My Forever Immortal by J.M. Hurley (popular ebook readers txt) 📕

replied in a restrained voice and Verona smiled viscously and clasped her hands together.

“Yes, yes, I suppose I am getting repetitive, now aren’t I?” the Queen now wore a smile that sent shivers down my spine, and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “Now ladies, as I’m sure you’re aware, our workforce has been depleting itself over the past years.” I nodded to show her I understood and saw Faith also nod in my peripheral vision. “Well, to cut to the chase, I would like you girls to help out where these times have hit us hardest.” Before she even spoke the words I knew where she was sending us, I felt Faith go as stiff as a board next to me and the Queens smile widened. “I’d like you ladies to help out in sanction #13.”

I just sat there for a moment, staring at the queen with wide eyes, trying to clear my fuzzy thoughts. Then reality settled back in. “Sanction 13?” I asked and the queen nodded with a smile.

“Yes, sanction 13. You, Skylar, will be helping out in the laboratory department, and you, Faith, will be working in the training annex.” Faith seemed to relax a bit at this; at least she wasn’t in the labs.

“Um, your majesty, if I am aloud to speak,” Faith paused long enough to get a nod of permission from Verona. “I was wondering if my cousin could help out also, he’s quite amazing in self defense.” Verona seemed to consider this, and as if to prove her point, Faith continued to speak quietly. “He graduated top in his rankings in his training, and was moved up 5 sanctions just to find someone to match his skill levels.”

Verona nodded patiently then smiled, “Yes, I’m quite aware of Phantom Renegard’s talents, I’m just not so sure he can control his temper long enough to teach anyone…”

Faith frowned but then seemed to come up with an excuse, “I’m sure he’ll behave if we tell him to be on extra good behavior and if not, he’ll be asked to leave, no harm no foul, right?”

Verona nodded slightly, and then a bit more aggressively, “yes, I believe you’re right dear, young Mr. Renegard will make an excellent addition to our faculty.” Then, as if just noticing how uncomfortable we were, she added in a even tone, “You are dismissed. Tomorrow, you will skip your morning classes and report straight to sanction #13, I look forward to meeting with you again.”

“Oh and Skylar!” she called as we turned to walk out, I stifled a sigh and plastered a smile on my face as I turned towards her again, “yes?”

“Do tell Liam I said hello, I’m dearly looking forward to your wedding,” and with one last wicked smile, she ushered us out the door and shut it swiftly behind us.

Once outside of hearing range I turned to Faith. “We’re not actually going to do this, right?” I asked and Faith looked up at me with tear filled eyes.

“We don’t really have a choice Skye, I mean, look at yourself. You’re getting married to someone who you don’t even love but you’re just going along with it like nothing’s wrong!” she said and I shot her an incredulous look.

“I don’t really have a choice to marry Liam, Faith, you know that!” I replied and she laughed quietly.

“Yes, you really do Skye. You don’t have

to marry him, you’re choosing to,” she said, and then she picked up her pace and rounded the corner, leaving me staring after her.

I waited for awhile, thinking that she was just joking, that she’d round the corner again and we’d both burst into laughter but after twenty minutes passed, I realized she was gone. I looked up and gazed into the glass window in front of me, staring deeply at my reflection. “Maybe she’s right…Maybe I am

just giving up too easily…” I sighed out of frustration then jumped when I heard soft footsteps protruding from around the corner.

“Look, Faith, I’m sorry I got so upset it’s just with Liam and I…you know, I get defensive…” I looked down at the floor so that my silky black hair shielded my face from her.

“You used to get defensive about us

too.”

My eyes shot open, wider than I thought they could go and I flipped my head up, my hair flying out of my face. But no one was there. I quickly looked around, searching, no, it was more than searching, it was like I had only so long to live, and right in front of me had been the key to immortality. I needed

it, just like I needed him

. “That’s not possible,” I whispered as I sunk to the ground, “I know you were here ,Ash, I heard your voice, I felt your breath on my skin, I smelt that scent of yours that I long for so much these days…You were here, I know it.” I felt a stray tear slip down my cheek and I resisted the urge to wipe it away, I needed the tears too, it was the only way I could remember Ashton, because certainly no one could feel so much pain if their other being didn’t exist.

I hugged my knees closer to my chest and allowed other teardrops slide down my face in hopeless rivets of memories. I felt the room around me begin to feel chilled and I knew it was time to stop, time to pull myself together, but I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to cut off my only source of being with Ashton, so I let it come. The ceiling above me shook and I shook my head with it, it’s not worth it, I suddenly pushed my emotions out of me. I shoved them away, rejected them as if they were meaningless to me, and the room went back to normal. The paintings stopped shaking, the ceiling healed any cracks that had been forming, and the temperature returned to the normal mid warmth feeling. I stood up wearily, it’s just not fair,

I thought silently to myself, I can never seem to be with you, not even through memories

.

“Skylar? Are you okay?”

I looked up and saw Liam running at inhuman speeds toward me. When he reached me he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his warm embrace. I clung to him, needing him close, needing someone who understood, but knowing that the only person who would wasn’t here. He pulled away for a moment; slowly taking my face in his hands and making me stare into his eyes. We didn’t need words, he just knew. He knew why mascara was running down my face, he knew who I was upset about, who I was actually longing for, and I knew how much he wished that it was him who I was affectionate for, but at that moment, we didn’t care. Liam leaned forward and gently kissed my forward, then slowly pulled me back into his warm embrace.

“Thank-you,” I whispered and I felt him nod against my shoulder.


Chapter 4

After that, my day was uneventful. I gave Liam another kiss on the cheek then trudged off down the hallway until I reached my room. Once I reached the familiar stainless steel frame, I pulled out my key and quickly flung open the door. Faith was still nowhere to be seen. I rolled my eyes out of annoyance and walked into our bathroom, the door swinging shut behind me. Sighing, I pulled off my Burberry dress and reached down towards the knob on our shower when a voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Whoa, what the Hell are you doing?” I let a girlish yelp escape my lips as I whipped my head around to stare at Phantom.

Grabbing a towel, I quickly covered my half-naked body and shot him an angry glare. “What am I doing? This is my

room! What are you

doing?!”

“I was practicing levitating things until you stormed in here and started stripping down for me,” he said with a smirk that made me want to slap him.

“First off, you wish that was for you, and secondly, why are you in here

practicing?” I snapped, my voice smothered with sarcasm.

Phantom laughed under his breath, as if there was some part of this that I was missing that made this funny. “I’m in here because I can’t leave until I know that the guards aren’t passing and you and my cousin ran out so fast I couldn’t check.” He said with a sly grin and I slapped him on the arm.

“Quit joking around, I’ve already had enough crap today, okay?” I said as I wrapped the towel tighter around myself.

“It’s not even noon yet, how bad could your day be going?” he asked as he sat down on the ledge of the bathroom counter.

“Well, starting your day with the Queen is bad enough, but then you find out that you have to do some stupid-” I quickly mashed my lips together and pretended to have lost my train of thought. Thank God he can’t read minds

, I told myself silently as I picked at my cuticles, something I always do when I’m nervous.

“What? What do you have to do now?” he asked and his still amused looking grin alerted me that he wasn’t aware of what I was hiding.

“I think you need to talk to Faith,” I said with a start as I began to head towards the door but Phantom grabbed my arm.

“Tell me, please,” he asked.

I felt an odd pricking sensation in the back of my throat and suddenly, I seemed like a great idea to tell him. I knew what had happened, he’d compelled me, but even though I knew that, I hadn’t recovered enough from my incident in the hallway and wasn’t strong enough to resist. I shot him a nervous smile and leaned in towards his ear. “We have to work in sanction #13,” I whispered and I felt his spine instantly straighten.

The compulsion was instantly dropped; he had other things to focus on now. “I’m sorry Phantom, I really am, I mean, I know how hard-” I was cut off by Phantoms hand pressing itself against my lips.

“How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t need your sympathy? I don’t want it!” he spat and even though his expression looked outraged I knew how deeply he was hurting inside. Working in sanction #13, the last place that Ruth was, was going to be practically unbearable for him. But if Phantom was broken and crying inside like I thought, he wasn’t really showing it. His mouth was set in a grimace but his eyes were sharp and focused. He flipped his unruly black hair out of his piercing blue eyes as he surveyed me.

“I’m just going to get going,” he said calmly and I nodded and gave him a hesitant smile.

“When do we start?” he asked and I felt my stomach clench.

“Tomorrow, we start tomorrow…” I said quietly then I reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “And it’s not sympathy I’m offering, Phantom, it’s me being someone who understands.” An image of Ashton soared through my mind and I had to push it out of my mind for fear of another incident like earlier.

Phantom laughed quietly without a smile, then