An excerpt from Sharon Shinn's "Archangel"
"You know that I had no choice but to come here, " he said somberly, studying what little of her face he could see by the scattered starlight. “I did not abandon you, but I had no choice, I had to come.”
She took a step backward but he caught her wrist, holding her there. “it shall be as you choose,” he said. “You stay with me or you stay with them – but don’t think you can hide from me, wherever you go. There is not a place in the world – not in the mountains or the valleys, not in the rivers or the plains – not in Ysral, should you be able to sail to it – where you could go and leave me behind. And if I leave you, for any reason, “ he added tightening his grip as she struggled to free her hand, “I will return to you. That is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow morning and the thunderbolt falling tomorrow night. That is as sure as God’s existence. I will come back to you, or I will find you – over and over again, as often as we are parted, until the end of the world itself.”
If she had any answer to that, she was not allowed to speak it. He drew her so swiftly into his arms that she did not have any time to pull free, His wings wrapped around them both; they stood in a shell of white feathers, warm and protected. He bent his head and kissed her, feeling the savage excitement kick through him, feeling the sharp heat flare in his arm, feeling his whole body dissolve. The starlight changed over them while he laid his kiss upon her mouth; the constellations moved before he lifted his head.
When he finally dropped his arms, she stumbled back a little, only to be caught by the net of his wings, still folded around them. She stared up at him with an expression so intense he could not read it, but still she did not speak.
“Remember,” he said, and gradually folded his wings back. “You were chosen for me, and you are mine.”
Shinn, Sharon. Archangel. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1996. p, 322-323.
She took a step backward but he caught her wrist, holding her there. “it shall be as you choose,” he said. “You stay with me or you stay with them – but don’t think you can hide from me, wherever you go. There is not a place in the world – not in the mountains or the valleys, not in the rivers or the plains – not in Ysral, should you be able to sail to it – where you could go and leave me behind. And if I leave you, for any reason, “ he added tightening his grip as she struggled to free her hand, “I will return to you. That is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow morning and the thunderbolt falling tomorrow night. That is as sure as God’s existence. I will come back to you, or I will find you – over and over again, as often as we are parted, until the end of the world itself.”
If she had any answer to that, she was not allowed to speak it. He drew her so swiftly into his arms that she did not have any time to pull free, His wings wrapped around them both; they stood in a shell of white feathers, warm and protected. He bent his head and kissed her, feeling the savage excitement kick through him, feeling the sharp heat flare in his arm, feeling his whole body dissolve. The starlight changed over them while he laid his kiss upon her mouth; the constellations moved before he lifted his head.
When he finally dropped his arms, she stumbled back a little, only to be caught by the net of his wings, still folded around them. She stared up at him with an expression so intense he could not read it, but still she did not speak.
“Remember,” he said, and gradually folded his wings back. “You were chosen for me, and you are mine.”
Shinn, Sharon. Archangel. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1996. p, 322-323.
posted by Rebecca at 5:33 AM
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