ON EDGE (Decorah Security) by Rebecca York Page B

there. She would die .
    He hadn’t understood that, and he heard himself cry out in protest. But there was more.
    And if we allow her to live in this plane of existence, you will give her up ?
    Every fiber of his being recoiled from the cruelty of what they were asking. His hand clamped on Ariel’s arm. It might be the last time he ever touched her, but he would suffer her loss to save her life. “I will give her up,” he said in a voice he struggled to hold steady.
    He held his breath, feeling a vibration in the air. He heard words echoing around him. It was as though beings he couldn’t see and couldn’t understand were arguing with each other.
    Yet he caught the gist of the argument.
    She has defied us.
    The situation was not of her making.
    He spoke truth. She was only a child.
    She dared to give herself to the man.
    After long and faithful service.
    Frank held his breath, listening to the voices boom and vibrate. Sometimes they spoke of Ariel and sometimes of him.
    He proved his bravery.
    He has suffered much.
    Can he be trusted?
    He couldn’t stay silent. “Was there ever a man who walked between the worlds as I have?”
    The voices raging around him went silent. Then one spoke directly to him.
    We saw the tendency when you were young, and we blocked it.
    He caught his breath as he thought about his early flashes of something outside the world when he’d played in the orchard back home. He’d seen them as a child. Then they’d simply stopped.
    But it came back—the night you heard Gordon scream for help. Perhaps you are something new in the universe .
    Frank Decorah, something new in the universe. He tried to wrap his head around that. Then he tried to use it to his advantage.
    “For a reason. I came into this plane before Ariel arrived. I saved a man Lilith would have killed. I can do similar services again, if Ariel can stay with me and tell me what is needed.”
    Long moments ticked by, and he thought he might go mad waiting for a response.
    Finally, one of the voices said,
    It is a reasonable scheme .
    Just as relief flooded through him, he was hit with one more warning.
    She is forbidden to marry. You would give up a normal life for her? You would give up marriage and children?
    “Yes,” he answered in a strong voice.
    We will hold you to that .
    And suddenly from one blink of an eye to the other, they were no longer in the temple. They were back in the house where he had visited her, both of them, together.
    He looked around in confusion. “What happened?”
    She raised her head, and he saw tears shimmering in her eyes. “They gave us permission to be together—when we can.”
    Overcome with emotion, he embraced her.
    “And you can help me in my sacred mission.”
    “I want to.”
    “My work is important to me. There is so much evil in the universe, and if I can hold it back just a little, I know I have won a victory.”
    “Yes.”
    She lifted her face to his and looked him in the eye. “It will not be easy—this arrangement.”
    “But as long as I know I have you, I can do it.”
    He held her tightly, and she molded the contours of her body to his.
    “I love you,” he murmured. “So much.”
    “And I love you.” Her voice hitched. “But can you live the life we must?”
    “Yes,” he answered.
    She kept her gaze on him, her face serious. “You defended me with your life—against the gods. That was either very brave or very foolish.”
    “I had to fight for you.”
    “I never thought anyone would do something so heroic for me.”
    “You had done nothing wrong.”
    “But I did.”
    “You only loved me.”
    He lowered his head, and as their lips met, he knew that he had almost lost her. Or lost himself, or both.
    He pulled the gown over her head, and she tugged at his uniform jacket.
    “Do it with your magic,” he managed to say.
    “Gods. I forgot about that.”
    In a moment, he was as naked as she. Standing on two legs, because he was whole and uninjured in this