The Golden Desires by Ann M Pratley Read Free Book Online Page A

and
rubble … and you."
    Isabella looked around her but could not see the
broken buildings he referred to.
    "Nothing is broken here. What looks broken to
you?" she asked, curious.
    He pointed behind him to the temple.
    "That, for starters. It looks like a bomb
went off and flattened it."
    Isabella walked past him and up to the temple
door. To her it felt normal as she passed through it.
    "What is this 'bomb' you speak of? There is
nothing wrong here. This is our temple, and it stands as it always has."
    To Trent it looked like she was magically walking
… through rubble.
    "Wait! Don't go there!" he yelled at
her, thinking that she would surely bring down some of the random beams that
were standing upwards but which looked completely unsecured in any way.
    Isabella turned to him and saw the concern on his
face so stopped and came back to him.
    "I do not understand. Do you see different
from what I see? How could that be?"
    "I…" he stammered, feeling well out of
his depth now. "I don't know. But Isabella, please don't go there. It
doesn't look safe. Is there an open area perhaps - somewhere where there are no
buildings or any other things that might fall?"
    She smiled at him, wondering if he was jesting her
as Adrian did sometimes. But she only saw fear and seriousness on his face.
    She held out her hand to him.
    "Come. I know a great open space we can go to,
to sit and talk."
    He looked at her, saw her hand extended, and found
himself surprised at how at ease he was with her, and how at ease she seemed to
be with him . Taking her hand in his, he then let her lead him past the
broken down buildings and rubble that he could see must have been a great township
at some time … a very, very long time ago.
    They walked in silence, looking at each other
while continuing to hold hands, not sure what was happening with or between
them. At a logical level it seemed wrong that they should be walking together
so companionably when they did not know each other. Even for Trent - a man well
versed in meeting strangers and even taking some of them home with him for
sexual pleasure - he felt that they might be crossing a boundary by holding
hands. But he did not stop it. As much as he had wanted to be away from human
contact on his quest, he found that right in this moment, he was very glad of
it.
    When they reached the area where Isabella had felt
the land warm when she was with Adrian, she sat down on the ground and invited
him to do the same.
    Sitting down on the dirt, Trent was again
surprised that he felt no cold there. But when she told him to put both of his
hands flat on the ground, as Adrian had done, something surged through him. It
was warmth, but it was more than that. He closed his eyes and let the feeling
rush through him. It was not like anything he had experienced before. It was
like his veins had something new and exciting rushing through them. And he felt
so healthy and … alive .
    Isabella watched him sit like that and took the
time to really look closely at his face. He was not like anyone she already
knew but she found she liked looking at his face. She felt close to him, like
she was meant to be close to him … like she was meant to be even closer to
him.
    Suddenly he opened his eyes and initially looked
directly into hers, before she saw him jump up and backwards, then look
confused again.
    "What is it?" she asked, alarmed at his
response, and standing up with him.
    "What? I just saw things … differently…"
    Neither knew what that meant, but Isabella coaxed
him with the softness of her voice, to sit down again.
    When he did, he put his hands on the ground as she
had said, this time keeping his eyes open. Instantly things changed. Before him
she still sat, unchanged, but suddenly the image of dirt was replaced with that
of grass - green grass. And beyond, in the distance, he could see
buildings - upright, intact and well formed buildings .
    He removed his hands only a short way, just
lifting them clear of the