Page 42 of A Dance of Water (Moon Song #2)

I’M brOKEN

LUELLA

" E nora," Caliban moaned his lover’s name. The sound made a blush rise to Luella’s cheeks.

The Princess shimmered like the clear, untouched surface of the lake before her. She watched the entwined lovers on the bank. Enora’s silky, dark brown hair fanned out above her as Caliban licked his way down her body, tasting her.

Enraptured, Luella watched…

But then, something odd happened.

The air pulsed with feeling. The bright sun overhead fell down, down, down as if it had been forced under the curve of the horizon by the moon’s hand. The near-cloudless, perfect sky grew pink and orange with a swift sunset, then deep purple, and was overtaken by the inky black of night.

Stars speckled the sky. One streaked by, leaving glittering stardust in its wake. It reminded her of another time, another place, another… somewhere.

Luella’s cold heart pounded as she stared up at the sky.

She looked back down, finding that the darkness had crept into the sweetness of the lovers.

A pale hand closed around Enora’s throat, her breath catching as she clawed at Caliban’s forearm. Her wide brown eyes stared up at him as she begged him, wordlessly, to let her go. To stop this.

But he didn’t stop .

Dark shadows crawled up the sides of his face, his green eyes blotted out with traces of darkness. Anger clouded the usual softness the male held when he looked at her.

"I will kill you for this, Enora." Caliban loomed over her, pressing her down into the shadowed bed of grass beneath them. "Did you think of me when you fucked him?" She shook her head, a soft whimper escaping her. "Did you?" he roared.

Enora squeezed her eyes shut as she sobbed.

Caliban moaned and turned his head away from her. "Gods!" he cried. "Why are you doing this to me?"

He jerked away from Enora as if awoken from a nightmare, running his hands harshly through his black hair as he cried and cried. Thick tears streamed down his pale cheeks, and he hid his face in his hands.

Enora stayed splayed on the grass, her gown bunched around her hips, the neckline torn indecently. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, shakily righting her gown as she sat up.

The human girl stared at her lover—her assailant—like she was seeing a ghost. "C-Caliban?" Enora whispered.

"Stay away from me, Enora. I will not hurt you again." His words were strangled and thick with tears. He couldn’t even look at her.

Luella walked closer, scared for the girl. She didn’t want her to die. Not by this mercurial male’s hand. Hot and cold, sweet and sinful. No female deserved to be beholden to the emotional whims of another—especially a male.

Enora took a deep breath, scooted closer, and placed a shaking, hesitant hand on Caliban’s shoulder.

He fell into her like the sun had easily fallen below the treeline. And she was the moon who strongly took his place.

Caliban’s sobs were filled with heart-wrenching anguish. Enora wrapped her arms around him and soothed him with soft words, her hands stroking over his dark hair. He buried his head against her stomach, mumbling constant pleas for forgiveness…

"I’m sorry, my love. Never again."

Enora shushed him.

"Please, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to," Caliban sobbed. "You’re all I have. "

"I know, love," Enora muttered.

But she never said she forgave him.

The air shimmered around Luella, the sky sparkling with stars as the lake reflected the dots of brightness in the night. Wind roared through the trees, and the heavens fell around her like a blanket—or a canopy wrapped around a bed…

And the Princess woke up, cold, in a bed wrapped in silken sheets, hair smelling faintly of saltwater, and no vampire around to grant her chilled comforts.

She blinked up at the white, fluttering canopy around her bed, feeling something cold trickle down her cheek. Pressing a hand to her skin, Luella felt tears on her skin.

Luella couldn’t bring herself to go into the bathing pool.

The water rippled softly, the room smelling faintly of lavender and roses. It was warm and inviting; she was cold and lonely.

Yet, she could not find it in herself to enter the water.

Nude, she shivered, her white hair falling in frizzed curls.

After she had fallen asleep next to Bastian, she had slept through the night and the whole day, time slipping through her fingers like sand.

Once more, whatever strangeness she had dreamed escaped her.

All except for a name that lingered like smoke—Caliban.

And feelings that left her more cold than the memory of drowning beneath snowy ocean waves.

The dark water of the bathing pool made her chest seize… She wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself in the privacy of her bathing chambers.

Her throat ached, lingering effects of her attacker’s crushing grip. But that didn’t stop her from whispering a soft secret into the dimly lit space…

"I’m broken."