Dark Heart Forever
Page 24
‘I’m sick of you,’ he hissed at Luca and me. ‘Just make sure I never have to see you again.’
We were speechless. Relieved. Hardly daring to move.
Evan pushed past us, his elbow digging into me as he went. I could hardly believe that only a few days before he had been my adoring boyfriend. But I didn’t feel hurt. I didn’t even feel surprised. I felt nothing for him.
When Evan reached the entrance to the hut, where Dalya stood nervously with Lowe, Luca turned to speak to him. ‘You did the right thing,’ he told Evan. ‘Thank you.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
‘Come, Dalya,’ said Lowe, tugging at his sister’s arm. ‘We should get back before Henora and Ulfred discover we have all disappeared.’ He nodded at Luca. ‘I will make it right,’ he told him. ‘They will never know about this.’
‘Thank you.’ Luca smiled. ‘I just need some time …’
Lowe fell behind Raphael and, together with Dalya, the three of them walked out into the sodden dark of the early morning.
My mother wiped at her eyes with her hand. ‘Now I need to wake up Dot and my husband,’ she told Luca, sounding more like her usual brisk self. ‘They are heavily sedated in the hut next door. Evan just knocked me out with his fist.’
I looked down at the bottle on the floor.
‘Some potion Tilly made up for him …’
Luca shook his head. ‘Traitorous shrew,’ he said. ‘But knowing Tilly, she will have vastly exaggerated the potency of whatever she gave him. Dalya will go back and fetch a remedy,’ he told my mother. ‘They will be back to normal in no time.’
Luca and I helped Mum put Dot and my dad into the truck. She insisted on driving back home herself, giving me one last thoughtful look before she climbed inside and started the engine. When the truck had pulled out of the field, through the broken gateway, it left Luca and me alone together.
I prepared myself for the fact that this would be the last time.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered. ‘For caring about us.’
‘Come here.’ Luca held out his arms and I nestled willingly into them, feeling his body still hot, trembling, as I stroked his slender, muscular back. I pressed my face against his chest. He traced down one of my cheeks with his finger. ‘They will be back to normal in no time.’
I nodded, though I realised that I too was trembling, unable to look into his eyes. This was the end.
‘Jane,’ he said after a pause. ‘You know what I told you. About never falling in love with you? How dangerous it is? The risk…’
I swallowed the disappointment, the pain I knew was coming.
‘It’s OK,’ I said. ‘You don’t have to say it again.’
He put his arms around my waist, holding me tightly to him.
‘You’re wrong. I do have to say it,’ he murmured, ‘and I will say it every day for the rest of our lives.’
I finally raised my head and saw his lips, level with mine. ‘Say what?’ I said, trying not to dwell on how full and kissable his mouth looked.
‘That I love you. And I want you … like a boy wants a girl. And I don’t think I want that ever to stop. However much of a risk it is.’
He stroked my hair away from my face as I gazed up at him.
‘We’ll find a way to do this,’ he whispered. ‘If it means we have to be apart sometimes, then so be it.’
‘Luca.’ I smiled. ‘Can this really work?’
He laid his head on top of mine as my fingers felt the soft strength of his body, his long torso, breathing in his familiar woody smell.
‘Our hearts are bound together,’ he said, ‘and I am free to decide who I love. And what I want. Nothing – not the pressure of my family, or what anyone else thinks – matters.’
And as I pulled free to look up at him, he lowered his head and his lips moved closer to mine, and then, finally, we were kissing. Not softly or tentatively, but hungrily, his mouth moving across to my neck and then to my lips again, pushing away my hair, and letting his hands explore my arched back.
I knew then that whatever I had felt with Evan was just a fraction of what I was feeling now. I was scared. But this time I loved being scared.
‘You’ve no idea how often I have wanted to do this,’ Luca said in between kisses, his breath quick and heavy. ‘And how much I have wanted to touch you. Every inch of you.’
‘I don’t know why I didn’t see it,’ I said softly. ‘And now that I do see it, I don’t think I can stand being without it … Without you.’
Luca tilted my chin up gently. ‘I promise I will do everything I can,’ he said. ‘I have a few battles to fight. With my parents. With Celeste and the angels … They trust me. And who knows what Raphael will say or do next … He has stepped so far into the darkness now I don’t know if he will ever properly come back … But what I feel for you is far too much to let you go.’
He kissed me quickly and firmly on the mouth, causing sparks to dance around my heart.
‘I can wait,’ I said, hoping that I really could. That time and practicality and other people wouldn’t get in the way.
‘I will wait.’
Jane and Luca’s story continues in
DARK HEART RISING
coming soon in 2011 …
Pressed back against the dark wood panelling I felt his lips brush my cheek. no longer cold, but warm and full, gently touching my skin. I felt myself breathe out, not wanting to feel anything, but feeling everything all at once. I shut my eyes, not daring to turn towards him.
‘I never thought I would feel like this for a human,’ he whispered into my hair, and I felt the softness of his mouth as it tenderly kissed my neck. I shivered, hot suddenly, and instinctively my back arched.
‘I don’t want this,’ I managed to say, my voice husky and strained. ‘this isn’t right.’
But as his arms moved to circle my waist I didn’t push him away. Because despite the words I had just spoken I did want this. I hated myself for wanting it, but it was consuming me. It was all there was. right then, in that moment, it was all I wanted.
Finally he drew back and took my face in his hands, his eyes glinting in the darkness, the sharp line of his cheekbones cutting a hard but beautiful shape. And his mouth, wide and perfect, moved closer to mine, taking my breath away.
He put one finger on my lips, and with his other hand he stroked my face.
‘It’s OK,’ he said. ‘You are not ready yet, and that’s OK.’
‘I …’ I struggled, relief mixed with intense disappointment.
‘Sshh.’ He pressed his finger more firmly against my mouth. ‘Another time.’
And then he was turning away, his angular body moving athletically back into the darkness, leaving me wide-eyed and disbelieving.
I was left alone, with thoughts of betrayal and self-loathing.
And the sound of my fiercely beating heart.
If you’ve got a thirst for fiction, join up now
www.bookswithbite.co.uk
Packed with sneak peeks, book trailers, exclusive competitions and downloads, www.bookswithbite.co.uk is the new place on the web to get your fix of great fiction.
Sign up to the newsletter at
bookswithbite.co.uk
for the latest news on your favourite authors, to receive exclusive extra content and the opportunity to enter special members-only competitions.
www.hodderchildrens.co.uk
www.hodderchildrens.co.uk
www.hodderchildrens.co.uk
www.hodderchildrens.co.uk
www.hodderchildrens.co.uk
www.hodderchildrens.co.uk
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
> CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO