She wouldn’t be able to access the portal without the music. She couldn’t get home! He was her home now. His world was her home. And she couldn’t get back!
Her heart splintered and shattered like it had when she’d found out her parents had died, and she let out an otherworldly cry that didn’t sound human. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if doing so could hold all the pieces of her heart in place. She rocked back and forth on the piano bench, sobbing uncontrollably.
The one piece of happiness she had found after feeling nothing but emptiness had been ripped from her. And the gaping chasm it left within her was so much worse than she remembered.
Where Liron had filled her with light and beauty, dark coldness seeped in like a disease. The man she loved and the future she had finally been able to see for herself were hopelessly out of her grasp now, and she had no idea how to get them back.
Her house suddenly felt like a prison, and she felt utterly, bitterly alone.
Chapter Sixteen
Liron paced in agitation across his living room floor. Something was wrong. He felt it in every part of him. Muses had a telepathic connection to the humans they inspired, and he could feel Melody’s emotions—horrible loss and devastating pain, sorrow and rage. He ran his fingers through his hair and growled out a frustrated sound. She had been gone for half the day, which meant it had to have at least been twenty-four hours in her world, if not more.
He had been barraged by her intense distress almost as soon as she’d gone through the portal. It hadn’t abated and he’d been slowly going insane knowing that she was hurting, but he was unable to do anything about it. He knew he should have listened to his instincts, should have gone through the portal with her. What if she was hurt? What could have happened to make his Melody so distraught?
He finally abandoned the pacing and sat down in a chair, and for another agonizing hour, he endured her pain before it quietly dwindled in its intensity. That fact alone snapped him to action. The fact that her emotions had abated meant that she had to have finally gone to sleep, which meant he could connect with her.
He bolted out into the sunset and hurried to the beach where he and Melody had made love. All creatures had an energy signature, and it was that which he needed to connect with in order to find her through the telepathic link they shared. It would be easier and faster for him to lock onto her energy signature in a place where they had been connected and in tune with one another.
It was brisk with the evening fog, and he made a hasty fire out of driftwood in order to stave off the chill. He had to concentrate in order to find Melody and speak with her in her dreams, and he couldn’t afford the distraction of being cold.
Once his fire was going strong, Liron sat down across from it, closed his eyes, and tapped into his talent, one he hadn’t used in such a very long time. He went deep into his mind, letting his senses heighten and fan out, transcending the barrier between his realm and the human world, to detect Melody’s unique song amidst the sea of sound. Because he was a music muse, Liron heard humans’ energy signatures as songs. Each person had a different song, and he had to sift through them to find the one that was Melody’s and Melody’s alone.
He didn’t know how long he searched for her. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. But, finally, he detected the soft, wonderful notes that signaled his wife. They were faint, tinkling, and light. She sounded like wind chimes and sunshine, like happiness and life.
He locked onto the sound and pushed his mind toward her energy signature, invading it and wrapping his own around it, hoping he could reach her and get her to listen to him. He would only be able to speak with Melody if she let him, if she recognized him. He hoped with all h
is heart that she would. He couldn’t bear feeling her pain any longer and being helpless to do anything about it.
* * * *
Melody could hear the sea. The waves were crashing against the shore with a rhythmic beauty that called to her. It sounded like Liron, all power and elegance, nature’s music in its purest form. She tried to nestle into the sound, wrap it around herself, and lose herself in the wonderful memory it brought to mind.
Suddenly, she was there, sitting on the beach where she and Liron had made love. It was sunset, and the sky was tinted with pink and purple. She blinked in bewilderment and trailed her fingers through the sand, but felt nothing. It was as if she was in some strange and tormenting mirage. Horrible loss and pain weighed on her heart and she pulled her knees to her chest.
“Melody.”
She jerked her head up and looked around, confused, her heart beating hard.
“Melody, can you hear me?”
She stood and spun around, looking for him, knowing his voice, but she could see nothing but the waves and the shore. “Liron?” she murmured.
She swore she heard him heave a sigh. “Thank goodness.” His voice had an echoing, otherworldly quality to it, as if he was everywhere and nowhere.
She frowned and stepped forward. “Where are you? Where am I? Why can’t I feel the sand beneath my feet? Nothing has any solidity to it. What’s going on?” She felt frantic, afraid she was somehow caught between her world and his. What would happen if she got stuck there? Would she float around in this half-existence forever?
“Melody, listen to me. You’re dreaming.”
She blinked. “I am?”
“Yes. I found you through the telepathic connection we share. A muse can contact humans this way, through dreams. We use this method to impart visions, or words, music, whatever we need in order to inspire. I have never had to do this with you, as you have always come to me physically.”
Horrendous despair clutched at her heart while, at the same time, she basked in the knowledge that she could communicate with him. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “Liron, I can’t get home.”
“What has happened? I can feel your distress and it’s killing me.”
“It was Rob. He freaked out on me, was pissed because I dumped him, even though we were never really together in the first place. H-He burned your score, Liron! That was the key to accessing the portal! I don’t know how to get back! I tried to play your music from memory, but I couldn’t.” She wiped at her eyes, aching to be in his arms. He was so close, but just out of her reach.
“Shhh. Please stop crying, lovely. It’s breaking my heart. Everything will be fine. I promise. Are you hurt? Did he harm you?”
His voice went from soft to holding a harsh bite in 2.5 seconds. His protectiveness brought a small smile to her lips. She shook her head. “No, he didn’t hurt me. Actually, I almost hurt him. I chased him out of my house with a butcher knife.” His rich laughter surprised her, but rumbled around her like thunder and soothed some of the ache in her heart. Her bottom lip trembled nonetheless. “I tried all day and most of the night to get back to you,” she murmured. “It was terrible. Every time I tried to play your song, I forgot more and more of it. I was afraid I was never going to see you again. I don’t know what time it was when I finally fell asleep. I was so exhausted.”
“I wish you had fallen asleep sooner. I couldn’t come to you until you did. Humans think too much when they are awake. Their logic overrides everything. The subconscious is what opens the mind enough to let muses in. Why do you think so many artists, writers, and musicians keep notepads by their beds? To write down their dreams. Dreams are what inspire them because we speak to them in dreams. We show them what they need in order to create.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t, lovely. I’m not reprimanding you. I’m just informing you.”
“How did you know I had fallen asleep?”
“I could feel your strong emotions. It was terrible to endure them when I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that you were in pain and I couldn’t get to you. When they subsided, I knew your mind was finally resting.”
Tears burned again. “I thought I’d lost you. I thought I’d never be able to find you again.”
“There will be none of that. You cannot marry me and then discard me so easily.”
She smiled in spite of herself and wished she could touch him and see his blue eyes.
“Things have become a little more complicated is all. Do you think my music score would open the portal if you could remember it?”
“I think so. That was always how I was able to come back to your world before.”
“All right then. I am going to put the music in your mind. It should be there when you awaken, like an annoying song you can’t get out of your head.”
Her smile grew ever so slightly. “Your music could never be an annoying song, Liron. Your music is magnificent. It’s not like you’re some pop star or something.” His chuckle warmed her.
“Play the music when you wake up. If the portal opens and you are able to return to me, wait for me once you get here. I am going to talk to someone about a plan B.”
She frowned. “Plan B?”
“Yes. I know for a fact there is a way for muses to travel to the human world. I know someone who can help me with that. If you can’t get back to me, I will come to you. I promise.”
His words filled her with relief and joy. To know that they weren’t irrevocably separated was a burden lifted from her battered heart. “Thank you, Liron. I was so afraid.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easy. Now, sleep. I will send my music to you. And I will hope to see you soon.”
She sighed. “When I get back to you, I’m never leaving your side again.”
“That is a promise I fully intend to make you keep.”
She didn’t want him to go. She trusted him, but didn’t want to feel like he had vanished into oblivion. What if none of this worked? What if they couldn’t get back to one another? She had ruined everything. He had wanted to come back with her. Why hadn’t she let him? She thought she could play with the laws of physics forever and they would just bend to her will? How stupid was she?
“Lovely, why are you so upset? I can feel your turmoil again. Please, believe me. If you cannot come to me, I will find a way to you. I admit I am a selfish man. I refuse to live without the rapturous music you fill me with.”
Her anxiety quieted and she smiled, forcing a calming breath into her lungs. “That’s a promise I intend to make you keep.”
His laughter was faint; it sounded like he was fading. “Rest now. All will be well. I love you.”
A rogue tear streaked down her cheek against her will. “I love you too, Liron.”
She awoke with a startled gasp and sat up in bed. She frowned and searched her mind for Liron’s music, but couldn’t locate it. With an annoyed growl, she lay back down and flipped over on her side. Yeah, so her traitorous body woke up before he could give her his music. Awesome.
She closed her eyes and tried to fight against the grief and pain of being separated from him, of the nagging possibility in the back of her mind that none of this was going to work, that it had all been a fantasy and she was alone again.
The fact that she still wore his shirt was an anchor. It was real, therefore he was real. She clutched it closer to her, breathing deep the cedar and violin rosin smell that was uniquely Liron. It calmed her, and she imagined she could feel him sleeping beside her. He would be with her soon. It wasn’t a fantasy, not a delusion. He would put his music in her mind and she would open the portal again. They would be together soon. He wasn’t going to vanish like her parents had. This was not the same.
She repeated those things over and over to make herself believe them and to stave off her irrational fear of abandonment and loneliness. She would not go back to that dark chasm of hopelessness she had bee
n in before finding Liron. All would be well.
All she had to do was trust Liron. Trust he knew what he was talking about and trust the love they had for one another. Their connection had been powerful enough to transcend the boundary between their worlds once. It would happen again. And when it did, she could return to his world and begin her new life there. A life full of creativity and music and fresh adventures. A life with her muse by her side.
Slowly, as she focused on the possibilities for her future, she drifted off into sleep. As she slipped back into the place where only dreams reside, the first few haunting notes of Liron’s beautiful score filtered through her mind.
* * * *
Liron tried to ignore the slightly nauseous feeling in his stomach as he approached the inner courtyard of an estate he had not set eyes on in so long it felt like it had been another lifetime. He paused to stare up at the three-story mansion, sprawling and pretentious, a blatant flaunting of wealth. He sighed and briefly debated turning around and heading back the direction he’d come, but he knew he couldn’t. Not when Melody was trapped in the human world, depending on him should his music fail to open the portal.
He drew in a deep breath and forged ahead, walking the cobbled path up to the front door, where he knocked loudly. He only waited for a few moments before the door opened to reveal a lovely woman with dark hair and sapphire eyes.
Those eyes widened upon seeing him, shock mirrored in their depths.
Liron gave her a small smile. “Hello, Samantha.”
The surprise didn’t fade from her delicate features. “Liron,” she murmured. “Hello. How are you? It’s been…so long.”
He dipped his head in a slight nod. “It has….” There was a moment of awkward silence before he sucked in a breath and continued. “The reason I’m here—”
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