The Night (7 page)
Authors: Felicity Heaton
He raised his eyes to the stars.
“Father, bring her back!” he shouted, focusing his magic on the heavens. His heart begged it to listen. His soul burned with hope. He looked at the earth. “Mother, bring her back.”
Zane split his finger open and drew the symbol of the night on Celene’s chest in his blood.
“Bring her back. You have the power to stop this, to change her fate and give me a chance to undo what has been done. Please... bring her back to me. Do not let his happen.”
The sky burned red and darkness swept across the land. It trembled and broke, bursts of fire escaping the earth. He shook, trembling and cold, weak and alone. His fingers tightened around her hand, squeezing it as though that act alone would bring her back. He wanted her back. The world needed her back.
“I know you can change this!”
Giving it everything he had left in him, he muttered desperate words under his breath and brought his mouth to Celene’s. He pressed his lips to hers in a kiss of love.
The ground broke apart, the sky fell, and the lake boiled. The world collapsed in on him, on them, and he still kissed her, holding her tight to him and swearing to never let her go.
Suddenly there was nothing but silence and his arms were empty. A light breeze brushed over his face, barely strong enough to shift his hair, and the sound of water rippling and birds singing came back.
He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her. She was standing before him, giving him a confused look. The castle loomed behind her and he realised that he had been brought back to the moment where an inexplicable feeling of wrong had settled inside him. Was this why he had felt that way? Had he sensed what would happen if they entered the castle?
She continued to look at him and then held her hand out.
“Come,” she said, only this time he didn’t take the hand she offered.
He stood still, senses reeling and desperate to understand everything that had happened. They had given him a second chance. Mother Gaia and Father Heaven had brought back their child and restored the balance.
He stared into her eyes, memorising their beautiful icy depths and rejoicing over her being alive again. Unable to contain himself, he pulled her into his arms and wrapped them tight around her. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief when he felt the gentle pressure of her hands against his back. She was real.
“I was right,” he whispered and pulled back to look at her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm’s length. She looked confused again. “I was right all along... you are no witch.”
Her eyes widened, a startled look filling them. He held her firm, not letting her move away as she so obviously wanted to. His thumbs brushed softly, reassuringly against her shoulders.
When she no longer looked as though she was going to bolt, he released her and untied the neck tie of his shirt and undid the button. The confused look returned but she remained standing in the same spot, watching him with curiosity in her eyes.
He bore his chest and her eyes went wide again, showing the white around her pale irises. She stepped towards him, her hand coming up and her fingers lightly tracing the mark on his chest. She hesitated a moment and then touched her own chest. The same symbol appeared there.
“Do not fight...” He kept his eyes locked with hers. “Both of us will not make it.”
“We have to, we have to lift the curse,” she said.
Taking hold of her hand, he pressed it back against his chest and then brought his palm to cover hers. Their hearts beat in perfect rhythm.
“Together, we can win,” Celene said, her eyes not leaving his. There was a desperate wildness in his. What had happened? He had said that they both wouldn’t make it. Did she die? Did he die?
She searched his eyes and wished that he would tell her the answers to her silent questions and explain why he was suddenly stopping them from going to see Erikka. He had the mark. Her mark. How had he got it if not from her somehow?
“I came back to save you, not lose you again,” he whispered, stepping closer to her, his hand remaining pressed against her chest.
She could feel their hearts beating together and his words made hers accelerate. She had died and he had brought her back.
She stared at him for the longest time, reading his look and trying to understand what was happening.
“I died?”
His other hand came up and took hold of her free one. He held it tightly, so tightly that she could feel how upset he still was by what he had witnessed and could feel his relief over seeing her alive again.
“You brought me back... now I am bringing you back,” he said.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“The world could not go on without you... you must have known that when you sacrificed yourself.” His hand left hers and he brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek, looking at her with eyes that expressed all his feelings for her.
She drowned in them, drank them and wished he would always feel that way for her. She had never known feelings like these. If he had died, she would have given up her life to bring him back, not caring whether the world could go on without her or not.
“Come,” he said and started to lead her away from the castle.
She stopped, forcing him to also, and he turned to look at her.
“Don’t you want to break your curse?”
He smiled, a kind of smile that she had never seen grace his lips before. It was warm and like moonlight. It made her heat through and smile in return.
“It was broken the moment I understood the words... I will only find peace with the night.” He came back to her, stepping up so close that there wasn’t any space between them. She could feel his steady breathing and her body buzzed at the feeling of his against it. He looked down into her eyes and she realised what he was saying. “I have found peace with the night. I love her.”
Celene closed her eyes as he dipped his head. His lips gently played against hers, making hers tingle. She looped her arms around his neck as his went around her waist and he lifted her up until she felt as though she was flying. She swept her tongue along his lower lip and then a thrill ran through her when his came to meet it. They tangled slowly, sensually, and she relished the feelings the kiss evoked. The tenderness and love, the warmth and comfort, the safety and the desire.
Turning with him, she thought about home, about the small cottage in the Waning Woods and the view of Syrinia, and how much she wished she were there now with him.
There was a pull inside of her and when she opened her eyes, they were standing on the porch of what had become their house.
Zane smiled at her and scooped her up into his arms.
She couldn’t believe that after all this time, the answer to lifting his curse had been growing between them, a little more each day, without them ever knowing it.
Love.
She thanked destiny for her hand in this and thanked Zane for doing everything in his power to bring her back, as she had done for him.
She touched the mark on his chest and it glowed. He was hers now and she was his.
They were linked for eternity.
Darkness began to fall and she could feel the moon rise.
Immortal.
He kissed her throat and kicked the front door shut, purring words into her ear that she had never thought she would hear him say. Her response was a kiss that made him moan into her mouth. She let him carry her towards the bedroom, whispering her own words of love against his lips.
Immortal and no longer alone in this world.
Together at last.
The End
About the Author:
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.
To see her other novels, visit:
http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
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