The Evensong (48 page)

“You’re—you’re Morcant Lachlan,” I said. Just saying the name seemed to bring a spark onto my tongue, and it felt ancient. Linden didn’t even seem surprised; he just nodded.

I stood in awe of everything for a second as he reached up to touch my cheek. He only brushed the back of his fingers along my skin, but I didn’t move away. Morcant’s appearance was frightening, but painfully beautiful. I looked up at him, at the quiet longing though he kept his distance. This was everything I needed to know, and I still didn’t grasp some of it.

I took another step closer to clear the distance between us. He lowered his hands as I raised mine to touch him. I just let my fingers glide along his arm, noticing how they tingled slightly. This intrigued me, and I lay my hands on his chest to marvel at how slick his skin felt, though dry. He let me, and I didn’t stop him from running his hands through my hair.

I met his eyes when my hands stopped at his face. He waited patiently for me to speak, hands on my arms.

“Does anyone else know I’m here?” I asked. He replied no, and I went on. “Does it matter that I am?”

“Nothing will happen to you here, Talise,” he said. “I will make sure of it.”

I smiled slightly as his old tone came into his celestial voice. Putting a hand behind his neck, I pulled him towards me, pausing for a second before I kissed him. It felt the same, but so different, too. The strong smell of rain came from his hair as he crushed me to him. I only worried about his teeth for a second, and then all caution disappeared. This all felt so right, even being on the astral plane while somewhere I was still alive. I’d seen his true form and he knew my name that no one else should ever hear. He was even the one to say it first. To me, this all pointed to the right path.

I lay against one of the lily pads as we made quiet love. This seemed deeper than any of the times before; I attributed it to the fact that we knew everything there was to know about each other. The face of Morcant in Linden didn’t frighten me now. I only wanted him closer, and my nails imprinted little half moons in his back. I hoped his light bites would leave marks on my lips and neck.

As I lay with him on the lily pad, I thought about all of the time that had passed since I met him.

“How did I know your name?” I asked, putting my arm under my head.

“Do you remember the journey you had before your ceremony?” he asked.

I frowned slightly. “Yes . . . but how did you know about it?”

“I had a similar vision, though it was clearer. In it I was told you had experienced the same thing, and I knew what it meant.” He gazed into the foggy sky for a minute before he looked back at me. “You have heard of twin flames, haven’t you?”

I nodded, now vividly recalling what Omar had said that night in the swamps.
She told me that means we’re like twin flames.
I still couldn’t quite remember what it meant, and Linden explained.

“It has different names for different people. Twin flames, twin soul, counterpart, soul mate, what-have-you.”

I absorbed that piece of information for a minute, now having some memory of lessons regarding it. Every person was born with a natural second half, though they were split at the beginning. People waited lifetime after lifetime to be reunited with the other half. They were almost a mirror to you, as the energies are moving at the same frequency. Most noted was the feeling—this feeling.

“So Rene was right . . . but you were in the pool, not Omar,” I said. He smiled slightly and I held him to me, marveling at the way my skin tingled wherever we touched. From here on out, I was most definitely his. There was nothing that could possibly change that.

JUSTICE

I never wanted to leave the plane, but after a while Linden suggested we go back. There was still so much I felt like I hadn’t seen, but he promised we could come back again. I took a moment to look at him again and call him by his other name before we left. All I had to do was hold him tight as the bottom of the expanse of water disappeared, and we sank slowly.

When I came to, I felt very heavy in my body and my heart was beating hard. My limbs were stiff and I felt like I’d lost some of my coordination; at least I was lying down. I opened my eyes slowly, taking in the bedroom and wishing I were still on the astral plane.

Beside me, Linden stirred and opened his eyes, blinking a few times before turning to me. He seemed confused for a second, and then his face cleared when he remembered.

“Riley,” was all he said, his voice full with longing. He just wrapped his arms around me and squeezed, kissing my face. That’s when I realized just how cold I was, and I shivered and huddled into him.

“Are you okay?” he asked for the tenth time.

“I’m fine,” I assured, laughing slightly. “I’m great.”

“You feel okay?”

“Yes,” I said, holding his face between my hands. “Do I look like I’m not okay?”

“Your lips are a little pale,” he said, passing his finger across my mouth.

I just shook my head to dismiss his comment and repeated that there was absolutely nothing wrong. When he finally believed me, he grinned and took a second to collect his thoughts.

“So—what do you think?” he asked after a few minutes.

“Of what? Of you?”

He shrugged. “Sure.”

I took a moment. “You should have never been afraid to show me. You’re not as scary as you think you are.”

That had him laughing for a while. “I think you’re stretching the truth a little. But if you don’t mind it . . . well, that’s the best I could ask for.”

It was easy to give him that kind of happiness: acceptance. That was the one thing he seemed to struggle with, and in letting me see his true form, I was easily swayed.

We talked a little while longer, and I let the truth come out. There was no holding back for either of us, and when he mentioned the twin flame deal, I couldn’t help beaming. How many people searched or felt alone for so long? How many were as lucky to find their counterpart?

I laughed when I thought about Rene’s reaction. She probably wouldn’t be happy about it at all, but she couldn’t do anything about it. It seemed so unlikely that this kind of pairing could occur, but it never had any rules. She would just have to deal with it.

I was still wide awake, but Linden was slowly fading. He said it was a little exhausting dealing with ascending, but I didn’t blame him since he’d taken me along. He nestled his head into my shoulder and immediately started falling asleep. I didn’t feel like sleeping yet, so I just lay still as his breathing evened out.

I couldn’t wait to talk to Alysana. I had to gush to her about everything. Well, maybe not
everything
; I would respectfully leave out anything about names or forms, instead focusing on what I found to be most important. Plus, I wanted to know if she had any further details about twin flames.

I soon felt too antsy to be lying down. Carefully moving, I let Linden sleep as I stood. I was dizzy for a second, and I put a hand against the window until it went away. Once my head was clear, I looked out the window to the beach outside. It’s beauty somehow seemed duller after being on the astral plane, but everything would seem like that. I wondered if Linden would ever let me see more of the place, or if that huge expanse of water would be the only place I knew. The thought seemed a little unfair, and I briefly considered waking Linden, until I saw something out of place. A dark blotch marred the sand as the waves came up. It was too big to be a pile of kelp or something, and I tried to look harder. I couldn’t see from here, so I turned and headed for the bedroom door. Looking back at Linden for a moment, I left the room.

Downstairs, I noticed the door to Calder’s bedroom was open. This wasn’t exactly normal, and I peeked in. The bed was empty. I tried to ignore the ideas popping up into my mind and continued towards the front door.

Outside, the noise of the ocean filled my ears as I walked. The wind was blowing hard tonight, and my hair whipped around my face. I tried to brush it away, but it always blew back. Rounding the back of the house, I looked towards the beach, scanning the ground. The thing had drifted closer to the rocks, and I quickened my step. I hoped this wasn’t what I assumed . . .

I got close enough that I could see the thing on the ground. I stopped and examined it from a distance, deciding that the thing over the top was not a string of seaweed, but an arm. There was a person lying there. My immediate reaction was to run to them, and I acted on that instinct. I could feel my feet sinking into the sand, and I willingly let my ankles fail. I fell onto my knees and paused before I touched them. The shadow of the rocks wouldn’t allow me enough moonlight to see them entirely.

“Calder?” I said loudly over the sound of the water. Another wave washed over the body. I reached out and lightly lay my hand on his shoulder.

He moved faster than I would have expected. I was crouched next to him one moment, the next the wind was knocked out of me as I landed on my back; he’d pulled me over him and threw me down. I was still trying to figure things out as a tight hold came around my wrists. I looked up, confused, and tried to see the face beyond the hanging strands of wet hair. Whoever it was, I still fought. Luckily I was in a position where I could easily lift my foot, and I landed a rough kick in his stomach. He let out a grunt as he wheeled back, his face in the moonlight for an instant. It only took that second of recognition for a fearful adrenaline to shoot through me.

I turned and pushed myself to my feet, heading in the opposite direction of the house; Omar stood in the way. He was still trying to recover from the kick, but he was fast. His hand closed around my ankle, and I fell hard again.

“
No!
” I screamed as he pulled me back. The water came up across the sand and over me, further stealing my breath. Omar was on his knees, so all he had to do was keep pulling. I spit out a mouthful of salt water as he grabbed my arms, trying to pin them behind my back. This didn’t hinder my breath, and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I sucked in more air, prepared to scream again, when Omar let go of my hands to cover my mouth. I still yelled through, trying to shake my head to get him off. Being soaking wet seemed to help keep his grip loose, and I almost slipped out of his grasp. One hand still closed around my arm, I tried to run.

He only had to jerk me once and I stopped. My shoulder flared with pain as I heard the grinding of rock against rock. Omar kept me close to the ground, and I looked up at him through my hair. Between the wet strands, I could see he had used his free hand to grab a loose rock from the small cliff. I struggled harder and tried yelling again. Everything stopped abruptly when he raised his hand and brought the rock down.

I was slowly coming to. It wasn’t on my own will that I wanted to wake up, but the pain. My head was throbbing hard and there was a dull but prominent ache in my shoulder. I grit my teeth as I continued to wake up, but found they didn’t touch; something was in my mouth.

I moved very slightly, feeling an uneven, cold surface beneath me. There was also a sound echoing besides my own breathing: the ocean. It gave me some hope for a minute, and I forced myself to open my eyes.

There was only rock in front of me. It was dark brown and wet, reflecting a dim light from behind me. Some of it was pocked with tiny holes here and there, and it made me think of the rocks close to the house. Maybe by some miracle I was close.

When I tried to move, my hope for that miracle disappeared. My arms were pinned to my sides, and when I glanced down, I could see a line of rope. I squirmed in frustration, getting no headway. Everything was tied tightly.

“Looks like she’s awake.”

A voice echoed off the walls, and footsteps followed it. I froze, knowing very well whose voice that was. Someone took me by the shoulders and pulled me up. My head spun, and I closed my eyes for a moment as I was turned around. I leaned against the rock wall and waited for the rush of pain to subside.

When I opened them again, I only saw Omar crouched in front of me, watching me anxiously. I scowled and tried to kick him, but he easily moved away.

“Feisty, isn’t she?” Again, that voice. Aidan stood off in the corner, smiling as he watched. I looked at him shortly and surveyed my surroundings. Looking straight ahead, I could see water and bright light framed by a rough circle. The tunnel of rock was relatively straight, leading back to where we were. It was a small dry spot of rock rising out of the water lapping against the edge.

“Homey, isn’t it?” Aidan said as he walked towards me. Omar stood up straight and stepped away, though he stayed close. Aidan paid no heed to his protective stance. “I always thought sea caves had some kind of crafty use. And this was it.” He smiled down at me, and I would have said something to him, but there was a strip of fabric stuffed in between my teeth and tied around the back of my head.

“I’m surprised Linden doesn’t know about this place,” Aidan continued as he paced the space in front of me. “You’d think he’d be one to know all about these.” If this was his attempt at trying to scare me, it was working.

“Is the boat still tied down?” Omar asked quietly.

“Of course,” Aidan replied, not taking his eyes off me. He bent down next to me, and I shrunk away from him as he reached out. The back of his fingers were hot against my cheek as he pulled the fabric out of my mouth. “You’re more entertaining when you speak.”