CHAPTER SEVEN
Genesis
HE WAS BEAUTIFUL. LONG BROWN HAIR cascaded past his shoulders — part of it was braided. Pieces fell by his perfectly sculpted face.
He smiled. His green eyes illuminated my whole world.
I reached for him, but each time my hands lifted, the burning was worse, so I learned to keep them behind me.
A sword was clasped in his right hand. He slid the blade across his left hand and held it in the air as blood dripped in slow motion onto the ground.
It was red until it touched the ground, turning into the same green I saw in his eyes. The green liquid seeped into the ground, nourishing it, causing grass and flowers to take root.
I gasped, reaching again.
The pain was too much.
He closed his eyes and cut again.
No! I tried yelling, but my voice simply didn't exist.
He continued, letting his blood spill around his feet. Hours went by, or maybe it was minutes. Soon an entire forest grew around us. I sighed in relief as the shield of the trees shaded me from the sun. The heat dissipated.
Only to return when Ethan looked at me again.
He turned and, in an instant, was in front of me, his black shirt open midway to his muscled chest.
We were in our own forest.
It started to rain.
I turned my face up, welcoming the cold.
But the raindrops weren't cold.
They were hot — searing hot.
The trees weren't protecting me anymore. I reached for Ethan, but he moved back. My need for shelter outweighed my need for him.
The scene changed. And suddenly I was standing near a river; he was on the other side.
I wanted him — I wanted the water more.
I tried jumping in, but each time I made a movement toward the water instead of him, the pain was unbearable.
With a silent sob, I fell to my knees.
When I looked up, Ethan was standing over me; he'd somehow made it past the river.
"When it's me you cry for — the pain ends."
I shook my head, fighting his words.
Because they meant the end of me. I knew it in my soul. If I gave in to the heat, if I gave in to him, if I ignored my basic human needs — I wouldn't be human anymore.
I would be fully reliant on a strange being who didn't want me to begin with.
"Stop fighting it!" he roared.