(Continues from Bachelor Girl on an Inter-dimensional Carousel)

Tevra

For one moment, I connected with something, and the words on the page rose up, changing from cold letters into snow and blood and a woman warrior fighting a desperate battle. And then the moment passed releasing me back to the mundanity of my corporate existence. I screamed and rallied against the cruelty of life and the freedom of fiction denied to us who inhabit the real world.

A car pulled into the parking lot blaring some gooey boy band nonsense. It poured some sugar on my wound, and each saccharine word ground the granules in deeper.

“Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine–”

I laughed, and it had a cynical edge. What did a rich, overstyled, teen-adored 90’s kid know about loneliness? You have no idea kid. 

“I’m leavin’ my life in your hands.”

A breeze skimmed the Hudson River and rustled the pages in my lap reminding me of the woman warrior and her struggle. The boy band kept on crooning, but my thoughts centered on her. In whose hands did her life rest?

“People say I’m crazy and that I am blind.”

I rubbed my temples recalling the train ride and my run-in with Jase. Yeah, my hot boss likely thought me crazy. Would I still have a job in the morning? The book pulled my gaze back down to its cover. I traced the letters of its title. Did it matter? This story had touched a deep chord inside me, and I wanted more. I closed my eyes and started when two silver eyes looked back at me.

The view backed up granting me a better vantage. Mr. Sultry stood, lips pursed and those awesome eyes intent on something happening behind me. No armor clad him except a gauntlet on steroids. It was a silver thing covered in lacy swirls running from his knuckles to his shoulder. A strap across his chest kept the accessory in place. Under it, he wore standard fantasy movie garb: gray trousers billowing in the wind, a white shirt open at the throat and a half cape furry thing doing nothing to warm him. He leaned on a giant sword likely stolen from the set of Braveheart, but someone had replaced its mirrored finish with about five feet of pulsing diamond.

“I can’t get you out of my head.”

Oh yeah, I had a terminal case of book-lust at first read. Mr. Sexy muttered something under his breath, and his eyes ramped up their glow. Before he blinded me, the view swung around to let me see what he saw. My heart sank. Rank upon rank of soldiers toiled up a mountain side right towards him, but he stood his ground, alone in a cleft between two ice-capped peaks.

“Don’t care what is written in your history
As long as you’re here with me.”

The driver cut off the song finally just as the music swelled and the boy band prepared to deliver its heart melting refrain. But I was still there with him, this unknown mage. Magic built around as his whispers echoed across the mountain range. Ribbons of vibrant colored energy wove through the peaks sealing off the passes with swirling rainbows.

“I am Kaydran Ironwood, and you shall not pass.” A tear tracked down his porcelain cheek a moment before magic and light exploded out of him, engulfing him and the army in flames.

Find the earlier parts of this series here.

If you missed a part, worry not. This will be available from Amazon in 2017.
The adventure continues tomorrow.

For Monday Morning Melts #4 hosted by Jade and Rosema.