Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy), page 24
“What’s here?” I asked.
Eric stopped. “Don’t you see it?” he asked, and I followed his gaze to the horizon.
At first, it was a field − an ordinary piece of land − and then there was a red light, and everything shifted. I gasped. It was the same light I had seen when Crystal was driving.
He grabbed my hand. “Come on.” He pulled me forward, and I let him.
We were across the ground, and the light disappeared. Before I could ask him what we were looking at, I realized what was on the ground − my parents’ graves.
“How’d you find this?” I asked, kneeling on the wet ground. “I couldn’t find a record of this anywhere.”
“Because there isn’t.” He sat down next to me. He didn’t have to explain. The Dark had protected them.
I touched their faces, studying the pictures I had never seen before. They were different from the only article I had of them and even more beautiful.
“I stopped looking for them,” I admitted, knowing I had given up as much as Eric had. “When I lost my memory, I lost more than you.”
“I know.”
I glanced over at the boy I was remembering. I regretted most of my recent actions. “I never hated you.”
“You didn’t know,” he said it like he had already forgiven me. “And I shouldn’t have believed it, even for a second.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes from him. His green eyes could see past any façade I put up, and I knew he actually saw me, even when I couldn’t. He had forgiven me. My problem stemmed from not forgiving myself.
“My plan didn’t really work, did it?” I managed.
He grabbed my hand. “It was everyone’s plan,” he said every word I needed to hear before I knew I needed to hear it. “The circumstances were out of our control.”
Chaos within destiny. It was the definition of our love.
“Why’d you find this?” I asked, touching their graves.
His teeth grinded. He didn’t want to make it about him.
“Please, tell me.”
“I wanted to ask them for your hand,” he said, and my heart twisted, thinking of the night before.
“Did they respond?” I asked, even though it was impossible.
“I think they did.”
I held my breath.
He shifted his weight from knee to knee. “Asking them gave me the confidence to ask you.”
I touched his arm, so he would look up. “Do you still have it?”
“The ring?” he asked, and I nodded.
He dug into his pocket and pulled it out. He had been carrying it the entire time, and this time, his hand wasn’t shaking when he opened it.
The jewelry was beautiful, breathtaking, even, and it was exactly how I felt when I looked at him. “Is it too late?” I asked.
He chuckled, leaning over to touch my face. “You really are ridiculous sometimes,” he said.
I giggled before he pulled me into his lap and kissed me. Without a word, he pulled the ring out and slipped it over my finger.
I stared at it, feeling every emotion we shared. “Don’t you need one?” I asked, and he cocked an eyebrow.
“I take that as a ‘yes’ then,” he said, and I nodded. “I have my father’s at home,” he explained. “I only took it out of the box so you could see yours.”
“Can I have yours?” I asked, and he leaned back. “I want to give it to you,” I clarified.
His cheeks flushed. Even Eric Welborn could get nervous.
“Please.”
“When we get back,” he said.
“Promise?”
His eyes landed on my ringed finger. “It’s beyond a promise,” he said, and I grabbed his hand. He looked at our entwined fingers, but a frown escaped him. “I won’t ever be able to give you a normal life,” he said.
I tightened my grip. “Good thing I don’t want one,” I said, but he looked at the sky, and it occurred to me that he might want one.
“I will kill Darthon, and this will end,” he said.
I pulled him to his feet. “Don’t spoil the moment by talking about another man,” I joked, and he laughed, shaking his head from side to side. “I believe in you,” I added.
He kissed me.
When he pulled back, he didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. His gaze told me everything I needed to know. He believed in me, too.
About the Author
Shannon A. Thompson has been a writer for as long as she can remember. Her mother encouraged her to write away her nightmares and to capture her hopes and dreams on paper. Although she passed away when Shannon was only eleven, Shannon still writes for her. Her mother’s inspiring words to “write for yourself and edit for your reader” are always with her.
With her father and brother’s continued support, Shannon published her first book, November Snow, when she was only sixteen. She has continued to write, with more than nine books in different stages of her development process.
She speaks Italian and has a B.A. in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing from the University of Kansas. She also has a growing list of fans who follow her insightful blog at www.ShannonAThompson.com.
Other Books from Shannon A. Thompson
MINUTES BEFORE SUNSET
This first book in the Timely Death Series was released in May of 2013. It tells the story of two young adults whose entanglement may tip the balance between the forces of light and dark. It was recently chosen as a General Fiction Book of the Month at Goodreads.com.
Get it here
2013: A STELLAR COLLECTION
By Ryan Attard, Oliver F. Chase, Amber Skye Forbes, Ky Grabowski, Heather Lucie Hebert, Gregory Lamb, Sorin Suciu, Shannon Thompson, Raymond Vogel, and Val Vogel
This FREE collection is a group of short stories written by AEC authors. It is intended as a tribute to the hard work and tremendous support these authors have given AEC Stellar Publishing, Inc. in our first year of business.
Get it here
NOVEMBER SNOW
In the city of Vendona, bad bloods aren't considered human; they aren't even considered animals. They are lower than that. The parents of these creatures abandon them. The cities shun them, and the government massacres them. In 2089, an election threatens a revolt, and two bad bloods meet. Among the chaos, their accidental relationship reveals a twisted history, and citizens are forced to make a decision. Battles begin, love blossoms, and three brothers' past repeats, while bad bloods focus on their only goal: to survive. And very few of them will.
Get it here
Other books from AEC Stellar Publishing, Inc.
WHEN STARS DIE
By Amber Skye Forbes
Shadowy figures haunt Amelia’s days in Cathedral Reims, and they are waiting for her to join them. Will the dangerously attractive priest, Oliver Cromwell, be able to protect her and the ones she loves? When Stars Die is the first book in The Stars Trilogy.
Get it here
FIRSTBORN
By Ryan Attard
There’s a war raging between the forces of Heaven and Hell; and, as if he didn’t have enough to deal with from his own issues, his sister has chosen the wrong side. Get hooked into following the misadventures of Eric Ashendale in this first full length novel of The Legacy Series.
Get it here
THE SCRIPTLINGS
By Sorin Suciu
Merkin and Buggeroff are Scriptlings, learning to cope with capitalist magicians, quasi-magical computers, a wandering tribe of monosyllabic demigods, and sometimes-invisible goats. The Scriptlings is a laugh-out-loud contemporary fantasy written for geeks and mortals alike.
Get it here
MATTER OF RESISTANCE
By Raymond Vogel
The science fiction imagining of a former rocket scientist, Matter of Resistance pushes technology and human nature to the limits as it chronicles our Mars settlement's struggle for independence from Earth. Though written for young adults, top scientific, military, and literary minds are all fans of this “instant SciFi classic.”
Get it here
MARSH ISLAND
By Oliver F. Chase
Phil Pfieffer is an ex-Army Ranger turned private investigator who must outrun a psychopathic hit man, henchmen, ferocious sharks and even imprisonment to close the case. Marsh Island is Book 1 of The Hirebomber Crime Series.
Get it here
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Shannon A. Thompson, Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy)
