by Quinn Loftis
He reached out and took her hand where it rested on her sickbed. “Did the doctors have any news?” he asked.
She shook her head. It took tremendous effort. The battle against her rare genetic disease had been long and arduous, and she was tired. So tired. But she made the effort of bringing forth a smile for him. He had stood by her for more than a year now, offering her support first through his position as a deacon at the community church, and then as her friend.
For a long moment, he didn’t speak. He simply stared at her. His emotion was obvious. Then he gently brought her hand up. He brushed that hand with his lips before holding it against his cheek. It was as though he knew she would have caressed that cheek if she had only possessed the strength to do so. The tender action had tears flooding her vision.
“I love you more than it should be possible to love another,” he said, his voice hoarse now as he battled his grief. “You know that, right?”
She nodded and communicated with her eyes what she was unable to speak.
“I know you feel the same, my dearest heart.” He gave her a brief smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “There are many things that I wish I had told you before. But now, because I believe it is possible the truths I hold could save your life, I would tell you everything.”
Her breathing quickened. Hope and fear of the unknown had her blinking back more tears. She managed a nod. She had to know.
So, holding her gaze, he spoke his first truth…
“Amber?”
Blinking as The Dream faded, Amber looked up and caught Lulu’s stare. The stylist was using a special puff to remove the facial goop. Amber made a noise in her throat to indicate she was awake.
But her heart drum-rolled in her chest as the last words spoken in her sleep state echoed in her mind.
“I am not human.”
Other books by Raine Thomas
First Born Trilogy:
Defy
Shift
Elder
Daughters of Saraqael Trilogy:
Becoming
Central
Foretold