murmur quietly. My toes were sinking into the mud underneath my feet, and a chill made my skin icy. I turned a corner to enter into the center of the maze.
Now? Now, I was firmly in the belief that this was a hallucination of my own making. It had to be. Each of the stone statues were being strangled by dark roses, blood dripping down their perfect skin, and their blank eyes welling with red. The ground was broken and the grass overgrown. A harp stood in the corner creating a soothing lullaby played by phantom hands that had me feeling dizzy. Lightning flashed as thunder had me tensing, highlighting creatures slinking against the hedges right out of view. How badly I wanted to see them…but I couldn’t look anywhere but the man in front of me.
“Ophelia?” his voice was smooth and velvet-like as his blue eyes widened in confusion. Eyes that were so damn familiar as nostalgia hit me like a fucking bulldozer.
“Who are you?” I asked softly, “Why are you here?”
“You called me, little rose,” he explained softly, walking forward, the rain almost parting for him. The power and intensity radiating off him was intoxicating, but there was this odd wounded vulnerability in his gaze.
If I had to guess, he looked almost two years older than myself, and his hard body and angular face were absent of any youth, instead replaced by a stunning hallowed effect. Dark black runes crawled up his neck and silver slicked back hair highlighted his icy blue eyes and black gauges. A dark, oversized, ripped shirt clung to his soaked body and it seemed worn on purpose like his dark jeans and shoes. A stunning set of black onyx rings were in on his rough fingers.
How did I know his fingers were rough? Because they were now skimming my face. I stared up at him as realization flashed in his gaze. How had he moved so fast? Why was I letting him touch me? I repeat. What the fuck was going on?
“You don’t remember me,” his voice was soft and caused me to lean into him.
“Who are you?” I asked my nails digging into his arms. Instead of responding, he looked up at the sky as the winds picked up causing the tornado sirens to sound. It wasn’t very unusual for Kansas, but no fear filled me as the clouds darkened and the clouds began to rapidly turn, the sky turning a near green.
“Ophelia!” Someone shouted and the world shook the ground nearly breaking. The man’s face in front of me contoured with frustration as he plastered me to his chest. I made a confused sound as he pressed his lips to my temple.
“Promise me you won’t tell them about me,” he whispered, his eyes speckled with fear but…I didn’t think it was for him.
“Why?” I demanded.
He didn’t answer, the body against mine dissolving into a cloud of pale silver dust that was swept up in the crazy weather. I could hear my name being shouted, loud yet impossibly close, as the world began to tilt and turn fuzzy. The ground shook like an earthquake causing me to sink to the ground, my eyes closing as pain pooled over my soaked form. I could feel bile coming up my throat as I dug my nails into the bed to find some type of anchor.
“Ophelia,” Rain’s hard voice and hands were shaking me as the earth underneath me gave in slightly, sinking me into the muddy grass. I snapped my eyes open and found myself looking skyward with a pair of familiar whiskey golden eyes looking at me. I inhaled sharply and looked around finding that we were in the maze. What the hell just happened?
“Rain?” I whispered my question out loud, “What the hell just happened?”
“I just had to pull your sweet ass out of the Shadow Realm, Ophelia. What the fuck was that?” he questioned, his jaw tense. “How long have you been able to do that? You could have gotten stuck in there! You were two fucking realities deep.”
I blinked at him in shock at the concern and bossy ass outburst. His hands were still on me, just as they had been…when I’d been against the tree at school. Before the other men showed up. Before Kirin came wandering out of the forest. And surely way before I ran into the mysterious hottie in my maze.
He had changed from the last time I’d seen him, to say the least. But hell,