Thanks again to all of my readers for their patience in these past few weeks. It has all been really stressful. These next two chapters, in my opinion, aren't as great as some of my past, but I think they're still pretty good. I'm about to move in a week, so I'm going to try my hardest to produce some more chapters for you guys before I get too busy. I don't think I'll have it finished, but we'll just see, won't we? Please let me know what you think. I hope you really like the results!
Chapter 13
Diana opened her eyes. Plush burgundy carpet filled her slowly focusing vision. She grabbed it with her hands, reassuring herself that she was in the present.
She heard distant panting and looked up. Aidan was on the floor about three feet away from her on his back. He turned his head toward her.
"Does that happen every time?" she said, her voice raspy.
He didn't answer. Breathing hard, he put his hands down to prop himself up.
Diana looked down at her wrist, still feeling the burn. There was a faint red mark where the ember had hit.
She had begun to lift herself when he spoke. His voice was low, almost as if he were whispering to himself. "Together throughout time."
She turned her head quickly to him. "What did you just say?"
He grinned to himself and looked up. "Soulmates. Two people meant to be together through every lifetime."
Diana stepped back, only to find herself against a bookcase. She put her hand to her head, trying to remember the vision. She had been Deena, he had been Ashton, and they had been wrapped in a silver cord.
"Well, the silver cord is something real, something in the old legends. The people it connects are soulmates—you know, meant to be together." Melanie's words from that day after the hurricane in Diana's back yard were ringing in her head.
Aidan had approached her. He lifted a hand cautiously, then brought it back to his side. He reached out and took the cuff off her arm, then went for the anklet. Setting them on the mahogany table next to him, he reached for the clasp on his necklace. "I don't want that to happen again."
Aidan turned slowly toward her. "I'm surrounded by people, but I feel completely alone. Kind of how you were describing your feelings earlier. I used to be so close, but now I'm alone."
"That's one reason why Nick and I came here. We both felt the same way."
"Why is it, that we've just met, but I feel like I can talk to you?"
Diana decided to make a bold statement. "Why is it, that when you touched my hand, I felt like I had known you my whole life?"
He looked at her with wonder in his eyes. "You felt that, too?" He had begun to walk around her.
She turned with him, almost like a dance, almost like a fight. "Yes. I felt knowledge. I felt wanting. I had known you forever, yet we only met yesterday. And it stopped when you lifted your hand, but I still feel the presence of it in my mind."
He stopped walking his circle. "That's exactly what I felt." He slowly went to reach for her hand . . .
Looking back later, she couldn't remember how it happened, but suddenly he was holding her. The bright silver light filled her sight, then thinned into a cord. She watched it meet between them and slowly wrap around their bodies, drawing them closer together. She breathed in quickly before his lips met hers.
The kiss was sweet, like nothing Diana had ever experienced in her life. She belonged in his arms, she knew him. He held her protectively, his hand in her hair, kissing her lighter and slower.
When they parted she sighed, leaning her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating rapidly. "I love you, Diana."
She smiled, holding him tighter. "I love you, too, Aidan."
They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, basking in the glow of each other's love. His gold like the sun, hers silver like moonlight.