Without You [Mature]

[Breaker]

[This thread contains mature violent and sexual themes, reader discretion is advised.]

“Wait,” she said, her words a whispered promise.

McKinely Parish took a deep breath and straightened her spine, drawing the cherrywood violin up beneath her chin.

She plucked a single shimmering note, a tremor of sound that rolled outward as it undulated, long and mournfully beautiful. She bent her elbow and applied the bow, and made her instrument sing.

Breaker sat back and closed his eyes, losing himself in the melodious rhythm. Kinley was as skilled a musician as he’d ever had the privilege of listening to, and he felt honored for the private shows she gave him. The notes meandered out and around the little cottage, which had recently been reinforced with some significant armoring. In truth, it looked almost as much like a bunker as a cottage, but Kinley had still kept it homey. Nothing could make the evening better… except of course, the fine Alerian scotch Josh had chilling in the kitchen.

He mimed drinking and Kinley nodded around her playing, continuing the fluid motions that produced the beautiful music. The notes rose and fell like waves, swelling and waning like the tide. It reminded Breaker of his goddess Am’aleh, and her aqueous realm. He no longer yearned for her touch as he once had. He had grown stronger, and with that strength his devotion to his mortal lover had rekindled.

The floorboards creaked as he paced out of the living room and down the hallway, the music swelling behind him. He stepped into the kitchen where Nymeria, Kinley’s calico direwolf, slept beneath the table, her legs and snout spilling out from opposite sides. He chuckled at the sight, and then pulled his scotch out of the icebox and fixed two glasses with a splash of water each.

There was a sharp note from the other room, followed by a brief silence, and then the music resumed.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself doll,” Breaker called over his shoulder. He knew she beat herself up for the smallest mistakes. “You’re playing beautifully tonight.”

He paused on his way out of the kitchen to scritch the wolf beneath her chin, resulting in a sleepy foot thumping on the floor. Nymeria rolled halfway out from under the table, still asleep, her tongue lolling out of her mouth at a ludicrous angle.

Josh chuckled again. “Kinley,” he called, “come in here, you’ll want to see this.”

The violin music continued uninterrupted.

“Kinley?”

He felt the mana-residue as he moved back into the living room, and knew what had happened before he saw.

The violin and bow hovered in place where Kinley had held them, playing as they had been magically charmed to do. The residue of another, stronger spell lingered - a portal, going potentially anywhere on Althanas.

Breaker set the scotch down carefully on an end table, his heart thundering, his sweat cold.

Someone had captured McKinley.