The woods were foggy. It was getting dark and Runa knew they shouldn’t be there. But they were laughing, and they were running. She always had such fun with Kol. And they both knew that the only way they could continue to have fun was this way. In the near dark, bare feet on the cold ground. They laughed together, and kissed under the cover of the trees. She was nearly sixteen. She couldn’t think about that.
The fact that by the villages standards, she was an old maid. She should have been married off by now. She thanked the Gods that her father was a picky man. A man who loved his only daughter, and wanted only the best for her. It gave her this time with him. Once she had a husband, their story was over.
She wound around a tree, doubling back toward him, shielding herself from him before she jumped out, laughing, and grabbed him. She pulled him to the ground, venturing a soft kiss on his lips. She was lost in him for only a moment before she heard them. The wolves.
“We need to go.”
☪ ☪ ☪ ☪
It had been flashes at first. Flashes of Kol’s face. Quick. Just a second, and then they were over. Davina thought nothingof them. She thought she liked to see his face, so she pictured it when he wasn’t around. It happened all the time when you were as in loveas she was.
And she was. She was so in love. Wildly. Irrationally. So in love with him. And it hadallhappened so quickly. She had not known him, and then the next moment, he was there, and she was whole.Everything she had done to lead her to that moment. And life made sense. She thought that was normal.
And then the dreams started. Much longer than just a second. Dozens of lives. Dozens of moments she had met him and each time, she fell in love. And when she had this dream, the one in the woods. The wolves howling all around them startled her awake and she rolled over, still breathing heavily, and shook him lightly.
“Kol. Kol, please wake up.”
