HER SWEETEST DOWNFALL (Paranormal Romance / Fantasy Novella) (Forever Girl Series - a Journal) Read Free Page B

you’re in no danger. Don’t you think I would have hurt you by now if I planned to? I could easily restrain you and stop you from leaving—and I will, if I must.  But for now, I request you sit and listen.”
    She didn’t sit.
    Ethan sighed and sat by the fire himself. 
    “When I was called, I heard a drum beating. I was lying out in the pasture, and the sound was so demanding I could feel it.” He glanced back to Ophelia. “I followed it, and that is how I met my guardian. I found her where the music led, though she was not the one playing. No one was. I know you heard your song, too, Ophelia.”
    The violin . But he could be making that up. Though if he were, he made for an exceptional liar. Ophelia sat on the floor a few feet away from him. “What is it?”
    “The music?” Ethan raised an eyebrow. “It’s how you know. Your calling.”
    “And if I still don’t know?”
    “Some people ignore, some evade, some deny. But you always know.”
    “Maybe ye are wrong.”
    He sighed, stretching his legs out in front of the fire, crossing them at the ankles. “I will tell you of those that are marked, such as we are. The Universe chose us because of our heritage—because we were born to dual breeds.”
    He couldn’t possibly mean . . . “I’ve only heard the term once before. ‘ Dual-breeds ’. My mother—” Her throat tightened, but she swallowed the pain and continued. “My mother spoke of them in the fairytales she told me as a child. ‘ow did  ye know of ‘er stories?”
    “They aren’t stories , Ophelia.” He rubbed his temples. His hands were chapped, as though he’d spent months in the cold or working outdoors. “What did she tell you?”
    “She told me about the elementals. Cruor were Earth, I remember that. Strigoi were Air—no, that’s not right. Water. The Ankou were Air. There were others, too, yes?”
    Ethan nodded. “Chibold for Fire. And in more recent centuries, we’ve had the Witches as well.”
    “I was enchanted by Mother’s stories. Sometimes terrified.”
    Ethan shook his head. “At least she told you,” he said. He wrung the cloth and started again with fresh red liquid on the mark. “I was completely in the dark until my guardian came.”
    “What ‘appened to ‘im?”
    “ Her ,” he said. “She was killed in the war, trying to protect me.”
    A war? Hadn’t her mother mentioned a war? Not in her stories, no—it’d been something Ophelia had overheard her mother talking to her father about. Ophelia had been sitting by her bedroom door, holding her breath to listen as her parents spoke in hushed tones in the kitchen. She came out of the room, asked for a glass of water. Her mother smiled then. Weakly. 
    Ophelia shook away the memories and returned her gaze to Ethan. “What war?” 
    “That’s why you’re here.” He pushed the fluid back toward the fire. Here, so close to him, Ophelia could see the fire reflecting off the golden flecks in his eyes. “The dual breeds are under attack. Your mother was one of them, as was my father. They were dual breeds who mated with humans, and for that, you are one of the chosen. As am I, having been born to a man who was part Cruor and part Strigoi and a woman who was human. While having at least one human parent has rendered us both human from birth, we’ve always had a connection to this. Now we must take on a new form and work silently to help save the dual-breed races.”
    Ethan spoke of Ophelia’s mother’s stories as though they were real, and unease swelled in the pit of her stomach. “I’m not sure what ye are attempting to imply. What does any of this ‘ave to do with the serpent’s mark? Or why ye took me here?”
    “Once our kind—those of us who are marked—accept our calling to work for the Universe, we might help restore peace among our races.”
    Among our races? The pit in her stomach grew to the size of a large squash. “Ethan, please. What are ye talking about?”
    “Otherwise, we