Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“It makes no sense,” he said. He had hoped this meeting would settle unanswered questions for Aliss. It definitely had confused her even more. He had caused her enough concern. He didn’t wish any more problems heaped on her.
“That is not all that doesn’t make sense. She tells me that love connects us all. Who is us?” She shook her head. “It is all too much for me. I never wanted to deal with love in the first place. See where it has gotten me.” She halted abruptly and pointed a finger at him. “Probably because I knew it would be nothing but trouble. Now here I am smack in the middle of a riddle.”
Her hands went up in the air again. “I even rhyme as Giann does.”
That he found humorous and attempted to hide his laughter.
“It is not funny,” she said, shaking a finger at him. “This prediction of hers—” She waved her hand at the woods. “It has brought much heartache to many and I do not wish to see it cause any more.”
“As difficult as it may be to believe, Giann is wise in ways we know nothing of. Perhaps we should trust her.”
“I do not want my life in the hands of another.”
He stepped closer to her and took her hands in his. “Your life is in my hands and mine is in yours. I would never let any harm come to you. I would die first.”
“Hush,” she said, her hand rushing to cover his mouth. “Do not speak nonsense. I would not see you die for me.”
“The choice is not yours.”
Her eyes rounded wide. “Promise me you would never do something so foolish.”
“I cannot,” he said honestly, for if a time came when it was necessary to forfeit his life for hers, he would do it gladly.
She slapped his chest repeatedly. “You will not lay down your life for me.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed her reddened palm. “I would.”
She rested her forehead to his chest. “I would not want to lose you.”
He grabbed her chin. “I will not lose you. Have faith and trust that I will always keep us safe.”
She raised her head. “But I am the one who is to fulfill the last of the prophecy and appease fate.”
He grabbed hold of her arms. “You are my fate. The prophecy is fulfilled.”
“Then what wrong is to be made right?”
“Worry not, it is done.” He realized then that the prophecy involved much more than just the twins. Fate had cast a wide web over the many not just the few.
“I don’t understand—”
“You don’t need to. Leave it to me. Now come with me. It is time for us to escape.” He felt the need to run away, leave all behind and go, just Aliss and him, and that was what he intended if only for an hour or two.
He did not give her a chance to object. He grabbed hold of her hand and tugged her along with him. They would not run far, just far enough to be alone. He intended to take her to his favorite spot, a place he had found when he was a young lad and his father brought him to the isle.
“Where do you take me?’ she asked, rushing to match his hurried pace.
“You will see.”
He stopped suddenly. Aliss would have collided with him if he had not grabbed hold of her and swung her around in front of him.
“My secret place,” he whispered in her ear.
He gazed along with her at the towering weeping willow tree whose flourishing branches brushed the ground. Its many roots drank from the nearby stream and its thick trunk told of its advanced age, though its leaves shone a healthy green.
“Let me show you,” he said, and walked over to part the weeping branches for her to enter.
She stepped forward, peeked in, and entered.
He stepped in behind her, releasing the branches.
“It is like a hideaway,” Aliss said.
“The very reason I liked it when I was young.” He pointed at the walls of willow branches. “No one can see in. It shelters its occupants. It sheltered me as a child. I wanted to share it with you.”
She turned in circles with a smile. “What did it shelter you from?”
She would ask that of him, the healer who always wanted to heal. She would realize that a child who sought shelter from the world hid from something. But perhaps that was why he had brought her here, to share the pain of the past with her, to help her better understand him.
“From my anger,” he said.
“This land belonged to your mother’s clan?”
He nodded.
“She wanted you to have it?”
“My legacy, she told my father. Her firstborn son was entitled to the isle, and she wanted to make certain her firstborn received what rightfully belonged to him.”