**BOOK 1 IN THE TALES FROM DROMISSE SERIES**
Silvia considers herself the luckiest woman in all Dromisse. Her soon-to-be fiancé, Duncan Ora, is a candidate for Light Within, the greatest gift that the Almighty Gale can bestow upon someone. Then a ra...
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"You were dead, Silvia. When I found you, you were ..." Duncan's voice peters out. "It's burned into my mind. I'll never forget the sight. The night Johnny took you, he killed you. I went lookin' for you an hour after you left the apartment, but you weren't with your parents. So, I called the police, but also contacted Talael. She figured out where you were through her blessin', and I took off to find you. You ... had been cold for hours."
Silvia's whirring thoughts skid to a halt and tumble aside like a runaway automobile. She stares at the floor, but no matter how many times she replays his words in her head, she can't comprehend this new reality. Johnny killed her? He killed her. She was dead. She—
"Silvia?"
"What did you say?" Silvia's voice cracks. "Why am I not dead now?" She knows the answer, but she needs to hear it out loud. She needs to hear it from him. "Why am I alive, Duncan?" Her skin blazes and crawls.
"I used Gale's power. I used my blessin'. Magic. I brought you back to life."
Tears leak from Silvia's eyes. She clamps a hand over her mouth. Her body crumples into a wadded piece of paper as she sags across the floor, every nerve and muscle burning. "Duncan, you know that's forbidden without the Council's say. Why didn't you let me go?" she says. "I'll ... get found out. Someone is going to find out, and I'll—" Her breath catches.
"That's why I did it." Duncan's voice is soft, barely detectable. "That's why ... I killed Johnny. The real reason. I wanted to remove attention from you and put it onto me. Talael sensed somethin' amiss shortly after you were brought back. I knew if anyone could figure out that you'd died, it'd be her. So, I eclipsed that crime with one that was worse."
"Duncan!" Silvia says. "If you had never brought me back, you could have moved on! You could have taken care of Emily and found someone else!" The words tear through her throat, raw and quaking. She doesn't feel any different. One would never know she had died. Is she sinning if she keeps it a secret? "What you've done will be for nothing when I tell the Council."
Duncan chokes, "They'll kill you!" A spark leaps out of the receiver and snaps Silvia's finger, and she nearly drops the phone. "If you die, where does that leave Emily? I can't—I can't take her full time, not with my punishment. She'd be shamed for life. And she needs you, Silvia. She don't stop talkin' 'bout you when she's at the library. She needs you. Desperately." His low, heavy voice pleads, "Please ... please, Silvia. I did it all for you."
Silvia smashes her skull into the wall, cursing through her teeth. "If I don't tell someone, what if it harms Emily? What if she gets corruption?" She can forget about this. She will forget about it. Forget what he's done. She's alive, and she has been for ten years. Emily needs her. Everything has been fine in that time. "Your relationship with Emily ... I'll think about it. But you have to seriously consider my requests. Emily needs a good influence." She palms her wet cheeks. "You'll have my decision in two days when I bring Emily to the library."
