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Wildly, Lianah ran around the darkened castle. Had she been in another mood or situation, she would have seen and appreciated the rich surroundings. Room after room was filled with treasures and heirlooms!
"Please, there has to be a way out!" she cried breathlessly to herself.
Nearly exhausted with fear and her exertions, Lia collapsed on a marble floor, striking her head on the hard stone. Her emerald eyes fluttered twice before all was dark.
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"Lianah?" A warm voice called her, breaking through the mist in her mind. Something warm supported her shoulders, propped her head above the uncomfortable hard surface. She opened first one eye, then the other. Hovering above her was an amazingly handsome boy, his dark eyes dreadfully worried.
He touched her forehead with two fingers. A shiver swept through her frame at the contact, and she longed for his touch again. Smiling up at him, the girl gazed wistfully at his blessed features.
"Are you all right?" She gasped as he touched a sore spot on the side of her temple. He grimaced, then placed a cool wet rag on the pain.
"Where am..." she slowly said, but memories were slowly seeping back into her mind. Sitting up frantically, she swung around to see the ballroom. A cry of anguish burst from her rosy lips. "It wasn't a dream?" she wailed.
Attempting to stand and then run, her head swam and she merely tipped over again onto her knees.
"Please..." she begged. "Let me go home." Irrationally, she held out her hand pleadingly before she collapsed back into his lap.
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Terrin sighed. With one swift movement, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the room on the left. Stepping carefully onto the thick ivory and gold carpet, he gently placed her on the rose silk bed.
He was ashamed of himself, for the way he acted towards her. Terse, stern, and uncompassionate. After all, she had just lost her mother and learned of her forced inprisonment...after all that, didn't she deserve kindness? It was just...he never expected to see another human in his entire life. After all, he had been secluded in this empty castle for what, maybe two hundred years?
Simply thinking about his unending fate, he wanted to weep. He blocked it fiercely out of his mind.
He sat on the edge of the bed, his heart heavy. Turning to his sleeping charge, Terrin paused. Curled quietly on the fine silk, the girl lay in full and gentle beauty. Her long hair, spilling loose over her shoulder, was a glowing golden fire. From her long lashes closed over creamy cheeks to her soft lips, he longed to reach out to Lianah but resisted. Barely.
Watching her, he could forget all his sorrows, the pain that abominable Byrd caused him every time it took flight to drink a pure soul.
Leaning over, he stroked a stray curl away from her angelic face. "Sleep well, my Beauty." Drawing the silken quilt over her quiet form, he plucked a golden rose from a nearby crystal vase. Tenderly tucking its thornless stem behind her ear, Terrin drank in one more glance before silently slipping out the door.
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copyright sorka robinton 2001