Shaxoa's Gift Read Free Page A

Daniel and the bond were safely away from me, I was
determined to get some answers.
    Quaile pushed Daniel and Cole further away.
“Get him back safely, Cole.”
    “I will,” Cole said. He was clearly eager to
leave.
    “I’ll be back soon, Claire,” Daniel said.
    His voice was filled with longing. His words
pierced me like a double edged sword. My mind was screaming at me
to go with him, to stay by his side for the rest of my life, but my
heart pleaded with me to run away from him as fast as I could.
Burying my head in my mother’s shoulder, I hid my face and the
tears that were streaming down my cheeks. I kept my head down until
I heard the soft click of the hardwood door shutting.
    With Daniel finally gone, a confusing tidal
wave of emotions rushed through me, buckling my knees. My mother
caught me before I could collapse completely and hurriedly set me
in an old arm chair. “Oh, Mom, what’s happening to me?” I asked. My
tears had disappeared, but a new set were on the verge of bursting
out.
    “It’s okay, sweetheart. Everything will be
okay,” she said. She stroked my hair gently as she attempted to
soothe me.
    “But how? How will this ever be okay?” I
asked. “Uriah is gone forever and I don’t know what to do without
him. Daniel, he’s…I love him so much, but I…I…” My sobbing renewed,
shaking my frame. Only the growing distance between myself and
Daniel slowly began to lessen the consuming desire to have him, but
only minimally.
    My mother’s lips parted, about to say
something, but Quaile interrupted her. “Uriah is not gone forever,
child,” she said. The tone of her voice seemed conflicted, and her
words captured my hope.
    “He’s coming back?” I asked. “When?”
    “I don’t know.” Quaile hated being wrong, and
hated even more not knowing the answer in the first place. “He told
me to tell you that he still loves you and that he is not giving up
yet.”
    Relief surged into my heart, almost strong
enough to wash away the feelings of the Twin Soul bond that were
threatening to tear me in two. I knew Uriah wouldn’t have walked
away so easily, but why hadn’t he told me himself? Why would he
leave me in agony only to send Quaile back in with a message a few
minutes later?
    Uriah was never sneaky or dishonest, but I
could feel that something was missing from Quaile’s explanation.
She had disappeared first, perhaps waiting to speak with Uriah
before he could leave me behind for good. What was she not telling
me?
    “Where did he go?”
    “His search is his own. I suppose he will
return when he’s found what he’s looking for,” Quaile said. Her
words snapped off her tongue, quick and sharp.
    Hardly an answer at all, I knew she was
keeping something back. “Where did he go, Quaile?” I asked, my
voice high and tight. “What are you hiding from me?”
    “Do not take that tone of voice with me,
Claire,” Quaile said. The words matched her usual temperament, but
the uncertainty in her eyes did not belong. Sighing, her head
dipped down. She looked years older than the last time I had seen
her. “He loves you, Claire. I know little besides that.”
    The dejected tone of her voice was nearly
enough to convince me that she truly didn’t know where Uriah had
gone, but I couldn’t bring myself to trust her. This whole string
of events had begun with her denying Uriah and I the right to
marry. If she hadn’t denied us, my father would never have drugged
my tea, trapping my soul and making the race to find Daniel so
important.
    No, I couldn’t trust her to tell me the truth
about Uriah.
    “Claire,” Quaile said, indecision making her
falter, “if Uriah is what you truly want, you must hold onto him.
You must do it alone.”
    Her head turned to gaze at the front door.
She looked back at me and reached up to place what I think was
supposed to be a comforting hand on my shoulder. Her frown turned
into a pain-filled grimace and her body jerked suddenly. Quickly,
she tore her