Covenant Read Online Free Page B

had toward Elizabeth. It crushed me to see
it, and I ached for her. He mistook the covenant for the call to
carry her soul, and had I not arrived back in time, he might have
actually done it.” She looks down despondently. “It breaks my
heart, Evan.”
    Frowning, Evan quickly draws
her into his embrace and rocks her. Even from here, I can feel the
growing turmoil and fear inside of her.
    “ I know. Who would have
thought one such as Lev could ever have learned such compassion and
love only for it to end like this?” He rests his chin atop her
head.
    “ But does it not seem
strange that in all the sojourns I could have taken Lev on during
his first trip back to the Lower Realm that it should be one where
Elizabeth finds him? What are the odds, Evan, and why now? Why
re-break his heart?” She pulls back and peers at him, searching for
answers.
    “ I don’t know. Did he seem
to recognize her at all?”
    She shakes her head. “Not
that I’m aware. Then again, we both know there is only so much of
Lev that shows. What he feels, he keeps buried.”
    Evan turns toward me, and I
close my eyes, hoping he hasn’t spotted my ruse. “All we can do is
try, Celia.”
    “ But what happens when he
remembers? And he will, Evan. We both know that.”
    Evan steps nearer. I can
feel him lingering by me, acting more like a human father than
ever—a ludicrous thought, under the circumstances. Or not. But,
then, Evan is an angel. What does he know about being a father?
What do I know?
This is madness, all of it. The truth can’t be hidden. So why try?
So human, this new Evan. So….weak. Perhaps Evan has spent too much
time in the Lower Realm. But then again, so, too, it seems, have
I.
    Evan clears his throat.
“We’ll have to cross that bridge when it comes, Celia.”

Chapter Four
    I don’t know whether it is
hours or minutes later when I stir from a nightmare. Nor do I
remember exactly what it is about, only that the girl is in it.
Sweat dapples my body, and I sit up, trying to push the dream away;
whatever it might have been about, I don’t want to know.
    The world is dark, and I
slough away the confusion of the dream and force myself to get up.
The dream has left me restless, and I know I should just let it
drift from my thoughts, but I can’t. Elizabeth is ever there,
waiting…for me, and I don’t even know why. She isn’t supposed to
know I exist, and if she does know, she should be afraid of
me.
    But she isn’t. And whatever
it is I don’t remember, she is the key to everything. Until I
understand that, I’m groundless and grounded. No one will tell me
anything. Still, the truth often lies in the unsaid. Words, all too
often, confound it.
    For a moment, I stand there,
trying to figure out what to do next. The ocean shimmers in
moonlight and I walk to its shore, well aware I’ve come here many
times to think. For all of my existence, all I remember, I have
been a sojourner, and yet I mistook that call with Elizabeth and
would have taken her soul without realizing it was a mistake. If I
can’t sojourn, how can I do anything? What is it, then, that I
should do?
    Why do I feel this way—this
connection I can’t shake? And how could I have ever have loved a
human enough to forge a covenant between us? Why?
    I look out at the stars amid
the blackness, and I struggle to understand how this universe seems
to spin without control, and the only way I know to right this is
to go to Elizabeth.
    One moment I am standing
there, and the next I am diving into the water toward the Lower
Realm. Part of me wonders if I can find her, but surely if I am
anywhere close, I will sense her. She is unmistakable.
    The darkness blurs past as I
fall through the clouds, and the moment I get near land, I feel her
inside me, calling. I focus on the beacon, wondering how I could
ever have mistaken it for a call to sojourn. Now that I study it, I
feel the subtle nuances that make it distinct. As I head toward her
calling, I make myself one with