Soul of Flame (Imdalind Series #4)(80)
Ilyan never laughed; he never smiled in jest. He only watched as I moved the oil into his skin, his heartbeat steadying mine as I pushed my magic into him, filling him as he had me.
Ilyan wrapped his arms around me as I dropped his hands, his arms strong as he moved me to face him until I could see the streaks of tears on his face, the golden light in his eyes stronger than I had ever seen before.
“Budu tě opatrovat a? do dne zem?ete,” he whispered—the meaning hidden from me—before he pressed his lips to mine, the pressure soft, hesitant.
I could taste the sweetness of him on my lips, smell the scent of his magic in my hair. I pressed into him, needing him.
His arms wrapped around me as I called for him, his touch strong as his magic flooded me at the same time as mine flooded him. It was a sensation of electricity and fire as everything melded together; as his hands pressed me to him, as his lips pressed into me, as his tears fell onto my nose.
“Ilyan,” I gasped as his magic pressed further, the pressure consuming me. The heat grew to be more than when he had placed the ?tít, more than when he had protected me.
It grew until that was all I felt and my own scream filled my ears before everything went black.
Twenty
I had never been on a beach before; I had never felt the warm sand beneath my fingers, the sun against my body.
I definitely felt the sand now and ran my fingers through it, the gritty texture new and yet somehow familiar. My fingers dug into the tiny granules until I reached a colder underside that I hadn’t expected. The chill from the sand was a nice opposite to the sun that beat against my face.
I sunk into it, letting the dream take me away, wanting to linger in the peace of it if only for a little longer. The sand enveloped me as I breathed in the salty air until the call of a gull echoed in my ears and I jumped to sitting, my eyes flying open to the burn of the sun in confusion.
My eyes snapped shut again in an attempt to stifle the pain, the gulls continuing to call around me, heightening my confusion. My dreams never had sound, and if they did, it was distorted and frightening. This sound, though, was clear, crisp—perfect.
I opened my eyes again, careful to control the burn, only to have them widen at the long stretch of white sand and the endless length of blue water that filled the world in front of me.
It was a world I had never seen before.
It wasn’t a dream; everything was too perfect to be a dream.
It didn’t make any sense. Nothing about this made any sense. I had just been sitting in my room with Ilyan, his fingers soft as he braided my hair. I could still smell the oil on my hands, hear his voice as he spoke to me in Czech, feel the pressure of his magic as it fused with mine.
Ilyan’s magic.
The Z?lství.
The bond must be complete.
The sun seemed to warm at the thought, my body heating as my magic bubbled along with the sun. It was silly that I hadn’t thought of it sooner—that I hadn’t put it all together—but now I knew.
This was a T?uha.
Our T?uha.
I had never seen anything so beautiful as the place I stood in at that moment; I had never known something like this was possible within the T?uha. This was not the white-walled spaces and tormented hell I had experienced before. This was paradise.
The beach was lined by endless stretches of water that lapped and kissed the length of the white sand I sat on. My toes dug into the sand as I turned, the beauty of the beach increasing as the waves crashed and exploded against the brown rocks off in the distance. White foam from the breaking waves sprayed into the air and toward the large manor house that was nestled into the trees just behind.
I stared at the house, my heart relaxing at the beauty and perfection of this place I found myself in. It wasn’t complete, though, because I was alone.
My heart called desperately for my other half, fear building that I hadn’t seen him yet.
He had to be here somewhere.
“Ilyan?” I called toward the house, knowing my voice wasn’t strong enough to carry over the sound of the waves and the gulls.
I watched the house as another wave broke over the rocks, almost expecting him to walk out the front door toward me. I knew he was over there; I could feel it. I could feel his magic, living inside of me, swell and pull me in that direction.
I had felt the sensation before with Ryland, but then, it had been cast in fear and had been unwanted. This time, as the warmth moved through me, my magic responded joyfully. It pulled at me as my bare feet slipped through the slick sand, making it hard to keep my balance. I had never walked in sand before, and now I was wondering how all those old people in denture cream commercials did it. My leg muscles were on fire as I pushed myself forward, my need for him growing with each step.
Why Ilyan had brought me to the south of France, of all places, I had no idea.
I stopped in place as the idea hit me, the battering ram of a thought strong and unexplainable.
The south of France.
I didn't know where the thought had come from, or why I would even think that this unfamiliar beach would be there. The only time I had ever spoken to anyone about France was in that tiny room in that farmhouse when Ilyan had told me about his house.
His house.
The frantic beating of my heart increased as I looked up to the large manor. It was a little more than the 'little house' that Ilyan had spoken of at the time, but right then, I didn't care.