Madly Read Online Free Page B

humans, the histories were viewed as nothing more than fairy tales, and polluted ones at that, most of the truth of each life having been changed over time. And that’s the way the Mer intended to keep it. Since the spirits of the Lore were imprisoned where they could hurt neither descendants nor humans, there was no reason to scare people with the facts, with the reality of such vicious creatures and evil schemers.
But, alas, my dreamy state was not to be. Someone was calling my name, trying to drag me away from the peaceful harmony in the world of my companions.
“ Madly,” the familiar voice kept saying. “Madly, wake up!”
I resisted, nothing in the world of that voice as appealing as what I’d found in my dream.
But then another voice chimed in. “Princess,” it whispered.
A tingling feeling spread across my cheek and I listened more closely.
“ Madly,” it breathed near my ear.
This voice made me feel weak. It held such magnetism, such a soul-deep gravity for me that I willingly pushed away from my friends to find the person that went with it.
My eyes fluttered open to see a dark silhouette hovering over me. It was backlit by a bright halo of lights. I couldn’t make out any features, other than short hair and an undeniable masculinity. He was touching my face and I thought surely there had never been a more rapturous feeling.
Closing my eyes, I turned my face into his hand and breathed deep. He smelled of salt and sandalwood and something musky that seemed like it should awaken me every morning.
I heard a soft gasp and I turned my face back up, opening my eyes and shifting my head to the side so that I could see past the halo.
Jackson leaned over me. His hand had stilled against my face as if he was frozen and his blue eyes were hard and intense. They were trained on me and his expression said that he’d been delivered a spine-tingling shock.
I felt as if I had, too.
We stared at each other for no more than a few seconds, though it felt as if a wealth of communication transpired in that short time, and then he leaned back, straightening and speaking to someone I couldn’t see.
“ She’s awake.”
And then I could see him no more.
I sat up to follow him with my gaze, only to discover that three other pairs of eyes were focused sharply on me.
Surrounding me in a semi-circle was Commander Jessup, Jersey and Aidan. Jackson had already turned to walk away.
I smiled a wobbly smile. Though I was a bit confused, I knew I should be feeling all sorts of things besides what I was feeling, which was an overwhelming desire to slide down off the table I was sitting atop and follow Jackson. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to peer into his eyes and examine the strange things he made me feel.
But I couldn’t do that. Not only was it inappropriate to feel such forbidden things, but my soon-to-be fiancée was standing not a foot from me, staring at me with all the concern in the world.
“ Are you alright? You fainted,” he said, worry etched on his face and evident in his tone.
“ Well that wasn’t very Princess-like, was it?” I teased, pushing my hair away from my face. I felt flushed and overheated.
“ Don’t be so hard on yourself. All of this would be a lot for anybody to hear,” Aidan said kindly.
“ Yeah, lucky for you, you’ll have Aidan here to take care of all this hard stuff when you’re ruling the roost,” Jersey kidded.
I found that my eyes were drawn to Jackson where he’d stopped across the room to talk to another Sentinel. At Jersey’s words, his head snapped up and he turned to look at me, his face an inscrutable mask.
I laughed uncomfortably.
Aidan tugged my hair and assured me, “Well, we’re here to help, whatever needs to be done.”
Dragging my eyes away from Jackson’s, I smiled up at Aidan, reaching up to squeeze the hand at my hair.
“ Thanks, Aidan.”
Aidan’s offer brought to mind things I’d been told right before I passed out so indecorously.
“ Commander