Echoes in Eternity (The Pella Series Book 1) (78 page)

“What? No! No! Elissa! Please, I have never loved anyone as much I love you, desired anyone or thought about anyone. Just you,” his voice goes so low, it’s barely a whisper.

“Maximillian, everyone’s against us. You will come to scorn and hate me for it. I’m not a girl of your world no matter how much I have tried to be. They will always remind me that I am somehow beneath them starting with your own relations. I’m trying to save you from future misery,” I say swallowing.

He falls onto his knees, and holds both my hands firmly in one of his and takes out an exquisite heirloom ring. “Until this moment, until you said that you would deny me, I wasn’t
exactly sure whether or not I could live without you. That’s the truth. I thought maybe we could conceal our relationship from others. But, now… I can’t breathe. I can’t think. The thought of you leaving me is like a blade through my heart. I love you, Elissa! If you love me, we’ll find a way! I beg you Elissa, marry me, choose me instead,” he says forcing himself not to look back to the direction where Alex walked away.

“Sometimes, love isn’t enough, Maximillian. How can I deprive you of what you have, what you command, and your family name? These are who you are. It’s unfair if you are to lose them because you chose me as your wife. A woman who really loves you wouldn’t think of depriving you from what you are entitled to. Your mother is right; I’m not right for you.” His eyes grow darker.

“How would she know what’s in my heart, what I long for or what is good for me? Tell me, Elissa… Who other than you and I could be the judge of this decision? I want you Elissa Duncan, with all my heart! Should you have me, I’ll go to the continent or stay here… we’ll do whatever you desire, wherever you want to live. I give you my word. I’m offering my heart, my life to you Elissa. Do with me as you wish. Will you marry me?” There is only love, hope and anxiety in his eyes.

I worry my lower lip between my teeth. Is this fair to him? I look
at his kneeled form before me, carefully examining him. He’s worried: his pupils are dilated, his hands holding mine are slightly shaky, his fingers are caressing my gloved hands gently, reverently. The wind ruffles my hair and sweeps around my body, shivering me to my core again.

“Duke Courcillion doesn’t mind living on a horse ranch?” I ask with a smile.

“I love horses,” he answers hopeful. “You know that.”

“You don’t mind having a wife without a title, or class?”

“Your class has no equal.”

“And, you love me?” I whisper my question.

“Ardently, excessively, infinitely,” he replies. My heart breaks with his answer. Why couldn’t it be someone else who was declaring his love for me like this? I love Maximillian but it’s nothing like what I feel for Alex. My love for Maximillian is like a gentle breeze where the love I feel for Alex is a full blown hurricane. Wouldn’t it be better to marry someone who loves me intensely, and teaches me to love him with the same intensity instead of pining for someone who only protects me and doesn’t seem to return my love for him?

“Then my answer is yes,” I reply. As
sadness takes over me, there’s only joy and desire blossoming in Maximillian’s face and he rises up to his considerable height. He places the ring on the fourth finger on my right hand, then lifts up the hand with the ring and kisses it for a long minute. His eyes lock with mine, and he leans down to kiss me. But he takes his time to reach my lips.

“May I kiss my fiancée?” he asks. In this particular lifetime, this was my first kiss. I feel hot, nervous and desirous. I nod my head and lift my lips up in acquiescence. He leans in, runs his nose over my cheek and finally gently touching my lips with his. His kiss is first soft and gentle, caressing. But, when a soft whimper escapes my lips, Maximillian snakes his arm to the small of my back and pulls me flush to his body, flattening my breasts against his chest. I can feel the charge that’s ignited in his body as he licks the seam of my lips coaxing me to open up to him. His breath is sweet, fresh and tastes like mint liquor and French brandy.
He brings his right hand, tilts my chin up to his liking, and simply takes over, working his lips like an expert craftsman who knows how to use his tools. His tongue licks the inside of my mouth sensually. The expert movements awaken other desires in me. My breasts ache for his touch just by the way his tongue moves inside my mouth, possessing me. For this moment, I want to be kissed, loved, and touched by those soft, warm lips. Time stops.

Alex stiffens next to me bristling with uncontrollable explosive tension. He’s ready to charge Maximillian’s memory at a dead run just for giving me my very first kiss. But, Alex doesn’t get a chance. I’m yanked out of Maximillian’s arms and kiss by my hair and dragged at a fast speed by a pair of invisible hands. Maximillian attempts to run after me, but his face turns red as if he’s being choked at his every attempt to take a step towards me to bring me to safety.

“Let her go!” I hear a male voice boom from a distance, as he runs towards me with rapid footfalls. “Alex, she’s got Miss Ellie!” he’s shouting behind. That’s… the voice is very familiar. That’s Anthony! The momentary distraction from his voice and chase, the owner of the hands becomes clear in a haze. It’s the Duchess! I escape her grasp and run away from her out of the gardens as fast as my feet can carry. I abandon my shoes with some heels and run barefoot. The cloudy skies decide to mourn me at that moment. First large beads of rain slice through the darkness falling onto me and my path, but later turn into a torrential downfall. I can’t see where I’m running to in the darkness but, I feel the firmer ground under my feet. I can hear other footfalls and my name being called behind me. I don’t know who is friend or who is foe. I just want to put as much distance between me and the Duchess and find a place to hide until sunrise. The putrid smell of fish, algae and river water hit my senses. I’m running close to the River Seine. Maybe I can run parallel to the river to find someplace to hide.

“Elissa!” I hear Maximillian’s worried, pleading voice.

“Miss Ellie!” another voice vaguely reaches my ears. Anthony.

“Elissa, baby…” Maximillian’s voice is soothing. He looks like he’s trying not to scare a cornered wild animal. Why would he behave that way towards me? But then I see myself as an observer. I’m soaked thoroughly, shivering, and holding what looks like a piece of stick as a defense tool. I’m crouched like a mountain lion. My eyes are wild and alert. I’m keeping Maximillian at bay. I look completely terrified. I’ve never seen myself like that.

“We’ll leave tonight to safety, baby!”

“Don’t come any closer!” I shout back.

“I love you Elissa! I’m leaving France for you…with you. Tonight baby,” he whispers. But his voice is abruptly cut.

“What is it with disobedient children! Must you defy me at every turn?”

“This doesn’t concern you, mother! I love her! It is she I want to spend my life with. She wants me despite you!” he shouts.

“Tsk…tsk…tsk…” the mother tsks her son. “You have tied my hands, and her blood is on your hands, Maximillian. No sin shall go unpunished!” she says in such a sweet tone, Maximillian is taken aback momentarily. But realizing the ramifications of her words, he runs forward but is frozen in his place, wordlessly, painfully. His every attempt to make a movement is rewarded with a choking sensation, depriving his body of air.

“Miss Ellie!”

“Elissa!” two distinct voices reach as I try to slowly back away from the Duchess.

“She’s all yours Apollyon…” the Duchess mutters, and with a strong shove, she pushes me into the rigid waters of the River Seine. The current takes me…as I drift away.

“Elissaaaa!” The raw agony, torment, and distress in Alex’s voice are excruciating to hear. It’s the voice of a man who has lost everything he
cares about.

“In the water!” Anthony shouts. Alex doesn’t hesitate one second before he jumps into the water after me. His limbs are like powerful machines. But he looks like he has lost a link, a connection. I watch him as he
searches for me in dark water, on a rainy night without a single light to aid him. I realize that his connection, his bond with me was severed. That’s why he can’t find me. I see myself in the distance from my own resurfacing memories. Cold waters cut my circulation from my limbs and I’m first shivering violently in the water and unable to call out or swim. I try to remain calm to allow the water to carry me as I drift further, but the crescent of the waves in the current manages to overwhelm me. Water seeps into my mouth, filling and burning my lungs. Darkness is overtaking my sight and mind. The Sirens are calling out my name in a lovely ballad. I’m dying. The single thought that crosses my mind before unconsciousness claims me is the veil of regret that laces over me. I never told Alex that I love him. The rain and the river wash away my tears and I succumb to the waters of the River Seine.

CHAPTER XXIX

SEA OF WAKING DREAMS

Alexander Aurelius Pella

              The nightmare started when the eagles on my wrists started bleeding. My blood is washing away in the rain. My connection to Elissa is lost. No thoughts, no sounds as if the world came to a complete standstill. I ran outside as fast as I could search for her.

“Elissaaaa!” I shouted until my voice gave out. Her presence in my soul was my mirror. Her soul is the goodness that tamed my merciless heart. The loss of our bond makes me feel hollow. I have to find her! I’m lost without her presence, because without her, the gaping mew of the abyss creeps
ever closer to devour me. An abyss I can never fully satisfy. When I reach the River Seine, all I see is a frozen Duke with his face half blue a permanent horrified expression etched on it. His mother, the queen viper is grinning widely.

“You’re too late cowboy!” she mocks me smiling. “No one dares to go against me and live
s to speak for another day!”

“The bitch pushed her into the water!” Anthony shouts running from the other direction. I jump
in without a second thought. Our bond has never been severed before. The shock of cold water greets me immediately. But, it doesn’t deter me; my body operates on a different level. I shut my anxiety out. The waters are dark, the sky is angry. There’s an occasional streak of lightening. The rain is beating down. If I was a human, my sight would simply be useless. But my vision is not impeded by darkness. It’s the murkiness of the waters that makes it difficult to see. The fucking current is fast, the river is wide, and my girl is floating away in it! My heart is tearing apart! There’s a gaping hole in me as if my heart is being ripped away and tossed downstream. I shout as loud as I can: “Elissaaaa!” The sound of my voice is drowned and quickly swallowed by the sound of rain and buried within the waters of the river. I dive beneath the surface of the water and scan for a sign of life, a heartbeat, anything that’s remotely human. There’s nothing. I speed up. She’s only been tossed into the water a few minutes before I jumped in, but it’s been over a quarter of an hour, approaching twenty minutes. A lot can happen in that time, in these waters and in this unforgiving weather!

When I return to the surface,
I let the current carry me as I scan the river banks and the surface of the water. The unbearable noxious stench of sulphur, cinder and boiling rot hit my nose like a freight train. The smell is from here to high heaven, even completely masking the rusted iron, rubbish and crap in the water. Immediately, I’m both in an attack and a defensive mode. If that foul odor is here, so is Phlegethon. How does he know where Elissa is? If Phlegethon found her, the smell would only be residual. He’s still searching for her. A flash of lightening in the distance shines over the dark crimson veins as dark tendrils spread over the water. It’s dredging the waters for her!