A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)

by Rebecca Ross

He disliked her a little less than he had yesterday. And that could only bring him trouble.

But she was coming to learn that it was hard to hate what made her feel the most alive.

sometimes love was like dust in the eyes, a hindrance when it came to seeing truth.

She didn’t tell him that she was lonely, that she was overwhelmed some days with all the responsibilities that were set before her. That she sometimes wanted to be held and listened to and touched, that she wanted to be with someone who challenged her, sharpened her, made her laugh. Someone she could trust.

But now I realize that it is better to live, to feel and have a clean break than be half-dead and cold, cracked from resentment.”

That you and I are complements, that we are made to clash and sharpen each other like iron. That you and I will stay bound together by that which is nameless and runs deeper than vows, until the very end, when the isle takes my bones into the ground and my name is nothing but memory carved into a headstone.”

“There is no failure in love,” she said and covered the furrows. The soil was rich; it swallowed a portion of her grief. “And I have loved without measure.”

“I want to change. But my bones are old, my heart is selfish, my spirit is weary. I look at me and I look at you, and I see two different dreams. I am death. And you, Sidra …” He reached out to touch her face, softly, as if she might vanish beneath his fingers. “You are life.”

“It means that without you, I am nothing.”

I am but a verse inspired by your chorus, and I will follow you until the end, when the isle takes my bones and my name is nothing more than a remembrance on a headstone, next to yours.”