An Immortal Christmas by Monica La Porta

Author:Monica La Porta [Porta, Monica La]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-12-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The sun shone through the clouds, illuminating the city with a brilliant morning light. Giddiness possessed Camelia, and she opened her arms to the side, tilting her chin up toward the sky. Then she twirled around, her cloak dancing with her, while her soggy hood fell and her hair was soon soaked by the heavy rain as well.

After looking for Constantine for so long, she had resigned to the idea of loving an abstract man, concocted by her mind to mend her starving heart. But she could almost feel his touch brushing her body now, and it wasn’t just her imagination.

Constantine was in Seattle, all but a few meters from her. All of a sudden, she couldn’t wait any longer to be reunited with him, and the memory of their last time together played before her eyes as she left Kerry Park.

****

Santa Marta de Tormes, Spain, Late Spring 1856

After leaving her house in a hurry, Camelia pushed Estrella to her limits, something she wouldn’t have ordinarily done, but she was devastated and needed to see Constantine. He had been calling her non-stop, his summons progressively angrier, but she hadn’t answered. She wanted to talk to him face-to-face, because she would need his strong arms around her when she divulged her news.

“I need to tell you something,” she said the moment she saw him.

Constantine waited for her in the shadow, leaning against the brick wall, one knee bent and his Hessian boot firmly pressing on the surface behind.

His dark and brooding demeanor made her tremble, but she continued, “The elders have chosen a husband for me and my father is sending me to Rome in two days.” She had expected him to take her in his arms, but he didn’t move. “Say something.”

Constantine’s jaw hardened, making his whole countenance the more distant for it. “What will you do?”

As if she had been hit by a blow, Camelia recoiled, pressing a hand over her heart.

“Answer me.” His question came out as a low growl.

Hurt by his distance, she spat back, “What do you want me to say?” She had kept the truth to herself for days, worried of what Constantine would do the moment he knew, but she never envisioned his reaction to be so cold. She needed kisses and frantic caresses, not the cold shoulder.

“Will you marry him?” he asked after a long moment of silence.

Shaking her head, she swallowed her pride and closed the gap between them. “You know I only want you,” she whispered, hoping he would lean down and meet her mouth.

He regarded her with a calculated stare. “Do I?”

“What are you doing?” she cried, unable to contain her frustration any longer. “I’ve endured meeting after meeting with the elders, pleading with them to change their decision. I have fought my parents and my sister, and I was locked in my room, left there to reconsider my foolishness. I told them about you and that I’m not a virgin any longer—”

Constantine stirred, his eyes wandering to the side of her face where a red mark glowed on her skin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.