Free Forget Me Not by Shannon K. Butcher Page B

I’ve found everything you need. Is that true?”
    “Yes. Once the strands of copper you brought me are in place, the construction will be done. All that is left is activation, which will require water and a growing thing. We are surrounded by those. I will pluck one from the soil when the time to leave arrives.”
    Her body felt good pressed against his. She fit his frame, molding to his contours so easily he could almost convince himself that she’d been made for that purpose alone.
    His device was nearly done. If his work was true, then a doorway home would open and he would walk through it.
    Never to see Adreeahbenwah again.
    She stared up at him, her dark eyes tugging at him. He tried to remind himself that the depth of the color was natural for her and had nothing to do with desire. Still, there was some instinct within him that rose up in answer to a perceived need, just as it would with a mate he had claimed as his own.
    “You should eat while the food is still warm,” she said.
    He was more hungry for her than he was for food. Only the knowledge that she had worked to provide for him drove him to accept her offer.
    Toren released her and carried the food inside to where the chill would not reach her. He sat on the floor near the fire. She did not join him, but perched on the edge of the couch, her body tense, her expression uncertain.
    “When will you leave?” she asked. There was an odd quality to her voice—a false brightness she used to cover something deeper.
    “After we eat.”
    She descended into silence, toying with her food, but never bringing any to her lips.
    “Are you not hungry?” he asked.
    “Not really.” Her voice shook, but she cleared her throat before continuing in a stronger tone. “I’ll go get that water you need and meet you outside. The sooner you go home, the better, right?”
    She did not wait for his response before she hurried away.
    Adreeahbenwah was right. The sooner he returned home, the better it was for his family. There was no reason to postpone the inevitable. Leaving her would only become more painful the longer he stayed.
    Toren found her staring out at the dark lake behind the cabin. The sun had set, and beautiful, rich reds and oranges in the sky cast a warm shimmer over the water.
    He wanted to touch her, but that act would have been selfish—meant to appease his need to feel her skin under his hand one more time.
    Instead, he went into the surrounding land and found a small, newly sprouted plant. Not much was growing as winter approached, but this single green spike seemed determined to make an appearance.
    He set the little growing thing, roots and all, inside the wooden bowl at the top of his structure. It was not nearly as elegant as his mother’s work, but he felt the power inherent in its form. While he was better in battle, as his father had been, he hoped that some of his mother’s skill with building had flowed into him.
    Adreeahbenwah watched as he poured water into the center bowl. If his design worked, then the water would spin the blades he had formed from the thin sheets of metal, sparking the device to activate and open a rift to his world.
    “Stand back,” he said, looking at her one last time.
    Her dark eyes were dry, her spine straight. The soft line of her lips was pressed tight as if to keep herself from speaking.
    He did not want to leave her. Even considering such a thing was painful.
    Which could only mean one thing: Toren had grown to love her.
    He felt the power of that knowledge flow though him, shaking him all the way to his foundation. Loving a human should have been impossible. She lacked the magic to tie her to him. But she did not lack the power.
    Whatever Adreeahbenwah lacked, she was far stronger than he could have imagined. Even hindered by her home world, she still managed to weave herself into his being, binding them together. He hadn’t felt it happen. He hadn’t even realized it was possible. But she was there, lingering