Legion opened his mouth to bellow his denial of the time frame, but snapped it shut with an audible click. His eyes bulged with rage, and he trembled, more from outrage than any fear for his brother's safety. He jerked his eyes to Jah-Ma-El. "Well?"
Jah-Ma-El sighed. "We'll just have to bide our time until he's ready to return to us." He shrugged. "Until then, we wait!"
Epilogue
* * *
Some said loneliness was the easiest of emotions to overcome. By definition, the simple act of being in the company of another person abolished loneliness. But those who knew the heartbreak of pure loneliness would have likely said that being lonely, and being alone, were too entirely different states of being. One could be lonely in a crowd, for loneliness was in the soul and how many people one had around them did not affect it.
He was alone.
In his mind.
In his soul.
In what part of his heart still beat with life.
Around him were many people, all intent on helping him to survive the pain of his loss. But even so, he might just as well have been cast adrift on a barren sea for all the comfort he took from their company.
His loneliness lay deep in his being and would be a long time in leaving him.
If it ever did.
"You'll get over it, lad," Meggie had told him.
He knew he would, to some extent.
His life would go on; Liza would have insisted on it.
He would function; he had his children to think of.
He would strive to put one foot ahead of the other, one day behind the next, for he had people who loved him.
But he knew it wasn't going to be easy. When had anything in his life ever been easy?
"When you enter the Abyss," he had been told, "the Abyss enters into you."
And it had.
His soul was tainted with the evil that had fallen over the edge of the Abyss, into the Maelstrom. To him, his life had ended on that ledge. His heart had died.
"You'll get over it, lad."
He knew he would if for no other reason than to avenge the taking of his most prized possession.
"You can't go into battle with your mind divided," someone else had once told him. "That's the quickest way to lose."
So, he pushed aside his loneliness, shelved it in a corner of his consciousness where he could take it out and look at it from time to time, reminding him of just how much he had lost.
He didn't dwell on it, though.
He'd get on with his life. He'd start over.
After all, wasn't that what she had wanted him to do?
But he didn't have to like it.
Charlotte Boyett-Compo
Charlotte Boyett-Compo is the author of more than two dozen novels, the first ten of which are the WindLegends Saga. For nearly three full years, Charlee has remained—first with Dark Star Publications, and now with Amber Quill Press—the company's most popular and best-selling author. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the HTML Writer's Guild, and Beta Sigma Phi Sorority. Married thirty-two years to her high school sweetheart, Tom, she is the mother of two grown sons, Pete and Mike, and the proud grandmother of Preston Alexander and Victoria Ashlee. A native of Sarasota, Florida, she grew up in Colquitt and Albany, Georgia, and now lives in the Midwest.
Most any fan of electronic books—or fans of dark fantasy and suspense—has at least heard her name mentioned, if not purchased at least one of her many offerings. This prolific author has not only managed to gain multiple nominations and awards for her work, but better still, has built a fan base whose members border on the "fanatical."
Currently, Charlee is at work on at least several books in her various series and trilogies.
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