Dark Isle(7)

Luke scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I’ve got to reach the Council. I’m going to go up to the gas station to use the pay phone.”

“Can’t you reach them with your mind or something?” I asked between yawns.

“Only those who are bound by blood or love can speak mind to mind,” Luke said, his voice softening as he looked at me. I yawned again, and used the movement to break eye contact. It was too awkward knowing that he had feelings for me when I had feelings for someone else.

He slipped back out of the bedroom, the door clicking behind him. I listened to his footsteps recede down the hallway before I took in the room.

It was small; I believe “quaint” would be the accurate term. Cora slithered down my body to the floor. You need to sleep. Pulling that much power through you in order to control the water is a huge task for one so young and untrained, Cora said, her words echoing through my mind.

Yawning I mumbled, “Thanks, I never would have guessed that on my own.”

She snickered as she slid onto the homemade quilt that covered the twin bed. “If you think being sassy with me will work, I’ll tell you now it won’t.”

“Fine. Whatever.” I half grunted. Irritation flickered through me.

She shook her head; her tongue flicked in and out. For a snake, she was actually very beautiful. Her scarlet head blended into a deep neon blue body that shimmered as she moved. My eyelids grew heavy as I watched her settle on a pillow. Stripping out of my wet clothes, I rinsed them then hung them to dry in the bathroom before slipping on a white robe that was hanging on the door.

Almost stumbling, I made it back to the bed, exhaustion dragging me down under its spell. My last thoughts were not of Ashling, nor my mother, or even Luke, but of Bres.

So it should have come as no surprise that I opened my eyes to find Bres standing in front of me; his violet eyes half narrowed.

“You be dreaming,” He said. “And you pulled me into ta dream. What do you want, Quinn?” I smiled and reached for him, my heart pounding so hard I didn’t notice the ice in his voice.

“Bres, please, just hold me a minute,” I whispered to him. He knocked away my hands; frowned at me.

“You brought me here. What do you want?” He repeated, and this time I felt the cold of his words settle over me. It had been less than twenty-four hours since I’d last seen him; what had happened?

“What’s wrong?” I wanted to feel his skin against mine, even if just for a moment, to feel the reassuring beat of his heart against my ear.

“You really don’t get it, do you?” He almost growled the words at me. Taking a step towards me, his power pulsed out over my skin, the weight of it just as heavy and dark as his father’s.

It took everything I had to hold my ground, to remind myself that this was just a dream, and that even if wasn’t, Bres would never hurt me. Would he? Uncertainty flickered through me for the first time.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Bres. I thought you cared for me,” I said, confused by this change in him.

He snorted. “Do you know what you are destined for? Do you understand what you’re asking of me?”

I shook my head totally confused. “I thought you didn’t believe in destiny.”

Hands clenched at his sides, the fine muscles in his arms quivered with suppressed emotion. What had happened?

“You ask me to protect Ashling, which I would have done anyway. But you want me in your life too? You can’t have both, Quinn. Because I can’t give you both. If I protect Ashling, it will be protecting her against you too. If I let myself love you, I can’t protect her, because it will mean that I would have to fight you.” The pain in his eyes rocked me. Opening his hands he held them up to me. “I’ve seen . . .” he snapped his mouth shut; his lips thinned and his jaw twitched. He visibly gathered himself before he went on. “I’ve seen what you would do, how you would kill Ashling. There is no denying what I saw. You will kill her if I step aside. As long as I am with her, you won’t be able to kill her. That is the way of it.”

With my arms wrapped around my body; I tried to stop the shaking. “You have to believe me that I would never hurt her.” My voice caught on the words, cracking at the end.

Bres took a step towards me with his hands outstretched and froze. “I can’t be with you, Quinn. I can’t. You are meant for Luke; he knows it too. As much as it hurts me to admit it, I see it now, more clearly than ever. We can’t be anything but on opposite sides of the war that is coming. It is the only way to keep her safe, it’s the only way she might survive.”