Page 83 of Anorthic Anarchy

A tourist group fills the bar area as I walk inside and ask the hostess for the bathroom. Once I get back to the main room, the crowd has thinned, but I do hear them say they are heading to the Crystal Maiden with a guide.

Happy sighs part my lips. I’m where I should be.

“What will you have?” the bartender asks as I pull up an empty stool.

“Um, just water and whatever the chef makes best. I’m hungry!”

The kind-eyed woman gives me a nod and jots a note down on her writing pad, then walks away.

She returns with a tall, icy glass of water for me with a straw, and I check the cell phone I brought just for emergencies. There’s only one bar, but hopefully it will be enough to call for help if I need it out on my land.

When I look up, a large figure has taken the spot next to me, and I slide away politely to give him more room. The light brown of his hair glimmers in the afternoon light as I give him a cursory glance, noticing his pastel tropical shirt.

The waitress smiles broadly at him and slides a drink down the mahogany bar. He catches it in his hand, which bears a gold wedding band. He must be a local.

After taking a sip of his drink, he swivels on his stool, and my eyes secretly take in the side of his face. My stomach swoops as I gasp.

His broad lips lift into a smile as the corner of his gray eye crinkles. Looking down at me with mirth covering his cheeks, he murmurs, “Come here often?”

My breaths stutter, chest tightening.

Am I hallucinating? Or…is this my dead husband?

“Wha-what?”

Fully swiveling to face me, I get a better look. His cheeks are fuller and the light behind his eyes is brighter. Instead of pale, icy skin, it’s glowing with a tan. A hint of stubble lines his sharp jawline and his knee brushes my bare one.

“Who…whoareyou?” I manage to squeak out, convinced I’m seeing some weird ghost.

“I’m Phoenix. Phoenix Lynx. Your husband. If you’ll have me.”

Tears heat my eyes as all the delusions I had over the last two months come true. I must have completely lost it. Lifting a palm, I touch his face, and he places his warm hand over mine, closing his eyes as if savoring it. “What? How? Is itreallyyou?”

“Yes, my angel. Did you miss me?”

Nodding rapidly, I let the streams from my eyes fall freely, and sob. Without hesitation, he gathers me in his strong arms and lifts me up off my stool.

“Hazel! Tell Mack to make the orders to go. I’m taking my wife home.”

Burying my face in his neck, I let his scent envelop me, soothing my pain and putting my broken pieces back into place. It’s really him! His body, his form, ishere. How can this be?

By the time he gathers our food and carries me to another Jeep, my confusion has turned to raging anger. When he gets in the driver’s seat and places our food between my legs on the floor, I slap his arm. Then again. And again and again.

“Ouch!”

“Why did you let me suffer? Where have you been? What happened?”

He grips my face with his sure hands and presses his lips to mine as I fight him. Digging my nails in, I try to pull him off, but he won’t leave. I give in and kiss him back, deeply. Some of the fury simmers to an ardent passion before he pulls back and grips my hand. My claws are ready to release at any wrong word.

Using both of our hands to throw the car in gear, he pulls onto the main road.

“I wasn’t sure if it would work. But Dilan set the bombs along the perimeter for the sacrifice weeks prior to the Winter Solstice. Her last duty was to check them. Falcon prepared the baptismal pool for me. She left a gas mask under the water and cut thefiberglass enough that I would hopefully be able to kick out the bottom and crawl into the basement. From there, I shimmied out of the coal shafts to the outside and ran to the woods.”

His eyes narrow as he continues with a sad smile. “I wasn’t going to even bother with that last step, until I met you.”

My heart seizes with warmth at his words. He was willing to try everything to come back to me. Tears flood my eyes, and he takes a thumb and brushes them away, then sticks it in his mouth.

We drive up a dirt road, through a wooden gate, and he stops in front of the house I’d seen only on the internet and through videoed walk-throughs. The place is breathtaking. And it looks just like the place I’d drawn from my dreams so many months ago.

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