The Torn, Book One of the Holding Kate Series (24 page)

A ridge sliced
through the timberland, cutting a deep crevice into the forest floor. Tree lined ravines rose up and hosted the entire population of the tree city and their Tondo counter parts. Tree top platforms swayed in the breezes as the night sky boasted diamond lights and an enormous full moon. Far below us a green tinged mist hovered over the forest floor.

I stood between Corey and Taylia on the topmost platform, the massive moon threw us in stark silhouette. The Darchori knew how to throw a party. Each platform creaked and groaned from a dancing, swaying clan. Tree branches bent low with the weight of large creatures, Tondo’s I presumed. It sent a chill through me.

Taylia called for silence and the partiers paused to listen to the words of their chief, carried to their platforms through a system of bamboo tubes. “Today we are blessed to celebrate the Tondo Festival with the heroine of our greatest love story.” She lifted my hand in the air and the platforms cheered. Corey wrapped his arm around my waist and the cheering increased.

“Story tellers take the floor,” commanded Taylia.

Each group quieted to hear the story performed on their platform. I glanced over the expanse of torch-lighted groups as they settled from their revelries into pods of families and neighbors to listen to their favorite narrator.

I wondered who was going to be the story teller in our group. We settled into each other’s arms. Trip and Tara actually appeared to be a couple for the first time since the kiss in QHR. Eunavae and her husband were wrapped tightly around one another. There was something in the air, anticipation, pheromones, I don’t know, but it was intoxicating.

I turned to Corey and felt my pulse gallop. In the moonlight he was young again. My Corey. He sizzled with desire as he took my hand. Flames burst out on my skin. The air was electric between us. He cleared his throat and began the story telling.

“Many moons ago, in another world just a jump away, a young lad with blond hair and blue eyes lived in a magical place called Heartwork Village. In this wondrous land, boys and girls were introduced to a special kind of magic called technology. With technology magic, they could travel to faraway lands, blink into historical sites, battle fierce creatures, and rescue beautiful damsels in distress.

Our youngster fell into a family of twelve teens and they went on a quest together. His name was Corey.”

The Darchori around us laughed and cheered then fell silent again.

“Corey and his friends descended into a black hole in the middle of a heart shaped lake. Down and down they traveled, deeper and deeper into the darkness. When they reached the bottom they were given the task of drawing magic stones from a pool of water.

The stones divided them into pairs and glowed in their hands when it was time for them to travel. Corey’s stone glowed first and he turned to see the most beautiful girl in the group had been chosen to go with him, Kate.”

I turned to look at Tara and rolled my eyes. No one who saw the two of us in a room together would say that. All eyes were trained on me. I looked down, embarrassed.

“He took her hand and they stepped up to the smooth cavern wall and placed their glowing stones against the surface. Magic sucked them into a portal and they traveled to a fantastic world built in the sky.”

He looked down at me and we entered the memory of that world together. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. A collective sigh sounded around the platform.

“Higher than the tallest tree and then twice that high again, the platform rose into the sky.”

I wondered if the Darchori celebrated on platforms because of the platform in the story.

“The sky was blindingly bright since their eyes had adjusted to the dark caves. It took a moment for them to see where they were. Corey and Kate grabbed each other for support, fear licked up their spines, and they spoke heartening words to one another and shared courage between them.”

Well, that was nice, but I mostly remembered screaming and Corey speaking the encouraging words.

“A rushing mighty noise reached their ears and they looked down to see a whirling storm eating its way up the platform. They barely had time to cling to one another when it blasted them into the sky. Kate locked their belts together so they would not be blown apart, and Corey held onto her with all of his strength.”

His grip tightened on me, and I leaned into him, the memory overwhelming me.

“They shot high into the sky clinging to one another wondering if they would ever stop. Years and years passed as they were catapulted through the expanse. Gradually, they began to peak in their ascent until they stopped, hovered for a millisecond and then began to plunge into the void below.”

Corey dropped a bit and I grasped him in reflex. He smiled at me, and I laughed. The Darchori hooted. Corey took advantage of the break and kissed me on the cheek. More hoots and hollers and oohs and aahs. We laughed at the fun everyone was having.

“Corey and Kate were afraid at first and then they realized some One was with them. The One who loved them kept them from harm. They began to enjoy flying around in the blushing sky. They learned how to direct themselves and for decades, centuries, they flew in tumbles and circles, laughing, talking, and falling in love.”

My eyes had been smiling until he looked down at me at the words “falling in love”. His intense gaze captured me in the moment and my heart swelled to meet his. Mere inches away from his lips, I could almost taste them. A shudder of delight passed through Corey, and I responded to him with a flush of passion and desire so thick you couldn’t cut it with a laser. I trembled in his arms.

He cleared his throat and his voice came out husky and thick. He continued the story but everyone else disappeared, he spoke to just me now. “We fell into a cloud and lived there in one another’s arms for an eternity. Our lips danced in synchronized bliss for a Thousand Years. My Kate, pure and perfect, when I touched your skin you burned with passion.”

He stroked my cheek and I gasped aloud.

“When you savored my taste, I burned with passion. We loved and made love for an eternity and then the song began.”

Corey lifted his voice and began singing.

Hold me close, fly with me

Across immortal portals free.

Fall into the lover’s sea.

With lips so full of worship.

Corey’s voice was pure and beautiful. He sang our song, the Immortal song, The Song of a Thousand Years to me. When he reached the chorus, I softly sang along. He pressed my body as close to his as was possible and sang into my hair. His breath on my neck lit me on fire.

I will hold you for all time.

Come and press your heart to mine.

With my promise on your breast

I live in your nearness.

Other voices joined ours to finish out the song, young and old alike sang the love song.

Hold me fast, come let’s go

Where fireflies bask in afterglow.

My kiss enfolds the tender soul

In bliss so full of worship.

Silence rang throughout the ravine. Corey lifted my face to his and kissed me. He kissed me with the passion of a thousand years and I responded with my whole being. I intertwined my heart with his and kissed him just the way he liked best, pleased to give my Corey back his bliss. His hands ran up my arms, skin on skin, and I attacked him with fervor. I couldn’t get enough of him.

I don’t know how long we kissed on that platform, a millennia maybe. I just know that the shouts of the Darchori finally pierced the haze of passion that enfolded us. I drew back with a gasp for breath and Corey kissed my neck in the pause. We turned to the clansmen who celebrated around us in embraces of their own and realized the party had kicked off again.

Corey bent back down to kiss me and I couldn’t stop him. His joy was contagious, tears streamed down his face and I took his face in my hands and kissed every part of it. I tasted his lips and a jolt of passion spiked in both of us. Corey’s kisses became urgent and our lips fell into a familiar and delicious rhythm. We had danced like this for an eternity and we knew intimately how to do this right.

True and pure love spiraled around us and drew us tighter, wrapping us in the intensity of need for each other. It literally caused me pain that he was separate and other. I couldn’t get enough of him. I moaned in agonizing heartache for him to be closer to me even though we were wrapped around each other with profound yearning, born of mysteries to deep for thought—only heart could fathom. The depth of Corey’s soul called to mine and they merged into one being. Darchori danced around us and lovers embraced, while Corey and I had the reunion we had both anticipated.

“Come away with me.” He rasped into my hair and I knew where this would end up. I wanted it. I wanted Corey, all of him, now. We had waited far too long, loved far too completely to deny this union, and I intended to give every ounce of strength to the satisfaction of this long awaited moment. My heart raced ahead to this finish line. I kissed Corey again, but this time the kiss was an invitation and an affirmation of our eternal bond. I yearned for him and saw the beautiful agony sketched on his face and burning from his eyes.

“Kate.” His voice was a groan of desire.

“I need you, Corey. Take me, please. Let’s get out of here.” Our kisses were urgent now and no longer enough. We turned to leave and with passion and desire sketched across my face, I looked down, straight into the eyes of Taylia.

I stopped in my tracks as though I had run into an invisible wall, and Corey turned to see what was wrong. He followed my gaze, and I glanced at him in time to see great sorrow cross his face.

That was it.

It didn’t matter what anyone said. Marriage mattered. It mattered here. It mattered in my mind, and it certainly mattered in Corey’s heart. Taylia shed tears of pure joy. She walked over to me and hugged me.

“Dearest Kate of a Thousand Years, go with him,” she whispered in my ear. “He is complete in you. I have never seen him so happy. He deserves all the strength and passion you can give him tonight.”

“No,” I whispered. “No.”

I turned to Corey, tears streaming down my face and choked out, “take your wife home, Corey.” I touched his face, his lips. I embraced him and whispered in his ear. My voice crackled like brittle bones. “You and I will be together one day, when it is right, when you are my Corey.”

His arms tightened around me and his voice sobbed miserably. “Kate.” Pain broke across his features and echoed in the hollow cavern of my core. “I have loved you for a thousand years.”

“I will love you for thousands more.” I kissed him, with unbearable tenderness, and then raced into the darkness.

I woke on
Eunavae’s couch, my eyes blinked open to see Tara and Trip sound asleep wrapped in a blanket across from me. Donnie was snoring at my feet, and my head was in someone’s lap, his feet stretched out in front of me propped on an ottoman.

He touched my hair and whispered, “Good morning.”

I turned over and he pulled me against his chest in a cradle hold. I smiled a sleepy smile and snuggled into his chest. “Morning,” I murmured, listening to the sound of Corey’s heartbeat.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Are you hungry?”

“Mmmmhhhmmmm.”

He chuckled quietly. “Get dressed. Taylia wants to see you and Eunavae. I will cut up some fruit while you are dressing.”

“Mmmm. I just want to stay here for a minute.” I snuggled deeper into his arms. He sighed contentedly and continued to play with my hair and trace my face with his finger. He touched my lips and shattered my peaceful buzz. Suddenly, I was wide awake mentally as well as physically as my body resumed the burning agony from the prior night. I frowned at him. “No fair.” I grumbled while stretching.

He laughed again, gathered my hands in his and kissed my fingers.

“I miss coffee.” I yawned and padded off into the bathing chambers.

When I came out everyone was awake and eating breakfast and discussing the agenda for the day.

“How are we gonna get home?” Trip asked.

“We have to complete the jump,” Donnie answered.

“You think this is Eunavae’s jump?” Tara asked.

“Yes. I do,” Corey answered, then he saw me and smiled, reached for me and pulled me into his lap and I filled a plate with various chunks of fruit. I was hungry for the first time in a long time and stuffed myself with the delicious selection.

“I don’t know what more to do,” Eunavae answered. “What more could I possibly have to learn that I haven’t in the last 200 years?”

“Maybe you need to talk about your life back home. Bring it to the forefront of your memory.” I interjected. “Perhaps you have spent 200 years trying to forget, instead of trying to heal.”

Everyone paused and looked at me.

Eunavae took a sip of her drink and frowned. “Maybe you are right,” she grumbled into her cup.

“So I think we should all stick together for the next few days. If the sphere comes, I don’t want anyone left behind,” Donnie chimed.

I felt Corey’s arms tighten around me. I didn’t want that either. Corey was coming home with me. Period.

“I guess I have the most to lose.” Eunavae’s face was drawn in sorrow. “They can’t come with me can they?” She stared out onto the veranda where her husband was mashing fruit for their latest grandbaby, who was wiggling his chubby fingers through the tray in front of him and smashing fist-fs into his mouth.

“No,” Donnie softly answered.

“Maybe that is why I am hiding from my past. I don’t want to leave my husband and children, my grandbabies.” She spoke to the table, eyes welling with unshed tears.

My heart broke for her. I touched her hand and she grasped mine with an iron grip.

“This has been the most difficult jump. We aren’t meant to stay this long. It causes more wounds than it heals.” Donnie had lost generations of loved ones. Tara, too.

The mood around the table was sullen. There went my appetite. I dropped the fruit that was in my hand and picked up a napkin.

“Are you finished?” Corey asked.

“Yeah.”

“We should go, then.” He glanced at Eunavae, and she nodded.

We all left the house and made our way through the quiet walkways of the tree city. The celebrations had ricocheted late into the night and the sleepy town was taking its time revving up for daily business. Droopy eyes and hung-over faces grinned at me and Corey as we made our way to the medical facility hand in hand.

Corey directed us through the facility to his private apartment. He turned to Donnie, Trip and Tara. “Please feel free to make yourselves at home. The pantry is fully stocked and there are games and books. The veranda overlooks a beautiful garden. Just stay close.”

He took Eunavae and me into the next room. It was a large sleeping chamber with a bed that appeared to have grown out of the tree house floor. Sumptuous hangings and drapes lined the room enclosing us into an intimate and cozy space for the size.

Taylia rested in the middle of the big bed. She opened her eyes as we entered and smiled, patting the sides of her bed. We climbed onto the bed around her and she took mine and Eunavae’s hands.

“Thank you so much for coming. I apologize that I didn’t have the strength to come to you.”

“It is fine, Mother,” Eunavae answered. “It is my pleasure to visit you.”

I nodded.

“Eunavae, Corey tells me that you are the reason that you and your friends are still here.”

She nodded.

“And he says that there is something here,” she touched Eunavae’s chest, “that keeps you from moving forward.”

“I wish I knew what to do.” Eunavae’s brow crumpled.

“The Great Story tells us that Kate of a Thousand Years will one day return for her love with the key of freedom.”

“It does?” I asked. I didn’t remember that part of the story.

“Yes, in the most successful festivals, we never get to that part.” She smiled wickedly and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Such as last night’s festival, when love interrupts the story we all rejoice.”

I blushed and felt Corey’s body press against my back. Heat seared across my skin.

“Eunavae, you must tell us of your pain.”

“Now?”

“No. First you must say goodbye to your family. I have taken the liberty of inviting them here today. They are all waiting for you in Corey’s study. Go to them. Say your peace. Then come back to us.”

Eunavae kissed Taylia’s hands. “Thank you, Taylia. Please get some rest. I will wake you when I am ready.” She rose and walked through the door to the adjoining room.

“I do need to rest up, this could take a while.” She put her head back on her pillows and closed her eyes. “Corey, will you please give Kate the tour of the garden? It is lovely this time of year. I will send Jacek for you when we are ready.”

Corey took my hand and led me to a veranda off the side of Taylia’s room, and we walked down a spiraled stair to a garden built on a series of platform levels. Multicolored flowers were in bloom and cascading out of hollow log containers. Green moss ran along the floor and the scent of the blossoms infused the air with a heady aroma.

“She’s dying, isn’t she?” I whispered.

Corey nodded. “Yes, we are surprised that she has lived this long. We thought she would be gone a year ago.”

“I am so sorry, Corey.” I stopped and touched his face.

“We have had plenty of time to say goodbye. She has chosen her successor as chief, all is in order.” His lip quivered.

He leaned his forehead down to touch mine. “I have loved her, too, Kate, in a different way, of course. I now understand how conflicted you were…are…between Trip and me. She has been my best friend for 45 years. You have been my true love for a thousand. I love you, both.”

“I know. I love her too, and I have just met her. I can only imagine the grief you must be feeling.”

He pressed me against him and held on to me. “Not grief so much. I just hate to see her in pain. She has suffered so long. We’ve talked and she is ready to go, even more now that you’re here. I think she worried about me losing hope that you would come. She is truly giddy that you are here and that you love me as much as she hoped you would.”

A mix of sorrow and longing rose up inside of me. “Corey, I love you. I do love you.”

His sharp intake of breath and the passionate kiss that followed tipped me over the edge. I dove into his love with relish and fervor. We spent the morning wrapped in each other’s arms on the mossy floor, talking, kissing, and touching, exploring each other. I traced his laugh lines with my fingers and kisses and we talked about the song.

“When did you realize there were words to our Immortal song?” I asked.

“I remember hearing words about love, but did not know that I actually knew them until I began telling the story to one of the children. When did you first sing them?”

“On the trail as we brought the Tondo home. I felt compelled to sing to it and the song just came out.”

“I was so surprised when you began singing it with me last night. I guess I thought I had somehow made the whole thing up.” He kissed the skin at my chest and I shivered and stroked his hair and held him to my heart. “The Tondos told me last night that the reason they didn’t kill you on the trail was because you sang of love.”

“They watched us? That’s frightening. You talk to them?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.” He laughed. “They ask permission to create a mind link with certain individuals. Once you give them permission, they’ll speak to you anytime. They’re a bit picky about who they link with, though.”

“What’s the criteria?”

“True love.”

I raised my brow.

“They’ll only speak to a heart that is in love. Believe me, they know the difference between love, lust, friendship.” He laughed. “They were very perplexed with me. They sensed my love, but couldn’t find the object of it. They brought every single female with in a 50 mile radius here for me to ‘taste’. That is what they call kissing. They said I had to taste the women to find the one I had lost.” He rested his head on his hand and twirled a strand of my hair.

“They were match making?” I giggled.

“No, they feel emotions of those they bond with, and they couldn’t stand my loneliness. They thought they could find my true love and bring her here.” He wrapped his arm around me, planted his face in my chest and breathed in the scent of me. “You wouldn’t believe how thrilled they are that you have arrived.”

I steadied my breathing. I was on fire again, but I wanted to say something so I held myself in check. I whispered, “two hundred years is a long time to forget our pink clouds, Corey.”

“Never! I could never forget. I thought of you, like this, every day.” He kissed up my neck to my lips, drew back and then locked eyes with me. “There is another reason I couldn’t forget. Not only is the Scriptorium memory fused in my heart because of you, but it was the first time I ever believed in God.”

I gazed through his blue eyes right into his soul. “I think I’ve always believed in God, but the Scriptorium was the first time I ever realized he loved me.” I traced the line of Corey’s collar bone and his jaw, content to study this beautiful man for hours.

He was not content to be studied though, and went back to the business of adoring me. He blessed up my shoulders and neck with kisses climbing up until he found my face and then laced it with tender kisses. Then tilted my head back and began kissing my neck again. My eyes were closed in sheer ecstasy. I opened them to find we had an audience. Fear spiked in my breast. “Uh…Corey,” I whispered.

He continued to nuzzle at me. “Mmmhmmm.”

“We have an audience.” My voice trembled with anxiety as I sat up.

He lifted his head to see we were surrounded by Tondos. They had taken up perch on every available stable surface around us. He chuckled.

“They are attracted to our love.” He laughed.

“I don’t understand.” I had just battled with one of these creatures and knew what those talons could do. I practically crawled into Corey’s lap in fear.

He chuckled again and held me tightly. “Don’t worry, love. They’re severely drunk on our pheromones. They live here in the garden.”

“Like pets?” My voice quavered as my eyes darted around at the massive collection of Tondos.

“No, they care for themselves. This is the lover’s garden. We bring our mates here, and they are drawn to the atmosphere created.”

“We? Really. How many times have you been here, Corey Chastain?”

He jerked his head at me in surprise. “Once. Right now. Don’t you know yet how much I have longed for you? Waited for you? You are the only woman I have ever wanted.”

I fell into his arms again and kissed him with such passion, the Tondos hummed along in satisfaction.

Jacek ran into the garden. “Father, come quickly!”

We broke apart, startled, jumped up and ran after him. He led us into Taylia’s room where the elders, senior med students, and all of Eunavae’s family were gathered. Trip, Tara and Donnie stood to one side. The Tondos flew after us, perched on the veranda and craned their necks to see into the room.

“She summoned us,” one of the elders stated. “She said it is time.”

Corey rushed to her side, crawled onto the bed with her and propped her up against his chest. “Taylia, I am here.” He whispered and kissed her cheek, tenderly.

“Kate, where is Kate?” She croaked in a mere whisper.

“I’m here, Taylia,” I said from the back of the room. She held out her hand to me shakily and I stepped forward and crawled up beside her. I took her hand and kissed it.

“Kate,” she pulled me close to her. “Love him well. Love him for the both of us. Love him in all the ways I never could. He deserves it.”

Tears streamed down my face. “I will, Taylia. I do. I love him for the both of us.”

She smiled and squeezed my hand. “Corey, love.”

“Yes, darling.” His voice was so tender and sweet it pierced my soul.

“Take them home. It is you. It is you.” She reached under the pillow and drew out his backpack.

“I don’t understand, Taylia, what is me?”

“The jump was for you.”

“No, it can’t be, what could I have…I don’t understand.”

“You brought love to us. You taught us to love even in the face of lost hope. You introduced us to the One. We had no god before you told us of the love that the One brings and the hope of its coming to our lives. You learned that there are many ways to love and all are beautiful.”

“Eunavae’s fire was to bring you here…to learn…to learn…” She coughed and gasped.

“To learn about love.” He looked at me as he pressed his cheek to Taylia’s.

She sighed her last breath, and the sphere fell.