Page 71 of Claim the Light
I race up the porch steps as fast as I can.
Now that the keeper’s garden is gone, I can no longer see through the cabin’s windows. Its exterior looks as old and rundown as it did when Micah and I first arrived.
I can’t get inside fast enough, fearful that the interior will have also changed in my absence.
I’m relieved to see that it’s just as beautiful as it was before.
Racing across the opulent room and around the lounge, I drop to my knees beside Micah, where he has remained lying on the couch.
My heart is in my throat as I press my hand to his chest.
I need to know that he’s breathing. I need to feel the beat of his heart beneath my palm.
His chest rises and falls steadily. His breathing is even but changes at my touch. “Sophia?” His voice is groggy, his eyes cracking open a little. “Is everything okay?”
Damn. I woke him up.
But my relief that he’s alive is so intense that I can’t bring myself to feel bad about disturbing his rest.
I clamber on top of him, straddling him before I lie down and curl up against his chest, needing to hold on to him as hard as I can.
“Everything’s okay,” I whisper.
“Hey.” His voice is low and soft at my ear as his arms rise around me. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t lose you.” My throat is constricted. “Iwon’tlose you.”
I’m trembling and his arms tighten around me, a firm pressure that’s anchoring me. He presses a kiss to my forehead, then to my temple, then he reaches my lips and I’m lost to the sensations. Until this man kissed me, I never imagined that there could be so much heat in such a light touch.
“I wish I could promise you that you would never lose me,” he says, breaking the contact with my lips to press his cheek to my forehead. “But death is nobody’s friend. It claims us all.”
One of his hands rises to gently cup the back of my head, the other remaining like a tether across my torso.
“But I can promise you this, Sophia: I will love you for all of my days.”
I close my eyes, trying to stem my tears. “I love you, too, Micah.”
“Then we’ll never be lost,” he says.
I raise my head, letting my tears fall. He brushes them gently before kissing the trails they’re leaving down my cheeks.
“We’ll never be lost,” I murmur.
* * *
I end up falling asleep beside Micah and when we wake, early morning sunlight pours through the windows.
The table is set with fresh food, but we don’t linger. We’ve been gone from the main staircase for long enough, and Micah’s energy has returned. Isaac and Beatrix didn’t come looking for us in the night, but I don’t want them to start worrying.
The ascent back to the door is challenging, but we approach it at the gentlest angle that we can, alleviating the sharpness of the climb.
Finally, we reach the top of the mountain, both of us sweaty and our chests heaving.
I take a last look at the forest before I proceed to the door.
Micah wanted me to come to this place to connect with my power. I’m not sure if I did that exactly. I don’t feel like I have greater control or increased knowledge.
In fact, the opposite could be true. My power has become less quantifiable. I basked in this wilderness, saved a mother and her babies, connected with strange little rabbits and pretty dragonfly fishes, escaped an angry stag, and somehow stumbled into the realm belonging to the keeper of old magic.
