Droplets (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 1) (32 page)

COMING SUMMER 2015!
    

Prologue

It felt wonderful for the first time in days he was able to relax. The contact was exactly what he needed. For too long he had been worried. His every thought was now focused on her. For her, only for her, was he able to endure.

     He listened to her voice; it rose and fell in a perfect rhythm as she told her stories. Images formed in his mind as he tried to comprehend the pictures she painted. This was what he’d wanted all along.

     Her thumb rubbed the back of his hand. He knew that she could feel the stickiness, the blood that had crusted and dried over his flesh. And yet, she didn’t comment. She was selfless, comforting him in his time of need and not asking him what he’d been through. 

     Leaning heavily, he rested his head against the stone wall. His arm, the one she touched, was bent at an odd angle. Painful, but nothing like the cracks of the whips that still rang in his ears.     Just knowing she was safe, knowing she was alive, was enough to give him the strength to endure; this was relief in his greatest moment of need. 

     Her voice came to a stop. He knew that she was waiting for his hand to twitch, his signal for her to continue, but he didn’t move. Instead, he thanked her. There was something he must tell her, he needed to tell her. She
had
to understand.

     He said her name and she jumped. Her involuntary movement jostled his hand. He adjusted slightly, the metal bars of his cell cutting into the wounds on his back. The thin, shredded fabric of his shirt did little to protect his skin from irritation.

     She replied, beckoning him to speak.

     His dry lips cracked when he asked, “Can you promise me something?” His voice sounded wrong to his ears. It sounded deeper, crustier, older—nothing at all like how he used to sound.

     “Promise what?” she asked. Her voice was cautious, it seemed and he knew she would resist what he was asking her to do. He himself would never be able to do it. But she was stronger.

     Gathering himself, he spoke clearly. “Promise me that you will save yourself if you have the chance. Promise me that if there comes a point when you think you can escape,” his voice broke, “—then do it. I don’t want you to even pause and think about me. I want you to get out of here.”

     She was silent. Her thumb no longer moved over his skin and the loss of it left a hollow feeling in his stomach. But he wanted her to understand. He always knew that something like this was going to happen to him. Ever since that day, hundreds of years ago, on the beaches of England. This was his purpose, but it didn’t have to be hers.

     “Promise me. Please,” he felt as though he was begging.

     “I don’t think I can,” she said slowly and his heart sunk. She had to know that this was the only way he could keep going. He exhaled, visibly frustrated and desperate.

     “Look, I love you more than anything I’ve loved in all the years that I’ve been alive.” He knew he sounded weak, croaking through his dry throat, but he didn’t care. All he worried about was her. “You’re the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Please promise me.”

     “I know. But I can’t leave you, I just can’t,” she said with a sob. He hated to be the cause of her sorrow. It hurt him, almost as much as the whips that battered his flesh daily.

     “Lissie,” he said softly, quietly pleading for her to understand. “I’m not going to get the chance to escape. Even if I had the chance, I wouldn’t have the strength to take it.” He inhaled deeply. “Please let me have this one comfort. Let me know that you’ll try to save yourself if you get the chance.”

     “I will, Patrick,” she said through tears. He could hear the deep emotion in her voice. “But I’m going to promise you something: if I get out of here and make it back to Lathmor, I’m coming back for you. I promise you that. We will come and rescue you.”

     There was a passion in her voice that lifted his heart. She still cared for him so much, even though at times he wondered why. Here she was saying that she would come back and even though he so desperately wanted to accept it, he fought against the hope trying to grow in his chest. He wasn’t getting out of here, but he would endure. Knowing that she would keep herself safe, knowing that she was going to try and escape, made him feel more at ease than he had felt in weeks. 

     “Thank you,” he said.

     “I love you,” she said softly, and in that moment he recalled that image of the first time he saw her. The roundness of her face, her bright eyes, and her blonde hair rippling in the wind tore through his mind. There she was again. That memory of the first time he had seen her, sitting on the hill with the sunset, was what he could hold onto. She was exactly what would get him through this.

     He sighed again, contently this time. “I love you,” he said as he leaned his head against the wall more heavily. “More than you know,” he added.

     His swollen eyes closed, feeling as though they were sealed together, but he didn’t mind. For the first time since he had been separated from her he felt as though he could go on. It was the knowledge of her even being alive that brought him this comfort.

     As long as she was breathing, he could keep going.

     As long as she was safe, he would find the strength to carry on.

     As long as she was alive and his, he could endure…

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Meaghan Rauscher graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She currently lives in Augusta, GA with her family where she continues to write. DROPLETS is her debut novel and will be followed by two sequels to complete the series.

Find Meaghan on twitter at @MeaghanRauscher to get all the latest information on DROPLETS and the release of DROPLETS sequel, RIPPLES in the summer of 2015.

Author website: discoverexplore.wix.com/meaghanrauscher