Stay (28 page)

“I still don’t remember everything,” he began heavily, “but I think I cursed myself when I realized you could never forgive me again.” His voice cracked and storms began to brew in his gaze. We both sucked in a sharp breath when he lifted a hand and let it hover just over my jaw. “I think I remember waking up one day as a child by the sea and still craving the way you made me more at peace than anything I have ever known.”

I closed my eyes when his hand alight
ed on my cheek, when his thumb reached up to rub against my tears. Breathing was becoming more difficult. Silence seemed to be the only response I could give him, when inside my soul was raging.

“But I started to forget, the longer I wa
s human. That was my curse, being forced to forget you.” His words were still tortured and strained, not quite tender as I received them. Nonetheless, I savored every syllable, every nuance of every phrase.

“I do not remember how many lifetimes I have lived with this face, always in a different place, sharing a different human body. Every time I began to remember who I was before, I tried to take back the power. I would fail my own test and be forced to begin anew,” he growled and lightning struck the waves, illuminating the depths below.

My eyes opened in shock when he pressed his forehead to mine and the air was stolen from my chest. Tempests brewed just behind his sea
-colored orbs, ancient and fathomless as the deep, as the waves echoed his mood around us. His lips brushed against mine as he said, “But then I woke up inside
him
one day and knew it was different. I could feel you were close, my love. Even sharing his time with you, forcing what little I could of myself into him, was worth it.”

He paused, consi
dering his words. “You wanted Cain to forgive Lissa for not being the woman he was waiting for. You wanted his happiness above your own and were willing to let him go, even after you forgave me.”

He wan
ted to hear the words from me. He wanted to know that I still desired not just Cain, but all of him. The unspoken question was in his words and in the eyes boring into mine, reflecting flashes of lightning.

A question that demanded an answer I was too shocked and dumbfounded to give floated at the tip of my tongue. The feeble words I wanted to tell him died at my lips and crumpled to dust in my mind. After all, when the impossible had become possible, when my sorrow had turned into a foreign joy bubbling up in me, there was nothing left to say.

So I shifted my lower body and aligned it with his, until we were crushed together and all distance had been removed. Tentatively, I dragged a hand up through his scalp and grasped at the black, almost intangible silken hair. I breathed in his air and felt my chest begin to shake with silent sobs as the enormity of all he had said, of everything that had been done and forgiven, resounded in my empty shell of a mind.

“You cursed yourself for me,” I whispered and the brewing hurricane ceased around us.
My skin glowed with the presence of every color, of the sun, when he lifted his hands and pressed the tips of his fingers to my face.

A surge of longing filled me, deep as ha
d ever been felt by two split by jealousy and pride. Because of Cain and Lissa, I had learned how to forgive Seid. I knew he saw my answer in my eyes as he picked me up by the waist and crushed me to him. The moment our lips met I could taste the truth a dozen words could never convey, but we did not question our second chance. Most people never lived through their first.

Bridgi
ng the Gap

I started
writing this novel a few years ago as a short story. Later, while suffering through writer’s block, while working on 
Silver Hollow
,
Stay
became a way for me to vent some creative juices. As part of my research, I interviewed dozens of women in and beyond my acquaintance, asking them to share with me the story of their true loves. 

What was born of their stories took me by surprise.
I don’t think this is the greatest love story ever told. It’s more a tale of discovery, of things once lost and now found.
Stay
was written as an answer to my own question, whether or not true love exists, and if so, how far people are willing to go for it.

So t
hank you, to all the brave women who shared their stories with me. Y’all are the reason this book was made possible. I only wish everyone could hear your mostly heart-warming and at times wrenching tales.

Many thanks
to my fantabulous editor, R.J Locksley. And much love to my designer, Najla Qamber (a.k.a. Batman) for her unwavering patience.

I
started writing by pounding away on my grandpa’s antique typewriter. Today I live out his and my dream by giving this book to you. If you enjoyed
Stay
, please show your support through reviews and posts. Please feel free to contact me through the links listed below to find information on upcoming books.

Website
:
http://jennifersilverwood.com

Blog:
http://silverwoodsketches.blogspot.com/

Twitter:
@JennSilverwood

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/silverwoodj

Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5827602.Jennifer_Silverwood

Other Titles

Silver Hollow

Qeya: Heaven’s Edge I

Ohre: Heaven’s Edge II (coming soon)