Chapter 24 #2
“Pesh!” I say his name, and I honestly don’t even know why.
My warm breath is on his nape as my arms wrap tighter around his neck and back, hanging onto him as he grips me oh so tight, it’s so nice.
After a few seconds, I slide my hands down, softly slipping out his hold, just as my legs fall to the ground.
I look up at him, and then I see it. I see it in his eyes, on the taste of his exhale, love on fire. I don’t need him to say anything to me.
My eyes scan my body, wondering what happened to me. My skin feels so new, like I just had a shower.
I look up at the golden light and back to him. I think that light is emitting artificial clouds. Could that be a filtration or humidifier of some sort? “Was that a…?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh… wow.” I just now realize what the golden rope was doing.
It must have been purifying my body and healing me from the air of The Seventh Zone or something.
I realize the writing I saw on the ceiling must have been a timer.
I’m sure he did everything else to distract me while the light rope healed my body.
My heart is melting. I should have known when he asked me to raise my hands in the position where he first healed my wound that it would be something similar, but honestly how was I supposed to know that?
I wonder if he’s only doing this for me. “Am I the only one who gets this?”
“The air here does that for everyone. I just take care of you. Extra.” His eyes trace me so smoothly.
My eyes merge into his. Like a dream. “Thank you.” I’m quite honored, I won’t lie. I decide to share my anxieties with him. “Where are you going to go after we turn in The Begon?” I ask.
He looks at me with a calm, unworried confidence. “Where are you going to go?” he asks.
“I don’t know, I was gonna take a gap year before I came here. I planned to visit my grandparents as well. I know they’re probably really disappointed in me that I didn’t come, but I guess I do have to finish school now.”
“Well, wherever you are, I’ll be there to take care of you.”
I smile, lighting up. “Really, you’d do that?”
“Why wouldn’t I do that? I love you. If you go, I’m going. If you stay, I’m staying. I’d never leave you. Because I plan on knowing you for a very long time.”
I am overwhelmed. “How long?” I ask playfully.
“Mmm…”
I can’t help but continue to smile.
“300 years and a day,” he responds.
I giggle, beaming. “No one lives that long,” I tease.
His eyes strike mine. “But we will. Our love will. We’ll live forever even after death, into eternity.”
His comments make me realize why I am in love with him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Patron De Londe was my father. I was scared you wouldn’t trust me,” he says.
“I trust you now, and I understand. Is this the plan of confrontation you were telling me about the day we kissed? When you told me about your mom?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, tomorrow you’re going to. And I’m gonna be right there with you. We’ll do it together. Your mom would be so proud.”
He looks at me with a gentle gaze. “I hope so. And even if your parents don’t say it, you are the light of their lives.”
I smile, mesmerized. That’s when I remember he wanted to tell me something important, so I say, “So, you were gonna tell me something?”
He looks at me with a soft smile in his eyes. He comes closer, then takes my hands and pulls me forward toward him, to the center of the room. “Right, I was.”
I stare at him and listen. I hear a gentle melody start coming from a small speaker on the floor and the room lights up all around.
“But after we dance! Dance with me one last time?” he whispers in my ear.
“One last time? Or our first time?”
“Last time in The Secret Place, I mean.” His voice diminishes. “And first time ever, yes!”
I can see stars in his eyes, like he is holding something back from me, but I am not completely sure.
It is like he is trying to hold onto every moment and make it last forever.
Like tonight is everything in one. I look at him with narrowed eyes, trying to read him, to understand what he is alluding to, but he simply pulls me closer.
We are dancing to the sweet melody, our bodies moving with the beat, indulging in the depths of each other’s eyes.
My heart stays on his gaze, trying to focus on his entire soul, delighting in his hold as he pulls my waist close.
He holds me tightly in a passionate embrace and spins me, flipping my heart into his addictive presence.
His strong hand is holding mine in complete control.
My soul is falling in steady surrender into the depths of Pesh’s soul.
The music stops and he jolts me forward, our noses brushing briefly.
“I wanted to tell you something I’ve never told anyone before. And it is because before you, I couldn’t trust anyone. When I was—” His voice breaks.
I hold onto his hands tightly to encourage him, realizing the seriousness of this conversation.