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Meditate, in other words I closedin and out My heartbeat began to even out, and a sense of peace settled aroundslowed further, until I was on the edge of an al upit on his chest His skin ar drum "The rhythers rose with every h I couldn’t hear his breathing, it was easy enough to set mine on a separate course to his

"Now, feel my breath on your lips," he continued softly "Let it run across your tongue and into your body Let it fill you, become you"

Warm air teaseds with the scent of hiy of his presence In me, around me

"Open your eyes"

I obeyed, and stepped into an ocean of blue It was beautiful, that ocean, beautiful, but turbulent, and oh so powerful My body began to tremble, not just with expectation and desire, but also fear I was reaching for soerous than even Azriel thought My throat tightened, and the rhythers came to rest onto fear, Risa" His voice swirled around me, soft and hypnotic "There is no darkness here There is just us, two beings connected by flesh, connected by air, and connected by the essence of all that we are"

The fear ebbed away, and once again there was only hiainst ht, within and without, ine there is no flesh to separate us," he continued "That there is only energy and desire Call to them, Risa Becoer Power surged, became a rush of fire that invaded everytheer existed and I was one with the air

As was he

He was bright and fierce, a being that glowed like the sun and as as beautiful as the moon He drew me toward hian to play through h his It was a dance, a caress, a tease It was movement, heat, and desire It was crazy and electric, a firestor It was pleasure unlike anything I’d ever experienced or felt before, and it took hter and tighter, until there was no separation--no him, nowe ht Still the dance went on, burning ever brighter, until it felt as if the threads of our beings would surely explode

Then everything did explode, and I fell into a storinable bliss

I’m not entirely sure when, exactly, I came back to flesh, but when I did it was to an awareness of utter exhaustion My body trembled, sweat trickled down my spine, and et air quickly enough And yet I felt alive in a way that was indescribable

"God," I murmured, when I finally could "Is it always like that for you reapers?"

He brushed a thuhtly across my lips and smiled "No, not always"

There was a note that almost sounded like amazeloith health and vitality, his skin golden and his blue eyes shining "You recharged?"

"Yes" He hesitated "I hadn’t ot the better of me Unfortunately, it is the reason you are noeak"

I raised an eyebrow "Do you see ?"

He smiled, then leaned forward and kissed me tenderly "No However, you should rest now"

"But I don’t want--"

He briefly pressed a finger against my lips to halt my protest "For once in your life, just do what I ask without argu experience, I’ll obey Just don’t expect it to happen too often Me obeying, that is"

"Oh, I won’t" His voice was dry as he rose gracefully froer than I’d expected, because it was late afternoon by the time I woke I stretched, and suddenly realized I felt better than I had in days, if not weeks I was refreshed, revitalized Noret

"The recharging appears to have gone both ways," Azriel colanced around He’d returned to his post by the , but this tilea for reapers is usually only one-way?"

"No, but you are not reaper; nor are you full Aedh It should not have affected you as strongly as it did"

"Well, I’ht in bed, but as I did, that nagging, niggling sense of wrongness returned I frowned and reached for lanced at the nuing to let lance at the clock toldIt couldn’t be that

So Of that I had no doubt

I hit the RECEIVE button and said, throat dry, "Rachel, what’s up?"

"It’s Tao," she said "He’s disappeared"

Disappeared? Oh fuck, please don’t let it be the fire ele--else

"When?" I asked My throat was so dry with fear, it cao He said he was hot and was going outside to cool down Didn’t thinkthat a lot lately"

Because he was losing the battle I rubbed a hand across suddenly stinging eyes Da else But then, it wasn’t like Tao needed it, either, and it was my fault he was in this mess in the first place If I hadn’t included hile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>