by Sadie Swift
A warm hand squeezed mine. Slowly I turned my head and saw Mrs Miggins smile down at me. She was wrapped in a blanket and looked like she’d sat by me all night.
I tried to speak but my mouth was so dry I couldn’t make any noise.
“Just a sec, love,” she said faintly.
The hiss in my ears was still there but not as loud.
She let my hand go and reached for a glass of water.
With one hand she lifted my head up and with the other she tipped the glass so I could sip from it.
The cold water made me choke and I started coughing. Then all the other hurts on my body woke up.
Then the hurt inside my body woke up.
I took in a lungful of air and screamed at the world.
Back to Top
Thirteen
Someone stroked my hair, smoothing it down.
I felt warm.
Birds sang.
Running water chuckled nearby.
I opened my eyes and Katherine’s hazel eyes looked into mine.
Without even thinking I reached for her and hugged her to me like I was a drowning sailor and she was the only lifebelt on the ocean.
Emotion flooded me.
“I… I thought I killed you!”
Her warm arms hugged me tightly back.
I buried my nose in her long, wavy hair and inhaled her familiar scent. Tears of relief flowed down my cheeks and made her hair damp.
She pulled back and smiled lovingly at me. I smiled back, too happy for words to have her in my arms again.
Gently she leant forwards and kissed my lips. It was as sweet as the first time.
Her soft fingers wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“No you didn’t. I was already dead when the aether spirit entered me. It was all I could do to stop it from killing you as well.”
At first my mind didn’t take in what she’d said. She was dead? but I was here, with her?
“I’m so, so glad you survived.”
Questions piled up like an avalanche in my mind, so many of them I couldn’t pick one to ask first.
From close-by a bird’s loud warbled song startled me. It was then I became aware of my surroundings. We sat on a plaid blanket. Sunlight warmed us through the high leafy branches of the surrounding trees. A stream flowed past our feet. Flowers sweetened the air with their fragrance. She still wore the white dress I’d last seen her in.
I scrunched the blanket up in my hand, feeling the wool’s resistance.
I didn’t hurt.
This wasn’t real.
I looked back at Katherine, questions in my eyes. She reached forwards and gently pressed her finger against my lips, stilling my queries, but not stopping my heart from breaking again.
“I have to go soon, Alice. But I needed to tell you how much I love you.”
I reached up and held her hand, kissing her fingertip.
“But I want to be with you!”
“You will.”
“Now?”
“No, it’s not your time.”
“Can I make it my time?”
She smiled, “That’s my Alice, always questioning.”
“Well?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She looked sadly at me. “Things are different here. I want to be with you as well, but you won’t if you do that.”
My sight of her wobbled as tears welled up in my eyes, then like a dam breaking they rolled their hot wetness down my cheeks.
Dark emptiness opened up inside of me. I was losing her again.
“The pain will fade. Your memory of me will fade. But part of me will always be here,” she touched her finger to my forehead, “and here,” she touched the skin above my beating heart.
My tears fell to the blanket.
My soul ached to stay with her, to be with her always.
I whispered, “Why did you leave me? If you hadn’t we’d still be together.”
“If I hadn’t, the Men of the Cog would have found you and killed you.”
What was she talking about?
“Who?”
The landscape became misty and she started fading away.
“No! Wait! Don’t go!” I cried desperately.
I tried to grab her, to keep her with me but my arms hit each other like I’d tried to hold mist.
This time her kiss was only as soft as a summer’s breeze, but I saw her love for me shining in her eyes.
As if from a distance I heard her faint voice say, “When it is your time I will be waiting for you.”
***
Back to Top
Also available
Paranormal Fantasy
The Court of Crows series
Blackmailed Assassin – the Court of Crows #1
Who do the Court of Crows use to carry out their judgements?
Me.
Why do they use me?
Because they know I will do anything to get Callie back.
Killing monsters is all very well but you don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘monsters’ until the Court of Crows use you.
The Court of Crows is not something you want to experience more than once. But you have no choice if they want something from you.
You have no say about where they send you, or even when they send you.
This time the Court is split on a judgement.
Will I get Callie back?
Does home still exist?
Are you sure?
Black Fragments - the Court of Crows #2
The Court of Crows has splintered.
Will they now leave Evie alone?
Think again.
An envoy for one of the factions arrives to say that we must repair the Court. I’d much prefer it no longer existed, but Evie agrees and where she goes I go, as well as Din, our flying cat.
Just how are we meant to repair the Court?
And if we do, will it ever forgive us?
Splinters – the Court of Crows #3
A seemingly accidental encounter in Victorian London threatens not just the
Court of Crows-sanctioned assassination Callie and I are on,
but also the love between us.
Have my feelings for Callie merely been implanted in me by the Court so they could
blackmail me into being their killer?
How can I discover the truth when reality is whatever
the Court decides?
Trilogy
The Court of Crows is not something you want to experience more than once.
But you have no choice if they want something from you.
You have no say about where they send you,
or even when they send you.
Do the job they give you and hope they bring you back.
The townsfolk turn a blind-eye to a lesbian couple (and their flying cat) living on the outskirts, but we’re the first they call if there’s a monster that needs killing.
Life would be far sweeter if the Court also left us alone.
Contains Blackmailed Assassin, Black Fragments, and Splinters
Steampunk
The Inexplicable Adventures of Miss Alice Lovelady.
Mr Tok - Miss Alice Lovelady series #1
A murderous attack at Queen Victoria’s Annual Inventor’s Exhibition is the latest in a series by the mysterious Mr Tok. Because of the danger posed to Her Majesty the Government is on high alert.
The secret Department Sir Percival (connoisseur of Cossack Horserider Weekly) and I, Miss Alice Lovelady
(seeker after Sapphic love), work for inform us we must forego further aetheric
experimentation and put a stop to Mr Tok’s homicidal activities.
But, even with the aid of the dour Departmental liaison, can we also prevail against the offensive
capabilities of flightless birds?
The Caspian Star - Miss Alice Lovelady series #2
A new age of peace is ushered in by the inaugural visit to Britain of the Russian royal family
in their
state airship, the Czar Nicholas.
Sir Percival (plus guest – me!) has been invited to the occasion and I look forward to viewing the ship’s interior
designed by Gustav Faberge using (rumour has it) at least two fortunes in gold and gems, as well as the
world’s largest sapphire, the Caspian Star. Sir Percival is looking forward to
viewing certain other things.
However, during the visit we discover that all is most certainly not well with the Russian royal family, and find our
lives threatened at every turn after uncovering a dastardly plot against Queen Victoria.
But, trapped on an airship flying high above London, how can we prevent an ancient horror from being
unleashed upon Her Majesty?
Katherine - Miss Alice Lovelady series #3
Katherine, my lover, has disappeared.
The only clue to her whereabouts are two empty envelopes addressed to her at a town
she’s never mentioned.
What is her connection with Mistress Velda’s Emporium of the Arcane Arts, and
the town of Southend-on-Sea?
But why, before my search for her has even begun, does a stranger leave a note
telling me to forget her?
What danger will I find by following my heart?
Erotica
Detention Domination
Detention at college is meant to be mind-numbingly boring. I was there because of a fight over my gorgeous red stilettos I wore that day. But this detention was like nothing I’d ever had before, because it was where the teacher I had a secret crush on and the College Principal gave me my first taste of lezdom punishment. And I wanted more.
An erotic lesbian BDSM story.
Office Crush
The penultimate day of my temping job at the office was brightened by the arrival of Kirsty. She needed to know everything about the accounts I’d been dealing with, but it was her body under the sexy clothes and stiletto heels that I was more interested in. Was she also into girls, like me? The party taking place on the following night was going to be the last time I saw her, and I decided I’d dress as sexily as possible to find out if she liked me as much as I liked her.
An erotic lesbian story.
Back to Top
