Free Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) by Stephanie Hudson Page A

over my bare shoulders. By the time I knotted the tie I knew I couldn’t just walk away now and let him feel bad for something he obviously had no control over. So with my back still to him I asked the burning question, turning my head to the side,
    “But if you could?” I waited longer than I thought I would have to and sighed in relief when I felt him pull me to face him. He was knelt on the edge of the bed putting us at the same height and putting his hands either side of my waist, he looked deep into my eyes, holding me there.
    “In a heartbeat.” His answer didn’t relieve me of the devastating realisation that I would never be a mother but it did at least thaw the chill that had surrounded my heart for what I hoped was a short time. I didn’t want to dwell on disappointments I had no control over and the last thing I wanted was to make Draven feel bad about them either. If he told me it couldn’t be done, then I had to believe in that for anything else would just get my hopes up when the only place for them to go next was down. So instead of crying and opening the door to pity I gave him what he deserved and said,
    “Then that’s good enough for me.” Then I kissed him on the forehead and left him to go and clean myself up. I grabbed my discarded clothes from the floor, feeling cold for some reason. Once in the bathroom however I not only felt cold but lost in a mix of feelings I couldn’t make sense of. I found myself holding on to the sides of the basin and looking at myself in the mirror as if searching for something…or someone.
    “If this is to be my sacrifice for having Draven, then so be it.” I whispered to the only person listening, or so I thought. I don’t know at which point I started to realise it was her and not me but it wasn’t that long before my lips started to move in my reflection. No sound came out but I had no trouble reading her message in the lips I knew.
    “But what if you could have both?” I frowned and shook my head a little as one does when they’re not sure if what they were seeing was real.
    “Both?” I asked getting closer to her and bending with my waist digging into the sink. She just nodded in a slow eerie way that no longer looked like me.
    “But how?” I pushed after looking both left and right to check I was still alone but when I looked back the mirror was clouded. I straightened up and was about to forget myself and shout, ‘Tell me!’ but in the end I didn’t need to as the mist started to drip into simple words,
     
    ‘Find the Oracle’
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 6
    Finding Sunshine
     
     
     
    By the time I walked back into the room I was surprised to find Draven sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. I noted that he too was dressed, only this time in jeans and a grey t shirt that bunched up around his muscles due to the position he held himself in.  As soon as he heard my return he looked up, pushing all his hair back with his hands.
    “I’m sorry,” I blurted out, knowing I was the cause of this.
    “Come here,” he ordered softly. My bare footed steps were the only sound in the room as you could have heard a pin drop and cut the air with a knife. By the time I got close enough I was damning my baby thoughts and fantasies, chastising myself for making him feel this way. When I was only an arm’s length away he snagged me around the waist and pulled me the rest. Then he leant his head to my belly and just held me still for a few quiet moments.
    “I wish this was something I could give you.” I closed my eyes against the hurt I had caused.
    “Draven it’s okay, I understand…”
    “No you don’t,” he said cutting me off and quickly looking up at me from my stomach. I tried to decipher what I saw there and what emotion I was finding in Draven’s dark eyes, unusually with no purple in sight.
    “I didn’t want to do this now.”
    “Draven you’re starting to scare me.”