Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“We will come with you,” he said, and the relief was palpable.
Vasilios stepped close and took my face in his hands. “You’re incredible,” he whispered, his expression tender and full of affection. “I love you.”
Shock was too strong a word, but then, I was even more stunned when my future self stepped into his arms and whispered, “I love you, too.”
I didn’t have time to unravel my feelings about my future self somehow being in love with Vasilios because I was moving forward again, but I had no idea how far into the future. It definitely felt like years had passed when I found myself in a bedroom I didn’t recognise. My hair was shorter, just brushing my shoulders as I lay in a large bed, fast asleep. My face seemed older, my features sharper and more defined. I couldn’t tell what age I was, but I sensed it was a version of me far removed from my current self.
I looked around the room, but there was nothing to indicate a location. The curtains were drawn, so I couldn’t see outside to determine if I was still in Oreylia or if I’d managed to travel home. I desperately needed to know what had happened with all those miners. Had we succeeded or failed in our quest to liberate them? Was leading them to freedom a part of the prophecy? I’d always thought it meant I’d be a leader in Tribane where my parents held power. It was the obvious choice. But what if that wasn’t it? What if I become a leader for a population of the downtrodden, people of mixed heritage just like me, who came from a whole other dimension?
I was so busy with these thoughts that I didn’t immediately realise someone was in the bed next to me. I stepped closer and stilled. No, it couldn’t be happening. That could not be Vasilios snoozing away next to me. It wasn’t possible.
I was in a complete state of denial even though the last vision showed us saying “I love you” to one another. I was trying to convince myself that those words were a lie, that I’d had to say them to keep Vasilios from discovering I was undercover, just like I was in the prison. Yes, that was it! I’d been lying. I’d told him I loved him simply to keep up some elaborate ruse.
But then, why had it sounded so sincere? And why had the tender affection in Vasilios’s eyes been matched in mine? My stomach turned. How was I seeing a future that involved Vasilios every step of the way and not Peter? I felt like my heart was breaking as I stood there, staring at myself sharing a bed with a man I barely knew, never mind trusted.
Future Vasilios turned over, casting some of the blankets aside, and my cheeks heated when I saw we were both completely naked. That meant … No, don’t think it.
His arm slipped around my waist, pulling me to him as he pressed a kiss to the hollow of my neck. I wasn’t sure what I was more embarrassed by, the fact that I was seeing Vasilios’s bare backside, which was quite spectacular, might I add, or the fact I’d just let out a sleepy little moan of pleasure. Or, well, the me who existed in that timeline did.
The future wasn’t set in stone, right?
I could change it if I chose a different path.
“Come here,” Vasilios ordered in a husky voice. “I need you.”
I turned to him, and he took my mouth in a slow, languid kiss. His hand caressed my jaw before moving down and palming my breast. “Please,” I mewled, and his hand wandered farther down, slipping between my legs.
I opened willingly for him, and if I weren’t so stunned by what I saw, I would surely be mortified by the private act that was taking place right before me. Was it possible to be a peeping Tom if the person you were peeping on was essentially yourself?
It was a conundrum.
“Vas,” I moaned, and the blazing hot self-consciousness that filled me was immense. I needed to get out of there, away from that room where things were happening that made me question myself in so many ways. Vasilios moved down my body until his mouth was where his hand had just been. I was pretty sure I might faint, but then the room faded away, and I was once again in a brand-new place.
I recognised my surroundings instantly. Birds sang overhead, leaves rustling in the breeze. I’d know those trees anywhere. I was home, walking through the thick foliage of the Yellowbranch Forest. My shoes crunched on the earth as tendrils of early morning sunlight filtered through, and as I neared a clearing, the trees gave way to a house nestled deep within the forest. The front door opened, and a child emerged, a little boy. He raced across the garden before diving into my arms. My future self was visibly filled with a pure and unwavering love for the child. It was a love so strong it confused me because though I’d felt love for others, I hadn’t felt a love of that kind before. It was a selfless love, one you’d give your life for if it meant protecting someone you cherished.