(Complete) **A MATURE FANTASY** Book #1 in the Elemental Heir Series.
Now published and available in PAPERBACK and KINDLE on AMAZON!! 🤍
"Your ready wit never fails to surprise and delight me, Brenya." He murmured, his lips only inches from my own...
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(Dristan's POV)
I stared at the note in my hands.
I read it eight times, and still, I could not understand what the words were saying to me. I had to be dreaming. Yes, that had to be what was happening. I was asleep. I was going to wake up any moment now, Brenya's arms and legs draped around me, making me much too warm.
But as the moments passed, the light growing brighter as it streamed through the window in soft, golden rays, I did not wake. I soon realized that I wasn't dreaming at all.
I read the note again while my hands trembled. The paper crinkled softly while my grip tightened around it's edges. I thought my teeth might break as my jaw clenched painfully, but I could not convince it to relax.
"Dristan, Sometimes, we make our own choices... Sometimes, our choices do not belong to us. This is a choice that was never my own to make, nor was it yours. My parents trusted that I alone could find the elemental runes and use them to end the war. I must now trust that their faith in me was not in vain. And you must trust that I will return to you very soon. This is the only way. I love you. Yours always, Brenya"
I read it three more times.
Something inside of my chest began to ache, and soon, the sensation was so intense that I had to squeeze my eyes shut just to endure it. A pained breath rushed past my lips. I hadn't been aware I had been holding my breath.... The pain doubled over. I began to pant heavily, feeling as if there was not enough oxygen in the world that could soothe the panic that was now seizing every molecule of my being.
No... No, this cannot be happening...
The worn parchment ripped into pieces beneath my hands, falling uselessly to the floor, as I pushed off of the bed and stormed toward the bedroom door. The door flung open before I could reach out to open it, as if it were terrified of my hostile touch. I growled and stepped over the threshold, my eyes scanned the vacant living room.
Nothing.
The balcony doors were open. I moved toward them, aware of her scent still hanging in the air. Hope blossomed in my gut, causing me to gasp, and I followed the familiar cactus bloom and vanilla bean scent. But when I stepped outside, she was not there.
'BRENYA!' I screamed down the bond, feeling for her desperately with invisible hands.
Silence responded, and my hands were met with a thick wall of black steel.
She had completely shut me out.
The pain returned, and having been kissed by hope for that small moment, the sudden reappearance of agony felt even more intense than I could've ever prepared myself for. It brought me to my knees.
