keep hiding it? And, oh, Arach, the thought of living this way, in fear all the rest of our lives…"
"Maybe…"
"What?"
He turned his head a little to look straight into her eyes. "Maybe we won't have to hide it forever."
"What do you mean? How could there ever be a time—"
"I have dreams, remember." His voice was all at once distant, the way she'd never heard it before, and although he did not move, his eyes were no longer focused on hers, but on some imaginary point far beyond the room and the bed where they lay. "Sometimes I dream of something coming. Of the world changing. Of an end…"
A shiver ran over Eleria's skin, starting at the hairline at the back of her neck, chasing down between her shoulder blades, goose-bumping the soft skin over her hip bones. A shiver not of cold, nor of fear, but of awe.
And, maybe, hope.
"Something that will change the world for us—for shifters?" She said the word, applying it to herself for the first time. I'm a shifter. Like Coram, like that cat-boy. And like Aera too. Except my gift will not take me to the temple to die as she died, stupidly, pointlessly, before she'd even lived.
"Yes," said Arach. "For us." His gaze came back to focus on her, his eyes, that earlier that morning had been dark with anger, fear, love, now showing nothing but a deep certainty, a calm that seemed to hold her, as warm and secure as the feel of his arms. "And the dreams…they've been coming for a long while, but more often over just this last month. Whatever's coming, it's closer. It's on its way. You've lived in this fear, under this shadow, for three years, Eleria. I don't think it will last another three. If we wait, just a little while, a little while longer…"
"What is it, though? You're saying something. What's going to happen?"
Arach smiled at her, holding her close. "The shadow is going to lift," he said.
***
About the Author
When Imogen Howson was a child, she loved reading so much she not only read in bed, at the table and in the bath, but in the shower and—not so successfully—on her bicycle. She enjoyed books in a slightly unorthodox way, too—many of her childhood books still have ragged edges where she tore paper from the margins in order to eat it.
Imogen writes romantic fantasy and science fiction for young adults and adults. She lives near Sherwood Forest in England, with her partner and their two daughters. She still reads in most places, but nowadays she prefers Cheddar cheese and endless cups of coffee to paper.
Other Books in This Series
Heart of the Volcano
Blood of the Volcano
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