Chapter 52Arabella sat with her toes and hands in the sand. Her racing heart slowly started to slow to a steady pace.“What a fool I have been.” Arabella whispered to the empty cave, “I guess I deserve this after the way I treated him. By the Gods, I love that man. What am I going to do now? I only want him.”“You do know that the Gods cannot bring him back to you, don’t you?” Sybil spoke from her usual perch on the stone shelf.Arabella did not jerk in surprise when Sybil’s voice filled the cave. “What am I to do Sib? I don’t want anyone else. It took me too long to decide that. I’ve treated him terribly.”“If I could I would stir his heart and send him home but that is beyond me, Ari.” Sadness tainted Sybil’s gentle voice. “Lucian may still come back for you yet. He is only trying to fill the empty space that you left behind.”“Thanks a lot Sybil, that surely made me feel better.” Arabella said sarcastically. ‘I think I could deduce that for myself.”Sybil felt slightly offended by

Chapter 54Maria stood beside Lucian proudly, she might not be as beautiful as Arabella and maybe not even be in her league but she was the one standing here beside Lucian not her.Arabella stood alone at the punch bowl contemplating how Lucas had grown up too fast. He had a bright future ahead of him and she was so proud. She refused to let sadness dominate Lucas’s big day. Pasting a pleasant smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes; Arabella mingled with the other families here to see their own graduate.Lucian stood aside with Jack as both men recounted what each had been up to sense the last time they met. His eyes never left Arabella as she moved gracefully through the crown.Her eyes caught his and shivered at the look in Lucian’s eyes; it too her back to their first meeting. Hastily, Arabella turned her back on Lucian so he would not see the emotions threatening to break out in her face. It was obvious that Lucian was now taken and she did not want to interfere with his hap

Chapter 56Selene’s skirts swished against her ankles as she strode toward the lower gates of hell. As she passed the inhabitants of the realm, many greeted or bowed as she passed. 'Good day, Mother,’ was repeated constantly before she started down the stone steps to the first gates of hell. There were seven gates altogether and the worse ones were down these steps."Mother! What are you doing here? This is no place for you.” Gabriel stood up from the seat in his stone niche where he sat contemplating his feelings for Adora. To see Mother down here a bit of a shock as she never came this far, preferring to send someone down if she needed anything. Lucky for Gabriel, neither demons or condemned tried to escape this shift.“I came to see you, Gabriel. It is not too often I have to straighten out the affairs conducted here in the realm, but you and Adora are trying my patience. You both have the whole realm betting what will happen next in your existence. Most think you are going to be s

Chapter 58Jack struggled to wake up. He remembered the plane going down, but nothing else after that. A cold cloth laid across his head brought him the rest of the way awake. He opened his eyes to find a pair of blue ones staring at him.“Jack? Oh, thank God Jack, I thought you would never wake up.” Rainy Blake gently stroked Jack’s cheek.Rainy got her name from one of her five brothers. It was raining out side when she was born; a month early. Travis thought it would be funny to have a little sister named after the rain. It was tradition to allow the next child in line to name the next baby. So, Rainy it was. Where Rainy’s parents got their tradition from, Rainy was not sure. It was not a tradition in any of her cousin’s families. The name suited her parents hippy out look.Jack slowly sat up, his head hurt like he ran into a brick wall, head first. Winching, Jack looked around at the bright sand he had been lying on. There were other people from the plane wondering around in a daz

Chapter 60‘Jack is safe,’ kept running through Arabella’s head. She wouldn’t let go of his arm as they waited for the boat. Finding which island was easier than she thought it would be. Having mercenaries on your side helped. While the rescue teams had been searching in the wrong direction, Arabella and her mercenaries chose to go in a different one, following the clues Sybiln gave her. Arabella’s hunch paid off and now here they were. The rescue teams came running when she made the call over the air waves that the lost plane passengers had been found alive.Arabella watched as the medics walked among the passengers. Thank the Gods none of them were more serious injured than what they were. Sure, there were broken bones, scrapes and bruises, but no loss of life. Arabella shuddered at the thought that she could have lost Jack. She was a little angry with Sybil and Mother not helping out directly, although it was Sybil who gave her the clues she needed to find this island. Arabella sigh