Blakeshire (Insight #9)(104)
I felt and heard rejoicing. There was music in the air, bliss in the air.
“What are they celebrating?”
“You,” he whispered against my neck.
I felt my skin turn crimson.
“You gave them hope today. You are no longer a story, but a living, breathing being that they have seen with their own eyes.”
“Do they not realize how far we have to go?”
“They realize that they have to celebrate the wins when they happen. They are at peace tonight, and our privacy has been earned,” he said as the drapes pulled together.
His long fingertip reached to trace my lip as his eyes fell into mine. “Madison Marie Blair…welcome home.”
When I smiled, his lips met mine. We lost control in that instant. He had willed us to the bed that was made for me, in a room that was made for me, and held me like I was the only woman that was made for him.
I had no idea what I was doing here with him, how I was going to stand at his side and heal his kingdom, but I didn’t care to think about that right now.
Instead, I whispered, “I love you,” against his neck as he pulled me closer and I felt an addictive rush soar through my soul.
THE END...for now.
Playlist
Ed Sheeran: This, Kiss Me, Give Me Love
Ellie Goulding: Explosions
Muse: Madness
Meat Loaf :I’d Do Anything for Love
Rihanna: Stay
Pink: Just Give Me a Reason
Where To Find Jamie Online:
http://authorjamiemagee.blogspot.com
Special note to the reader:
The Imperial series is part of the “Web of Hearts and Souls,” where all of my series combine into one large story. All series can be read independently or as one. The reading order for the Insight and See series combined is: Insight, Embody, Image, See (See series), Witness (See series), Vital (Insight series), Vindicate (Insight series), Synergy (See series), Enflame (Insight series), Redefined (See series), at this point the first book in the third series comes into play: Rivulet (published on10/7/13), Imperial (1/14/14), Blakeshire, 2/10/14), Derive( 2/14/14)
Please enjoy this preview of Derive
Chapter One
Rat-a-tat-tat. That was the sound my palms were making against my thighs as I stared forward at this beast of energy. Rat-a-tat-tat. A sound that I made without thought as I gazed at the emerald sea before that beast, The Fall. The Fall that cradled the enigmatic star Sirius. The Fall that stood as a barrier between two realities, one dark and one light. This was my charge. My guard. The fallacy I must endure until my time of slaying comes.
I dread that time. It doesn’t feel right. Nothing has ever felt more wrong. Honestly, in my existence nothing has ever felt right, so that says a lot. Rat-a-tat-tat.
I am one of The Selected, one of the few that bear a crest upon our souls, visible only by the touch of fire.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
My crest is far different than the others. In fact, there are only five that I am aware of that have a mark similar to mine. Until recently, they kept us apart, sequestered; they had us train on our own. Even now, I’ve only worked with two of the other guys, Guardian and Cashton.
I honestly think that decision was made because there was no other viable alternative. Not only do I see through The Fall—the lives of those on that side, the evil they must fight—but it has always been my charge to guard it, to command my men in that never-ending battle. The first and last defense keeping evil and darkness from reaching our world.
The others, the four that I am aware of, have what you might call normal lives. They live with their families, move from moment-to-moment ignoring that burden branded onto their backs. I wonder if that would make it easier, if because they didn’t spend every day prepared for a fight, they had figured out why we were different.
I asked Cashton once what his take on this was. The members of his family, all of them, were gifted in some way, precognitive at the very least. Back in the day, his father had traversed this Fall often; so had his mother. Though I was the one teaching Cashton the ropes on this travel, I knew he was more aware of what was waiting on us when we reached that side, what fate had in store, how that lined up with what I could feel building in my own reality.
He looked me dead in the eye and said, “Man to man, buddy, let me just tell you this is a war of hearts and souls. If we don’t stand up when we are called, the second we are called, there will be nothing left to stand up for.”
That call can or will come out of anywhere. It could be a dream, a pull, or our guides telling us the time is now. Cashton may have been fighting for some heart, but not me. Nope, my job was to stop an evil soul; it’s a job I didn’t want, would never have asked for. Who could look someone in the eye—someone who is identical to them—and destroy them? I don’t know that I’ll be able to when the time comes which is why I’m so bitter about the entire deal.
I never got more out of Cashton about what he knew, what he’d heard about what was before us. I was told to spend more time with Guardian, that his time would come before all of ours, which made no sense at all. He wasn’t even born a Selected.
Guardian’s linage is from the Falcons, those that lived just before us, the family that serves as a barrier between us and the other realms. Those realms don’t care to think of this Fall, of the lessons behind it, or the balance it breathes into us. Light and dark side by side.