She sat up and knelt, her face level with mine. I could lose myself forever in those sparkling grey-blue eyes. Draping her arms over my shoulders, she leaned in closer. And then her sweet lips were on mine in a chaste caress. She allowed me to taste their nectar for but a moment before drawing away. Sitting back down next to me and clearing her throat, she looked around as if scared someone had seen her.

That kiss sparked a bonfire within me that only she could extinguish. I didn’t care any more whether someone saw us. Everyone in the town knew we were to be married soon. I reached for her waist and pulled her closer again. I held her head in my hands. My thumbs touched the sides of her mouth.

She shut her eyes.

“Don’t be afraid,” I whispered.

Closing my lips around her mouth, I tasted her fully for the first time. A gentle blush warmed her cheeks as I pulled away.

I felt like the luckiest man in the world, and whatever lay ahead of us, I knew we’d find bliss. We’d find our story. Our happily ever after.

“Maybe that’s what ours is,” she breathed as our lips touched again. “A never-ending story.”

I woke up in a sweat. I looked around my room, reality returning to me.

Once I’d drained the human and downed a glass of blood, I’d returned to my room and slept. Now I hoped it wouldn’t take long to drift off again. But then I heard it. A sound I’d heard countless nights before, but somehow this night it resonated louder in my ears.

Crying. In some dark hall of the castle. The dining room, I suspected. That was Annora’s usual haunt.

I lay back in bed, closing my eyes and trying to block it out as I usually did. But I couldn’t. Every draw of breath, every wretched sob, every moan of sorrow echoed around in my head.

Groaning, I got out of bed and paced the room.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone to her during her fits of sadness. It had been so long I was sure that she couldn’t remember either.

Wrapping a robe around me, I left my apartment and descended the staircase to the ground floor. My suspicion had been correct. Annora was a creature of habit and this night was no different.

I stood silently by the doorway of the dining hall as she howled into the wind, her whole body wracked with sobs.

I couldn’t help but ache at the sight of her.

Oh, Annora. What made you give up my love for pain?

It was on nights like this when she showed her humanity that I longed to ask her this question. Even though I knew the answer, I longed to ask again, hope welling within my chest that perhaps, this time, the answer would be different.

I crept into the room. She didn’t notice I’d entered until I reached out and touched her shoulder.

She jumped back, pausing to breathe, her sobs subsiding.

“Annora,” I whispered. That name. Once honey to my lips. Now poison to my heart.

She flinched as I held her hands.

“Why are you crying?”

She slipped her hands out of mine and looked out of the window again. I held her arm and forced her to face me.

“Leave me,” she said, her voice rasping.

I knew she could easily vanish if she didn’t want me in her presence. The fact that she didn’t meant that she didn’t really want me to leave.

I stood next to her by the window, sliding an arm around her waist. Tears fell afresh from her eyes.

“Why wouldn’t you answer my questions last night?” I asked. “If you help me become a Channeler, it will bring us closer. I’ll better be able to understand your needs.”

She closed her eyes, her lips trembling.

“Because I don’t want you to become like me.”

“And what is like you?”

She smiled bitterly. “You know what I am.”

“But I’ve never heard it from you. What do you think you are?”

“In pain.”

She backed away until she hit the wall at the opposite side of the chamber. She leaned her head against the stone as she bit her lip until she drew blood.

Even if Annora was back to her usual numb self tomorrow, it didn’t matter. Because I’d just seen all I needed to see. A glimmer of hope that just perhaps, somewhere deep in that black soul, the old Annora was still in there. Trapped. Needing to be rescued. But still alive.

“Caleb,” she said, her voice cracking. “Just leave me. Please… Go back to sleep.”

I finally gave in to her request. I left her alone in the chamber and returned to my apartment. But I didn’t sleep that night. Only one thought kept me awake:

I'm going to find you again, Annora. And, somehow, we’re going to pick up our story where we left off.

Chapter 31: Caleb

I woke with renewed strength. I wasn’t going to let Annora keep avoiding me any more. I was going to get the information I needed from her.

I went up to her apartment first thing. She refused to speak to me, so I followed her around the castle for the rest of the day. I determined to make myself as awkward as possible. Finally she snapped.

I interrupted Annora in the middle of a meeting with Stellan, who’d come to visit our island for the day to speak with her.

Ignoring Stellan, I barged in and made a beeline for Annora. I marched up to her in the center of the room and sat down on the tabletop, blocking her view of Stellan. She looked up at me irritably and tugged on my shoulder, trying to move me. I didn’t budge. Of course she could have used her magic to get rid of me, but she didn’t.

“I’ll leave you alone as soon as you give me what I want.”