Page 25 of One Last Wish (The Elder World)

T he ball was turning out to be everything I dreamt of. Draping the last bits of fabric onto the tables with Daisy and Theo, we admired our work.

“We should get ready,” Daisy stated. “The author will be here in thirty minutes.” It didn’t leave me much time.

Darce had popped out to get something. His outfit, I imagined. I started to wonder if I would recognize his attire from my dreams.

Rushing downstairs, I went to the ladies’ restroom to get ready. I’d done most of the foundation work of my makeup this morning, but I added a little more detail to my eyes and cheeks before finishing with a light pink lipstick. I tied a few strands of my hair at the back of my head and added a delicate, sparkling clip to my hair. Once I had slipped into my dress, I called Daisy to help me do the back up.

“Alora, you look stunning!” Daisy beamed. “Alice, doesn’t she look beautiful?”

“Yeah, you scrub up pretty well,” Alice half smiled. Daisy was in a Belle from Beauty and the Beast inspired gown, while Alice had gone for a more sophisticated, midnight blue dress.

“Ned, Theo and Darce are lucky sons of bitches,” Daisy giggled, clapping her hands. “I’ll see you out there, Alora. Are you coming, Alice?” Darce must have returned, judging by Daisy's excited face. She and Alice were blocking my view of him.

Once they began to make their way upstairs, my eyes found him. He was in the most beautiful, tailored black tunic with gold trim detail, and black trousers. He had chosen the same colours as my dress!

“I’m guessing your outfit might be original?” I mused, watching him drink me in.

“Alora, you...that dress.... how?”

“You’ve seen me in something like this before?” Darce nodded, stalking towards me. I’d never dreamt of wearing a dress similar to this before. Perhaps my subconscious had been talking to me. My breath caught as he sank to his knees in front of me. “Darce, we can’t. I need to greet the author in five minutes.”

“I’m aware of that. I’m simply helping you into your heels.” Oh, shit! Yeah, shoes would be helpful. “Judging by the blush on your cheeks, I can offer a guess as to what you thought I was about to do.” I felt the heat rise to my face at his comment. “The thought did cross my mind. No one should be allowed to look this beautiful.” His hands caressed my ankles while he helped me slide into my heels, fastening each one in turn. When he rose, his eyes were hooded with desire. “I’ll try my best to keep my hands off you at the ball.” His voice was hoarse as he pecked my lips.

Evelyn was waiting with a few of her friends when I made my way upstairs. Darce had gone to help Theo and Malcolm. The author of the hour was due to arrive any minute.

“This place looks incredible. So do you.” Evelyn hugged me tightly. She was a vision tonight in her deep red ballgown.

“I hope you get to have a little fun and enjoy the evening at some point.”

“Once the signing is out of the way, I might get a few dances with Darce,” I winked. “Now go and have some fun. Make sure you get some canapes before they’re all gone.”

Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion around the main door, and something told me the author had arrived. Straightening my dress, I took a deep breath.

If I was honest with myself, I had used this ball to distract myself from what was happening in my life. Having to face the truth about what and who I truly was, was difficult to wrap my head around.

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T HE SIGNING WENT EFFORTLESSLY . The author had never been to a book signing quite like it, and praised all our hard work. Once everyone's book was autographed, the dance began. Now was the best time to encourage people up to the fantasy section to buy their next read. With a bit of luck, the rest of the Bookends staff and I would get to enjoy ourselves during the second half of the ball. Every time I looked over at Darce, he was gazing at me, his eyes wide with wonder. How could he break me down with just a look? If he carried on with the sultry glances, I was sure I’d combust.

“Darce is seriously in love with you,” Daisy sighed, watching the interaction between us. “You two make the cutest couple.”

“Love is a strong word,” I snorted nervously. Were we that easy to read? Was Darce in love with me? When I met his love-filled eyes, I knew the answer.

“What better place than a ball to admit your feelings for one another?” The flashback hit me out of the blue, forcing itself to the front of my mind.

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“M AYBE WE NEED TO KEEP our distance for a little while.” Darce had me pinned against a stone wall. My stunning, black and gold dress was so full that it was difficult to get the closeness we desired.

“No!” I sobbed, clinging to him.

“We need to be realistic, Alora.”

“We need to stay together . I will not accept anything else! You are all I need.”

“I will not sacrifice your immortal soul. I love you! Do you understand? I LOVE YOU! ”

“I love you, too.”

“ No ! You can’t say those words out loud. They make it impossible for me to stay away. You are pure, Alora. You are Dylin ! Loving a Noxlin like me goes against everything you are. I have been so foolish, thinking I could keep you safe. Whatever Holy Ether has planned for us, it’s not going to end the way we want it to.”

“I don’t give a fuck what Holy Ether has deemed for us! I choose you! I’m pure because of my love for you . You’ve taught me so much, Darce. More than I could ever comprehend. Noxlin are nothing like my race describes. I began falling for you the night you saved me, but couldn’t admit it back then. You have taken over my entire heart. All of it is yours. I’m nothing without you. I’d rather be dead than live without you! Do you understand what you mean to me? Why are you allowed to declare your love for me, but I can’t!? Well, fuck that, and fuck you! I love you , so deal with it!” At my words, his lips crashed against mine.

“We are doomed, my love,” Darce breathed against my lips, his voice cracking with sadness and fear.

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“H EY!” DAISY SHOOK ME . “Are you okay? You zoned out for a minute.” Taking a step back, I tried to focus on something other than the flashback I’d just had. Doomed? What had Darce and I done for our love to be doomed ?

“My dress is a little tight,” I lied, pretending like I was finding it hard to breathe.

“I can try to loosen it for you a little if you want?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m sure it will loosen as I move around.” Giving her a small smile, I made my way across the room to where Darce was watching me intently from near the grand staircase. People were already on the dance floor, spinning around while the string quartet played. A strange sense of Deja Vu came over me. Why did this feel familiar?

Darce was darting through the crowd trying to reach me. Finally, he stood in front of me. He caressed my face, searching my eyes before gently kissing my lips. “Dance with me.”

“We’re still working.”

“Malcolm said we’ve done enough and should enjoy ourselves.” Gazing around, I noticed Daisy and Ned already on the dance floor. Moving closer, he whispered into my ear. “All I want to do right now is hold you in my arms.” His soft plea was all I needed to agree.

Dancing with Darce...I had no words to describe it. He was confident and led so well that I actually looked as if I knew what I was doing.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” I mused as he swirled me around the dance floor to the sound of the most beautiful string arrangement of a current love song. The band Darce hired was incredible.

“Oh, I have many faults, Alora. You simply haven’t remembered them yet.”

“I seriously doubt that.” Darce pulled me closer against his body, the rough fabric of his tunic grazing against my bare arms. “Why does this feel familiar to me?”

“You’ve always loved music and dancing. I’ve asked the string quartet to play a favourite of yours later. I’m curious to see if you remember it.”

“Is the song old?”

“ Very old. They loved learning to play it. I had to enchant them so they didn’t ask questions about where the song originally came from, though.”

“All that for one song?”

“It will be worth it.” Darce winked, spinning me away from him. How I didn’t fall over, I’ll never know, but he kept me upright before spinning me back into his chest. It made me wonder if he was using his shadows a little to help with my balance. I had never been this graceful. “You look breathtaking tonight,” he breathed against the shell of my ear. “Every male here has had his eyes on you at least once. Most are finding it hard to keep their eyes off you. It’s quite unsettling because I want them all to know that you are mine .”

“You may be a little biassed ,” I blushed, darting my eyes around the room. A few people were gazing in our direction. I’m sure it was more to do with Darce and how well he was leading me than them looking at me . Even Evelyn had her mouth wide open as she watched me do a kind of waltz, except my arms were a little looser at my side.

“I am bewitched in everything that involves you, Alora. Haven’t you worked that out yet?” A smile was playing on his beautiful lips.

“Because you love me.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. Darce’s body tensed for a few short moments. Then his eyes got softer, but held so much pain. What had I done? His gaze was breaking me piece by piece. “I know you told me you loved me once at an event similar to this.” I had to remove that suffering and fear from his eyes.

“How? When did you...?”

“I had a flashback before the dance started,” I interrupted. “You told me that we were doomed. Is that still the case? Is there really no hope?”

“There is always hope, my love,” Darce breathed, leaning down to brush his nose against mine. “I still stand by my words that night, though.” Tilting my head, I looked up at him, pleading with my eyes for him to continue. “I will never sacrifice your immortal soul. I would rather die first.”

“I am immortal, then?”

“Oh, you are so much more than that.”

“And you are immortal?” Darce nodded. “I wish I could remember.” The quartet seemed to be coming to the end of their song, so Darce stilled us both on the dance floor.

“You might get that as one last wish in your human form,” he whispered, taking two steps back from me. The music changed and shifted into something that felt like a distant memory to me...a dream long forgotten. Darce was watching me intently, and I knew this was the piece of music from my past.

Subconsciously, I sank to the ground in a deep bow. Darce held his hand out to me, and I took it, rising slowly to my feet. My moves became instinctive. Darce raised his hand in the air, leading me to glide around his body. The melody was so beautiful. The single violinist looked emotional playing as I caught her eye for a split second. I did a few turns around Darce's body, switching directions for each turn, before the tempo slowly began to increase. Everyone had cleared the dance floor to watch us dance. Darce radiated confidence, and in his safe arms, I had no fear of being watched by everyone in this room. His one arm cupped the side of my waist and we began to drift across the dance floor. My arms moved to the rhythm of the violin, as if the song had made my body come alive. Love. That’s what this was! Pure, never ending, suffocating love for Darce. Taking a deep breath, I welcomed it. I wanted nothing more than to have this immortal being dance with me forever. Doomed or not, my love for him would never fade. We took another turn across the dance floor before standing in front of each other. This time, our hands were almost palm to palm, but not touching as we swayed back and forth. The current charging between us was making wisps of dark and light swirls in the small space between our fingertips. Light and dark, it appeared perfectly balanced to me.

“I love you,” I breathed with tears in my eyes. The tempo became more powerful, the song approaching its finale. He gripped my waist, lifting me high in the air. The music increased as the rest of the string quartet joined the soloist. Darce spun me around again as my feet touched the floor. His eyes seemed mesmerised while we danced palm to palm once more. “I have always loved you, Darce. I’m not afraid of what’s to come. Together, we can defeat anything. I can feel that deep in my bones.” He lifted me as the tempo increased one last time, and when I began to slide down his body, Darce captured my lips with his, answering me with the most soul-breaking kiss. With my arms wrapped around his neck, I closed any distance between us. My entire body felt like it was on fire. I didn’t break from the kiss until my back hit something hard.

Gazing up, I gasped. We were in the secure, coded room with the rare and expensive books at the back of the store. I was currently lying on the corner of the old wooden table with Darce between my legs. “H...How? Did people just witness us disappear ?”

“It’s okay,” he soothed. “I enchanted everyone the second I portaled us here.”

“Why?” I swallowed, watching a fire burning deep in his eyes.

“Look at your arms, Alora.” My skin was ablaze with light. It was so bright that I could make out the golden patterns on the inside of my arms: three spiralling golden suns. I had seen them before in my dreams, and then briefly on my date with Theo.

“Did everyone see?”

“No, I covered us in shadows before anyone could.”

“What’s happening?”

“You are remembering,” he breathed. “Your powers are beginning to awaken.”

“Please, Darce. What am I?” I begged, kissing down his neck. “Tell me! I can’t stand it any longer!” His hands gripped my thighs, pushing the material of my dress up my body. “You love me! You would do anything for me! Please! I need to know! Whatever we have to face, we will do it together . I can never lose you! You are my entire heart! Dancing with you...I...I could feel the connection and how deeply rooted it is for both of us. If we are doomed...we will go down together. All I want...all I will ever want...is you for eternity .”

His lips crashed furiously against mine. The urgency of his kiss was unlike anything I’d felt from him before.

“You need to be sure, Alora. There will be no going back from here.” Darce was asking my permission about something, but I had no idea what he meant. “I’m going to claim you now.” OH! “The last time we did this for the first time...it got pretty intense.” He had claimed me before. Shadows began to surround us, so I gave him a quizzical look. “This is for your own protection. Enchanting the whole of New York would take me a few moments that we might not have.”

“You’re making me sound like a dangerous weapon.”

“The shadows are for my benefit as much as yours. I’m about to lose control for the first time in over a thousand years.” Did I hear him correctly? A thousand years? Had Darce been celibate for a millennium while he waited for me? “What is going on in that beautiful mind of yours, Alora?” Darce had deflowered me, I could feel it deep inside me. We had claimed each other. I was his, just as he was mine.

“I’m not a virgin and this isn't our first time. You deflowered me long ago, didn’t you?” Darce raised his eyebrows, shocked that I knew that fact. “Don’t hold back, Darce. Fuck me like you mean it, okay?” The snarl that escaped his lips was primal. In one swift motion, shadows ripped the dress from my body, leaving me in only my black lace panties.

“You’re in trouble now, Starshine,” he smirked, licking his lips.

Starshine?