Prologue

(1864, Portugal)

His eyes were blue, clear and bright as the ocean's water on the coast in a summer afternoon. May's breeze raised, slightly, the curly golden blond hair that was fallen on his forehead, and an open smile spread on Damon Paine's pale face.

"You can't hide forever, Miss Gomes. You do know that I will end up finding you, right?" He asked. "I won't give up until I do."

Damon looked around him searching for something that might indicate the place where Elena was hidden, however everything he saw was meadow flowers, tall green grasses and a clear, blue, afternoon sky. The heat of the summer sun warmed his skin, his bones, and while admiring the view in front of him, Damon sighted, relaxing. That precise moment was wonderful, full of joy. He savored it, that moment of peace, of genuine and utter contentment. Life right there was good. Damon smiled to himself as he closed his eyes, his body feeling the warm breeze, his ears enjoying the sound of silence. In contentment he sighted once more.

When Damon opened his eyes, he heard a muffled giggle coming from behind him, between the long grass.

"Elena?" He grinned like an idiot.

Damon walked toward the continuous giggle, then, abruptly, stopped. His right hand pointed to somewhere he knew Elena was not and without taking his eyes of her real hiding place, he asked, "Are you over there?"

Slowly, without resisting, Elena struggled up onto her elbows to spy on Damon and to find out if he was nearby. But just when her eyes were above the meadow flowers, she realized that a beautiful face, with a very well-known sexy smirk on its lips was looking right at her. She laughed and quickly lied right back down, delighted in the game.

All too soon, she heard his footsteps trampling through the meadow, and then Damon burst through its flowers and long grass.

"Hello, Elena." He smiled down at her.

"Hello, Damon." She grinned, sat up and gave him a quick kiss on his lips when he was beside her.

Suddenly, Elena remembered the million empty days that she had spent without the man beside her. He was what she need the most in life.

"I'm finally with you." She said looking to her hands in her lap. "I'm so happy we have found our way to each other again. You are mine."

With his index finger on Elena's chin, Damon turned her face to him, forcing her green eyes to look up to his serious ones.

"Yes, I'm yours. And you're mine. Don't ever doubt it. I'll never let you go." He said, and then gently kissed her lips.

Elena pulled her lips away and opened her eyes. She lifted her hand to his face and her fingers touched his cheek sweetly. Damon slowly leaned and kissed her once more, still tenderly, and she reciprocated, feeling the pain of the years of distance slowly disappearing a bit more with the passion.

When their lips parted searching for air, Damon put his left arm around Elena's waist. Observed the few clouds that were up in the luminous sky. The sun higher now.

"I've been asking the universe the reason of why it hurts so much being away from you. I didn't exactly discover the answer, but maybe we are somehow connected. Our souls are connected. Maybe we have lived thousands of lives before this one in which we found our way to each other. Maybe, sometimes, we were destined to not be together or not even meet. And maybe we were separated by so many different reasons, that we can't possibly imagine. I like to believe that in a hundred years, throughout our lifetime, we'll share other moments.

I know that in all of those lives we were never really the same person, but I still searched, not for someone like you but for you. Because I'll always love you unconditionally.

I hope this life isn't too hard on us anymore; I promise to do everything I can to guarantee it isn't. I hope we will meet once more… And if we do, I hope I don't lose you again, Elena."

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