Read Online Liron's Melody by Brieanna Robertson - Free Book Online Page B

disappointment reflected
in his eyes. He smiled, but not for the first time tonight, it looked forced.
He stuffed his hands back in his pockets. “Well, Melody, I must say, it has
been an honor and a privilege.”
    She managed a smile that she imagined looked as pained as his
did. “Liron, this entire night has been…extraordinary. Terrifying, but
extraordinary.”
    He took her hand and traced along the lines of her palm the
way he had done to calm her earlier. “For whatever reason this happened, I will
always be grateful. You chased away the loneliness, even if for a night, and
made me remember what it is like to hear music, what kind of power it can have.
I think I had forgotten that in my misery.” He met her gaze and shrugged one
shoulder. “My only regret is that I did not have enough time to learn more
about you.”
    She opened her mouth to speak, but he brought her hand to his
lips and pressed a lingering kiss to her fingers. A heady rush of notes filled
her to the point that it almost made her dizzy.
    “Go on before it closes,” he murmured.
    He released her hand, and she took a step toward her room,
but hesitated. She looked at him for a long moment, trying to fix him into her
mind. “You promise me you were never just a hallucination?” she asked.
    He grinned, a real one that lit up his otherwise somber face.
“What kind of hallucination would I be if I told you?”
    She smiled. “I’ll never forget you.” Even as she said the
words, her heart felt funny in her chest, achy and longing.
    “And for that, my life no longer seems so dismal.”
    He bowed at the waist, and Melody turned to hurry into her
living room before she lost her nerve altogether. She strode the first few
steps until the echoing of her footsteps on the stone floor became less
pronounced as she walked across the hardwood. She stopped at her piano, let her
eyes glance over the music that was still there, and she finally found the
courage to turn around.
    Everything was as it should be. Her house. Her door. Her
life.
    Why did it suddenly seem so much emptier? She hadn’t thought
it was possible for it to feel any emptier, but she was wrong. A familiar ache
settled over her heart, but the origin of it was different.
    With a sigh, she sat down on her piano bench and her eyes
fell on the black fabric of the shirt she still wore. She fingered one of the
sleeves and smiled. She brought it up to her nose and inhaled. Cedar and violin
rosin.
    A little of the sorrow in her heart lessened. It really had
been real . No dream, no deluded fantasy. Liron was real. He existed. And
if she had been able to go through the gateway once, she bet she could do it
again.
    But first, she needed to take care of her blaring alarm clock
before her head exploded. And then, she was calling in to work. She was beyond
exhausted.
    * * * *
    Liron stared at the empty space where Melody’s living room
had been a moment ago. There was nothing now, just the vacant corner of his
room. The popping and crackling of the logs in the fireplace seemed as loud as
cannon blasts, echoing throughout the hollow room. His home had been silent before,
lonely. Now it felt desolate.
    Melody had only inhabited his life for a chaotic whirlwind of
an evening, but she had left her impression upon him completely. Not only was
she an anomaly for being able to traverse the continuum and come into his world,
but she had done so willingly because she’d felt such a strong pull to him. And
though she had been utterly terrified, she had put her faith and trust in him
blindly. She had accepted his care and his touch in a way that defied logic for
him. When every touch or every attempt at tenderness had been met with contempt
and annoyance from Elizabeth, Melody had relished it, basked in it, sought it
out.
    There had been no other women for Liron before Elizabeth.
Aside from the loving touch of his mother, he had never known a woman’s warmth
or caress. He’d ached for it from Elizabeth until