The Coalition (Book 1)

Chapter 60

The darkness startled her with its suffocating strength. It pressed on her chest, her stomach, her face with the weight of a lead blanket. She pushed at it with her hands, clawed the air in front of her, but found nothing. She turned her head left and right to try and find a pocket of air. She gasped and gulped, choking, as icy water filled her mouth.

A pinprick of light appeared before her and she followed it, lifting her face higher and twisting her head to keep her eyes on it. When at last the prick of light flooded her eyes, she found she could suck in a gasping, wheezing breath.

Her hair, face, and upper torso were soaking wet. She was bent over at the waist looking at her own face reflected in the rippling water of a large bucket. Large blue eyes blinked back at her. She shivered and felt herself being pulled up to stand straight, then being turned around.

A hazy face appeared in front of her, and in a few seconds she made out a thin straight nose, flashing dark green eyes rimmed in long dark lashes and a full-lipped mouth. The mouth smiled, but not the kind of smile that makes you want to smile back. This kind of smile prickled her back and made the fine hairs on her arms stand erect. The face was handsome and a sense of familiarity touched the edge of her subconscious, teasing her, before it darted away.

"I was thinking I would give you another plunge into that tub of water if you weren't going to come around. Lucky for you." The deep voice sounded crisp, every vowel clipped short, every consonant clearly pronounced. His eyes never left hers and she became acutely aware that his hand rested on the back of her neck, neither pulling her towards him nor pushing her away. Just there. In spite of the warmth of his hand she shivered. The rough ridge of calluses on the inside of his palm scratched her skin.

He released her and she stepped away from him only to bump into the water tub behind her.

He stood several inches taller than her, broad-shouldered and dressed in black from head to toe. When he pushed a damp strand of her hair off her face, his hand brushed the top of her shoulder. She stiffened as his touch made something skitter inside her even though his eyes mesmerized her. The rich color of his irises stirred something pleasant in her mind. Just keep looking into his eyes.

There was a fireplace near her, and from the half-light of the fire, she noticed a bed with rumpled sheets at the opposite end of where she stood. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She curled her bare toes into the hard, earthen floor.

"I know you don't remember anything. You've had an accident. Lost your memory. But I'm here to help you. You are Shai Eli from Lael. I've chosen you to be with me. To give me an heir. It's the happiest day of your life."

She blinked back a sudden prickling of tears and took a deep breath to calm the panic that leaped into her throat.

"And I know you?" She didn't recognize her own voice, but it vibrated in her throat.

His mouth twisted into that smile again, but she stared into his eyes until her racing pulse slowed down.

"Of course, my love. I'm Samael. Just say my name and you will remember me."

Her tongue felt thick in her mouth, foreign. How could she have forgotten what her own tongue felt like?

She tried to speak his name, sliding the first letter across her lips and making a hissing sound. He smiled wider. White teeth, so white the sight of them made her head hurt. He nodded.

She tried again. "Sssss...sss...am...a...el." Each syllable she drew out evoked a look of pleasure from him.

"Again." He whispered and moved closer to her.

"Sam...a...el." His name slid across her tongue like a sharp blade against soft skin. Her heart fluttered inside her chest, and a chill grew in her stomach, filling an ache she was vaguely aware of. She breathed in deeply and watched as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back with a look of ecstasy.

Maybe I do know him. Maybe I do want to be with him. She probed herself for the happiness he spoke of. But the cold, achy feeling stretched into something deeper: a desperate desire to be wanted, to belong. But he must want me or I wouldn't be here. She pushed herself to remember. To make herself believe what he told her.

Then the cloudiness in her mind shifted, a shaft of light broke through. A figure stood behind Samael. Someone tall and lean with shoulder-length hair and a scar across one cheek. He entered the room and the lights came on in her mind. I know who he is. She mouthed his name. Remiel.

Samael's eyes darkened, and the muscles in his jaw twitched. The pulse in his neck jumped as he turned to look at his uninvited guest. One minute Remiel and Samael were across the room from each the other, the next they were grappling on the floor. Their bodies twisted and writhed around each other until Shai couldn't tell them apart.

A sudden loathing rose up in her stomach and pushed up her throat like acid. Samael. I remember him. She looked around the room for a weapon and spotted a small table littered with an assortment of objects glinting in the light of the fire. A small hammer, a saw the length of her hand, a chisel, a long-handled pair of scissors. Her captor's objects of torture or pleasure? Her eyes fell on a knife with a long curving blade.

The sounds of the fight behind her diminished as she curled the fingers of both hands around the hilt of the weapon. She raised it above her head just as the weight of someone's hand on her shoulder turned her around.

She cried out as she turned, swinging the blade across the face there. Every muscle, every tissue pulsed. Alive with revulsion and hatred for Samael. The blade connected with soft skin, and cut through the cheek, flaying it open like a gutted fish. She watched his mouth fill with blood and he coughed, splattering the front of her dark crimson. The whites of his exposed back teeth turned red. He reached out and grabbed her arm. The sleeve of her once pretty, lemon-yellow shirt tore as he fell.

With slurred words he said, "I will die for you." His blazing blue eyes shone like pools of truth. Proof of his love for her. Remiel!

"Noooo!" She reached for him but missed. He collapsed to the ground at her feet just as a pain exploded in the back of her head, and everything was swallowed up in darkness.