I helped my mother move into her new home yesterday. Jeremy is living with her, and she tells me he’s more trouble than I ever was. The scamp! Their guardian animals— a lion and jaguar—are now valued members of the family. I invited the entire group to stay with Killian and me, but Mom was adamant that “newlyweds need time alone.”
I’m trying.
—Where are you, Killian?—
The doors swing open, and he strides into the foyer. Our eyes meet, and he gives me the sexiest grin of all time. A grin reserved strictly for me, making my insides melt. “I’m right here, lass. At yer service, always and forever.”
“Twenty-two seconds late.” I glide closer to him, overcome by love and heat—so much heat. “I should punish you.”
“How about you kiss me instead?”
Excellent plan. I kiss him hard and deep, pouring myself into the communion of lips and souls. By the time we part, we are both panting.
His eyes sparkle. “I was goin’ tae ask if you missed me, but I can guess the answer.”
“Oh, I’ve missed you, all right. The war is over, we’re on vacation, and you haven’t been seeing to my needs.”
He arches a brow. “I have no’, now, have I? Well, it’s time I do so.” In a single fluid motion, he sweeps me up into his arms and begins to climb our winding staircase, as if I am as light as air.
I laugh, filled with joy and Light. “I’m not sure how little ole me ever won Killian the Untamable.”
“You breathed, lass. I often wonder how sexy ole me ever won the fiercest female in the history of ever.”
Aw. Could he be any sweeter? “So you’re happy you married me?”
“The happiest.”
“You’re not—yet,” I say, and kiss his neck. “But you will be. Take off your clothes.”
His pace increases, and I belt out another laugh. Never, in all my wildest imaginings while I was trapped inside Prynne Asylum, desperate to escape, could I have predicted
I would end up here, with Killian. But through the darkest moments of my life, I finally saw the Light, and through the deepest depths of my pain, I found great pleasure.
Life might not go the way we think we want, might even lead us through dark nights and across stormy seas, but we can’t give up. The only sure way to fail is to quit. We are Lights of the world, and we must keep fighting for what is good and right—we must keep fighting for love.
Me? I’ll fight till the day I experience Second-death.
One day, though, my battle will come to an end, and I’ll move on to the Rest. Like Myriad and Many Ends, the Rest has been reset.
By the time I go, the world I leave behind will not be the world I was born into.
I want to leave a legacy of strength, hope and Light. I want what was once my mess to become a message—people matter. Whoever they are, wherever they come from, whatever they look like or believe, they are worth something. They are precious.
Life is precious, and I don’t want to waste a single second.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781489250667
TITLE: EVERLIFE
First Australian Publication 2018
Copyright © 2018 Gena Showalter
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Everlife (An Everlife Novel) Page 38