Free Destiny Redeemed by Gabrielle Bisset

Forever. He
wanted to wake up next to this beautiful creature each morning and fall asleep
after loving her each night. He didn’t care if he was selfish. He wanted
someone this good in his life. He knew he didn’t deserve her. He didn’t care. He
wanted her.
    Thea’s
hand left his back and fell to the bed as Amon realized with relief that his
pain was gone. He felt healed, but he looked down at the gentle soul next to
him and saw the toll her compassion had taken on her, her blue eyes hidden
behind their lids and her long, dark lashes resting on her pale cheeks.
    Amon
ran his finger across her cheek, sweeping away tendrils of pale blond hair from
her face. He yearned to lean down and softly touch his lips to hers to show her
how much he appreciated her kindness.
    “Thea?”
he whispered near the top of her head, feeling the silkiness of her hair
against his lips.
    She stirred and
slowly opened her eyes. Looking up at him, she asked,” Are your ribs better?”
    She
straightened up and placed her hands on his sides again to continue healing his
painful injuries. Amon took her hands from his body and held them between his
own hands. Looking into her eyes, he lowered his head to meet hers and stopped
as his mouth brushed her cheek.
    “I’m
fine, Thea.”
    Inhaling,
he smelled soap and her shampoo, something delicate like honeysuckle.  “Why did
you heal my back?” he asked quietly next to her ear.
     “Because
it’s what I do. I’m a healer,” she whispered softly.
    Amon
needed to see her face, but she’d turned away as she answered. He couldn’t say
what he so desperately wanted to say with her avoiding his gaze. Turning her
face toward him, he saw her drop her gaze—anything to not look at him.
    “Thea,
why won’t you look at me?”
    She
remained silent, staring down at the enormous shirt cuffs on her small wrists.
    “Thea,
look at me.”
    Turning
to face him, she asked in a voice that betrayed how much his words earlier had
hurt her, “Why? You’ve already been very clear. I’m mistaken. It’s impossible.
So I leave to go to another room, but you follow me, carrying me to and from
the bathroom half naked. And now you want to look into my eyes and make me want
you even more. Why? So you can tease me and then tell me again how I’m not who
you want?”
    Amon
instantly felt pain race through his limbs. Wincing in agony, he balled his
hands into fists and hoped the pain would leave before he passed out. The ache
from Thea’s emotions caught him by surprise. Because he’d convinced himself he
wasn’t falling in love with her, he hadn’t expected to feel any effect from her
emotions. But here the pain was, different from everything else his body was
going through from his time in Nil. This was because he’d made her unhappy. And
that meant he must be falling in love with her.
    “Amon!
What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,”
he croaked out. Catching his breath, he remembered what Markku had said—what
had worked with Callia—just make her happy.
    Thea
turned to him and began to frantically seek out the source of his pain, but he
stopped her and took hold of her hands. She looked at his eyes staring
longingly at hers and relaxed in his grip.
    “There’s
nothing you can do. This isn’t something you can heal.”
     “Amon,
what do you mean?” she asked, her voice more frightened than confused.
    Within
minutes, as he sat silently with her, the pain had gone and Amon could now say
what he’d planned to say. “Thea, I told the truth when I said I already had a
destined one. Her name is...well, I don’t know what her name is now, but to me
she was always who she was when we were first drawn to one another. Sevine. But
we grew apart after almost twenty lifetimes, and I haven’t seen her since the
late 1700s.”
    “What
do you mean ‘grew apart’? Why aren’t you together?”
    Amon
wrestled with how much he should tell her about his past. Should he tell her
who he’d been for lifetimes—the