Free Mira by Leighann Phoenix

  Warm, humid air stuck in his lungs, as he breathed in the night.   Once he thought he would grow used to being in the crypt he called his home.   It took time, but he eventually realized that his desire to sleep beneath stars would never be abated.
    When Mira neared his door with the obvious intention of going inside, Rillan nearly stopped her.   Tension held him in the shadows, as he tried to remember whether or not he locked his door when he left.   Then she disappeared into his hall.  
    He cursed under his breath and followed her.   If she’s looking for you, shouldn’t you be pleased, he said to himself.   The emotional torrent that had been plaguing him since her first defiant stare began tugging at his mind.   I told her not to be in my rooms, he growled to himself.
    The indecision of how to respond to her blatant disregard for what he told her, and the desire to know what exactly she was up to, kept him in the shadows.   He was partially amused by her attempts to see if she was being followed.   He even made some noises to scare her off.   He figured that if she thought she was being watched, she might run back to her room.   Fear flushed her face.   Rillan was very familiar with fear.   Still, Mira continued on her purpose.   First came, the soft feelings of admiration for her determination and ability to continue in the face of being frightened.   Then came , the anger for the fact that she should be listening to him , and she wasn’t.
    Rillan snuck into his own bedroom to see what Mira was up to.   He expected her to call out or to check his bed.   Does she really think she’s sneaky and clever enough that she would be able to do this unnoticed? Does the fool girl have no respect for what I am or what I could do to her?   The soft feeling hit him in the stomach again.   She really doesn’t think I would hurt her.   That’s what makes her so brave.
                Mira stood under the shaft, staring up into the darkness.   Flashes of light streaked across the sky and were followed by a strangely muffled crackling.   “Even the thunder is strangled down here,” she said in a sad whisper, without realizing that she spoke aloud.
                Anger and frustration boiled in Rillan again.   Such a small comment and yet it stung him deeply.   Elizabeth said things similar.   By the Fates, she is so much like Elizabeth .
                There was more muffled thunder, and a trickle of water came down the shaft.   It was cold and clear and clean.   This was the point where Rillan usually put something beneath the shaft to catch the water, so that it wouldn’t make a tremendous mess on the floor.   He almost stepped out of the shadows.
                Mira reached her hand up to the water and felt it trickle over her palm and down her arm.   She breathed in the fresh clean breeze.   Something about the darkness she had been in for all these weeks made her appreciate this experience all the more.   Mira stepped under the trickle of water and let it run over her face, down her neck, and across her chest.   Goosebumps arose on her skin, as the cold water trailed in rivulets over her flesh.
                Rillan hadn’t seen beauty like this in so long.   The girls usually lost their glow relatively quickly here.   He breathed slow ly and deliberate ly , watched the water caress her, and wondered briefly what it would taste like to drink it from her, as it ran along the curve of her breast.   He wished she was naked, so that he could watch the water trickle along her stomach and legs as well.
                He hated her for making him feel as though he should let her go and not curse her with a life below ground with him.   “I thought I told you not to come in here,” he growled.
                Mira flinched, when she heard his voice.   Blood ran cold in her veins, as his deadly tone sunk into her.   She didn’t