58. …Yearning
58
…YEARNING
" W ake up."
Luella wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to.
But no matter how hard she tried, she could not open her eyes.
The gruff yet regal tone, she could clearly make it out. But what surprised Luella was not the fact that King Vale wanted her to awaken but the fact that his hand was caressing her cheek with such soft adoration that it made the back of her eyes sting with tears.
She felt his warm touch against her cold skin, and she yearned to lift her hand and hold him to her.
Luella heard his pleas. She heard them all.
A collection of deep voices, whispered promises and sorrows over her still body—reverberating through that ache in her soul as she cried out inside, desperate to answer.
It was like being in the fires of the Below , Luella mused. To listen but unable to respond.
"Soon." The unmistakable tone of Tharen’s voice as he gave a sharp reply.
King Vale’s fingers stilled against her. "How soon?"
A moment of silence before Tharen uttered, "The Fates are never wrong."
The Fates.
Visions of white bones assaulted her, and Luella wanted to crawl away from it, scared.
A memory of the piece of past Luella had been granted… What would they all say if she told them what she had seen?
If only she could open her eyes.
The darkness of sleep drowned her again, and this time, Luella went willingly.