Chapter 44
Panic seized Adeena's lungs and she couldn't seem to get enough air within them to breathe. The whole of the in between seemed to be closing in on her as she whirled around, searching and searching for where Destan disappeared to. She was still screaming his name, her voice growing more and more hoarse with every time.
Destan.
Destan.
Destan.
She could still feel him all around her, but couldn't reach out and touch him like she wanted.
Muffles voices came from all around. Without her being able to concentrate on their sound, she could only pinpoint one.
Her sister.
Adeena? Adeena, please...
Adeena choked out a sob, knowing her sister was still there with her. She could feel her hand wrapped around hers, anchoring her just as she promised.
The wide expanse of the in between narrowed in on her until she could feel herself being pulled back into the physical world.
"Destan, please!" she begged. "I don't want to leave you!"
No, it wasn't her saying she didn't want to leave the in between.
She just didn't want to leave him there.
That feeling of him being closer grew and she could almost feel his hand in hers as she reached out to grab for anything. Her fingers squeezed.
One hand she knew had to still be in Cleo's.
And the other...the other was holding his.
Not there in the in between.
No.
It couldn't be.
Mother above, she couldn't dare to hope.
"Destan!" Adeena screamed for the last time as she was being pulled back from the in between.
"Adeena!"
The sound echoed around her everywhere.
And then he was there, so close and yet so far away.
Destan was running as fast as he possibly could, leaving the land of light and shadow and bolting across the grassy field of the in between. Determination was alight on his face before a smile stretched across it and rivaled that of the light getting brighter and brighter around him.
Adeena felt it then.
The mating bond that had held them together even in death, barely a whisper between the worlds of the living and the dead.
With every running step Destan took toward her, it got stronger and stronger until Adeena could barely breathe from the sheer force of its hold on her.
She screamed his name again.
And started running for him.
The space between them seemed to lengthen with the physical world wanting her, the land of light and shadows wanting him, but the two of them only wanting each other.
Tears blurred Adeena's vision but she quickly blinked them again until she could only see him.
Three.
They were still running for each other.
Two.
The distance finally seemed to be shrinking.
One.
And their mating bond pulled them even closer together.
Adeena and Destan collided in a tangle of limbs, holding onto one another as tight as they possibly could.
As soon as they did, they were both knocked out of the in between, clinging to one another through time and space, life and death.
Before Adeena bolted up from the table she was laid out on, sucking a lungful of air in.
Her head was swimming, mostly because she didn't know where she was and was just trying to get her breathing to go back to normal. A hand was rubbing up and down her back, soothing words being whispered to her from her left. When she turned her head, Cleo's face was right there, the relief clear in her expression. How long had she been out for? What happened between her falling into the in between and now? What...?
"It's all right," Cleo kept saying to her. "You're all right."
It wasn't Cleo she was focusing on then, but rather the other hand she was clinging to.
She started there, the limp fingers she was holding, traveling up the muscular arm to the bare, broad chest of the male laid out beside her. She stared at the thin lines of faint scars all along his torso, down his arms, and up his neck before her eyes landed on the three inch one right over his heart. It wasn't an open dagger wound anymore like she knew it had been both here and in the in between.
Her eyes were still raking over him when she saw it.
His chest rose and fell with a single breath, which had everyone else around him holding theirs.
With that breath came another a few moments later.
His ashen skin slowly began to brighten, going back to the deep tan it had been in life.
Slow and steady breaths continued.
"Fucking hell," someone choked out. Probably Eamon.
She moved forward, finally letting go of Cleo's hand, and leaned over Destan as he continued to breathe in and out.
"Destan?" she whispered, reaching up to place her hand against his cheek. It was warm, flushed pink. "Destan, can you hear me?"
Something else made its appearance known now in the physical world. Of course, no one could see the glittering mating bond between Adeena and Destan, but they could definitely feel it. Adeena clung to it as tight as she could, not wanting to let it go for anything in all the worlds.
She wouldn't have to, knowing it the following moment.
With one more whisper of his name, Destan opened his eyes.
***I do believe this is the best triple upload I could have done, right? And it's been a hot minute since I've ended on a cliffhanger.
AND THAT CLIFFHANGER!
I absolutely love this little group of chapters, getting everything from all three of their POVs. But all's not well yet with Destan. We still have to make sure he remembers everything from his life before and his afterlife with Adeena in the in between. Then we'll get to all of the reunions.
First will be Eamon, of course. That'll be a shock, won't it?!
What did you guys think of these chapters? Comment and vote!
Happy reading!
- Ansley***
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Burning Key
Fantasy(Book 2 in the Of Darkness and Light Trilogy) A princess wrestling with the sting of betrayal. A queen grappling to connect with her past. An assassin gripping onto a glimmer of hope. And a sorceress whose curiosity will forever change her world. F...
