Chapter 17
Swan had not felt the abscence of her sister Lacey too keenly. She and Devlin were due back today from their honeymoon.
As she walked towards the woods her mind played over the thought of Devlin. Some undefined force ran between them whenever they met, but she was in no way sure what it meant. Did she hate him? Did she desire him? Was she jealous of what he shared with Lacey? Was she afraid of him? She only knew that he disturbed something deep within her.
She noticed a glint of water ahead through the trees. She had reached the lake.The surface was a still sheet of silver. Swan sat down beneath an old willow that had lost a large part of itself during a recent storm. The twisted amputation lay like a strange sculpture cradled in the shallow water, a pale yellow wound high up the willow tree’s trunk marking where it had once been attached to the life giving trunk. Despite its complete separation from this source of sustenance the broken bough still carried vibrant leaves on its slender branches.
Though death had already claimed it and the coming of a new spring would not return the green to these twisted limbs, the water in which it lay gave false hope, supplying the moisture needed for a form of life to continue.
She heard his footsteps crunching through the undergrowth behind her. She knew it was him, but she could not tell why she knew. Unsure whether she felt fascination, revulsion or fear, she scrambled along the willow branch that reached out into deeper water.
“Running away, little Swan?”
He stood at the edge of the bank his eyes keenly focused on her.
Her brightly coloured skirt was hitched up at one side, exposing one long slightly tanned leg. Her delicate white top gaped slightly at the neck. It had a row of little roses embroidered across the front and her breasts could be seen faintly beneath the fabric.
She became aware of a prickling sensation along her back and arms as he approached. Determined to ignore him, she dipped one toe into the golden water, feeling the tug of power that moved beneath it. How cold it felt.
“What? No welcome back? No sisterly greeting?”
“Haven’t you got anything else to do?”
“You mean apart from looking for you? This seemed the more attractive option so I volunteered.”
Swan didn’t answer
“Miss me?” he teased.
Swan turned and looked at him then quickly looked away. “You married my sister, not me! Why should I miss you?”
“No reason!” His smile was lazy, a little twisted. “You look like a nymph of the woods hanging from that branch.”
“Now you’re going to start talking nonsense, and I shall just ignore you because I really don’t want to hear it”
“How can the truth be nonsense?”
“Everything you say is nonsense.”
“Liar!”
Suddenly he leaned forward and grasped the dead tree branch, making the whole structure shake.
“Don’t do that, I’ll fall in!”
“But I want you to fall.”
She looked back at him , magnetised by the expression on his face.
“Wish you could sit on me like that instead of on that branch.”
She felt a sudden sensation of power that ran like a lightning bolt to her head and made her soar above the moment as if the very bonds of life itself had temporarily set her free.
Devlin too seemed focused into that second, concentrated and supremely intense, leaning toward her, combining pleading with such powerful longing that it drew her momentarily into the madness that was his passion.
“Go away, Devlin,” she whispered, dragging her eyes from his and looking toward the opposite side of the stream, shutting him away, the sight of him and the nearness, and the warm breath that she knew was coming in short bursts from his tensed lips.
“Please, please go away!”
He was silent for some time, and then he said in a matter of fact tone “Lacey is looking for you” . She heard him walk away into the trees. As his footsteps faded and left her once more hearing only the music of nature, the gentle murmur of the soft flowing water and the sweet sighing of the trees above her, she felt the pace of her heartbeat begin to slow down.
Suddenly she felt an emptiness such as she had never felt before. All at once the sky seemed a little less blue, the wind a little more cruel. The undiscovered territory that was Devlin Stone hung in the air above the slowly moving water, tempting her, inviting her, enticing her, yet eluding her because of who and what he was. Her passionate curiosity had at last met with something she could not get past – the wall of her love for her sister – and however she might twist and turn, she was trapped in the pain of that conflict.