Kisa tensed up, then said quietly, “I haven’t been here in twelve years.”

I frowned in confusion, but before I could question why, she turned in my arms and took my hand. “It’s this way.”

Following her lead, I asked, “What is?”

Kisa’s beautiful face suddenly looked happy and she leaned into my side, her scent hitting my nose, keeping me calm. I didn’t like being out in public. I didn’t like open spaces. I’d been caged up too long, so long that freedom and open areas made me feel uneasy.

“Our cove.”

We walked for a while before we climbed over some rocks and, hidden away from sight, was a small blocked-off patch of sand. Kisa sniffed beside me. “It hasn’t changed at all,” she whispered and jumped off the rock down onto the sand.

Looking back, her blue eyes were bright, her long black dress clung to her fucking beautiful hourglass curves, and her long brown hair blew in the light sticky wind.

“Kisa-Anna…” I rasped out and went to jump down too, but suddenly I came to a stop as something big came back to me… something I think I’d known since the night I’d saved her. I just didn’t know how to actually feel, how to let it in, until now.

My eyes widened as I stared at my woman. “I had her…” I said under my breath and only to myself, memories of us together flooding my mind. “I had her. She was mine…” I repeated, as I thought of us on this beach, in this cove, in Serge’s car, on the pier.

I stretched up my neck and glanced over the rocks to see a long pier shining with lights, and my heart boomed like a crash of thunder in a thunderstorm.

Kisa laid out the blanket on a patch of sand nearest the rocks, and I leapt down beside her. Within seconds, I had lifted her into my arms. Her surprised blue eyes met mine as her hands gripped onto my biceps.

My eyes bored into hers, and I said breathlessly, “I had you. I had you since the day you were born. I asked your mama for you and she said yes.”

Kisa’s face filled with a gamut of emotions: happiness, sorrow, and… hope? I didn’t know, but she nodded and her eyes misted over, moisture threatening to fall.

Dropping to my knees, the memories so strong I couldn’t stand any longer, I laid Kisa on the blanket and hovered over her. Warmth filled my chest like the sun had moved its home inside of me. I’d only ever felt cold before. The cell was cold. Killing was cold… I was always cold, but right now, I was warm… I felt alive. No longer dead inside.

I gazed into her eyes and saw only happiness in her stare.

“Raze…” she murmured, stroking through the strands of my hair, but I couldn’t speak.

We’d always been together. Her and me, from birth, we were always together.

Urging Kisa’s hand from my hair, I threaded my fingers through hers and studied her slim fingers, the nails painted pink, through my cut and scarred hands, marks from years of fighting, my knuckledusters marring the skin…

*****

As we sat on the sofa, Kisa pulled out a book to read, and I watched her eyes racing along the sentences, an excited smile on her lips.

“How long do you think our fathers will be in there?” I asked, wanting her to look at me, to pay me attention, not the damn book.

Kisa glanced at me over the page and shrugged. “Don’t know. Papa always takes a long time when he’s doing business.”

I nodded but never took my eyes from her face. Kisa dropped her head and blushed. I was nine now, she was eight, and I couldn’t stop staring at her face every time I saw her. She was so pretty.

Kisa began reading again, and I shuffled closer to her until our arms brushed. She glanced sideward at me and started chewing on her lip.

I tried to sit back against the couch, but I couldn’t stop watching Kisa-Anna. My hand started to twitch and I wanted to reach out and touch her. She was my best friend, and best friends should touch, I thought.

Without thinking it through, I reached out and took her hand in mine, wrapping our fingers around each other’s.

Kisa gasped and said, “Luka, what are you doing?”

I shrugged. “Holding your hand.”

“Why?” Kisa whispered, staring at my thumb stroking her skin. She was so soft.

“Because I have to,” I answered honestly, and she seemed to stop breathing for several minutes before exhaling, her long eyelashes fluttering when she looked at me.

“Okay,” she whispered, and something warm spread in my chest and down to my stomach. “I… I like it.”

I smiled and Kisa blushed again. “Me too. I’m going to hold your hand all the time now. I’m never going to let go.”

“I don’t ever want you to,” she said shyly, and I pulled her to rest back against the couch, her side tucked next to mine, our hands still fused together.

“Read to me,” I said and closed my eyes.

Kisa took a deep breath and started her story from the beginning.

“They were always meant to be together, one boy and one girl, two hearts split into two, sent to far-off lands on their own. For God wanted to see if true love could be tested. He wanted to see if two halves of one soul could find each other again, even against the odds. Years would pass, they would both be hurt, they would both be sad, but one day, when they least expected it, they would stumble into each other’s paths. The question is: would they recognize each other’s soul? Would they find their way back to love…?”