The Mark of Love & War [HOLD]

Chapter 19 - A Verdict

Bonnie lay her hand on top of my arm. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive. You need to go back to Jayden before time slips by completely. And earth needs its protectors."

After another hour Liz, Joseph and Bonnie left the Keep. I sat beside Cam and shut my eyes aware of the voices coming in and out of the narrow hall. Some were speaking Enochian others in English or other languages like Arabic or Greek. And soon enough sleep claimed me.

**

I felt his presence before I opened my eyes. I glanced down the long walkway to the entrance of the keep and saw him. He was strolling in as if it were nothing; as if walking into this Keep with no guards or an escort was the easiest thing in the world.

I glanced at Cam sleeping beside me before standing and walking to him. His smile was the first thing I saw. And then his bright blue eyes and his longish hair. His bare chest, his mark on his shoulder... God, it was like seeing the sun for the first time in years.

As we stopped in front of each other I realised now how this really was happening. I was in front of him after two and a half long torturous years without him. 

And my hands were bound together by the friggin' platinum bands.

"I can unlock them if you want me to. They taught me how."

And then again I noticed the platinum bands on his forearm's wrists and ankles. The one from his neck removed.

Hearing his deep vibrating voice... It made my heart literally stutter. Everything about him seemed unreal. He seemed unreal. This whole scene seemed... Unreal.

Was this happening? Were they playing a trick on me?

"They're not." Gabriel said and I choked on a small sob. He'd read my mind. "Shh." His arms encircled me into his embrace and that's when I finally broke.

I broke into the pieces I'd been holding together since he'd left in 2011. Each piece I'd kept glued together with my hard persona, my non-sleeping, Goddess of Power persona. Each of those pieces fell into Gabriel's arms. 

I cried two and a half years worth of tears. I tried yanking on my bands wanting to feel his skin, his warm familiar skin. He pulled back abruptly, fiddled with the bands and they unhooked. And just like that I threw my arms around his neck and crumbled again.

I felt his face in the crook of my neck. His hands trailing into the two holes in the shirt to touch the skin of my back. His heart beat erratically against mine and at that moment I knew this was happening.

I thought maybe the Elder's would put me to the test, place his projection in front of me to see how uncontrolled I was around him. 

But no, he was somehow here, holding me, touching me...

After a long moment of regaining my composure and sniffling, I leaned back and held his face within my palms, running my thumbs over his rough cheekbones. "How are you here?" 

"I usually have this hour to roam the grounds. The guard is a friend of mine and let me in." He murmured. Gabriel's eyes darted from my hair to my face but then back to my hair. He grimaced slightly but then smirked. Oh, that smirk. "Why on earth are you blonde?"

I laughed on a sob. "The Islands in the Unnamed Realm. I dyed it for Cassiel Sith's Ball. Didn't you see my blonde hair when I was a projection in front of you?"

"No in my eyes you were dark hai- wait." He blinked incredulously. "You went where?"

"We'll have time to discuss that later. But... Gabriel, I can't... I'm touching you. Speaking to you. I want to make this last forever. What if I don't ever get this-"