Read Online Touch by Jennifer Snyder - Free Book Online Page B

chance to witness its powerful beauty firsthand.
    “ And as for what you feel …” he said, reaching to caress the back of my neck. “It’s sort of like a phantom pain, one of the many things your soul remembers. It will stay with you for the first few years, or so I’ve been told, maybe even longer. You have to remember, Rowan, we are not dead, but we aren’t living either… we’re someplace in-between.” His lips crushed against mine then, like he couldn’t bear to wait any longer.
    I reached up and twined my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to me. Jet’s hands moved down my sides, slow and determined, until they rested at my hips. The warmth pulsated through me like a heartbeat when his tongue found its way between my parted lips. I slid my fingers down his back, impatiently untucking his crisp, black shirt before fumbling with its buttons.
    Jet reached for the hem of the black, knee-length dress I wore and pulled it up over my head. I held his gaze, fighting the timidness rising within me, until his eyes left mine to take in my newly visible, bare skin. I allowed myself to gaze at every inch of him, memorizing each line and muscle that made up his upper body.
    Jet’s hands slid across my stomach and wrapped around to my lower back as he pulled me against him again and down onto the white sand beneath us. With his face hovering mere inches above mine, he flashed me a crooked grin just before our lips met once more.

 

     
    Chapter Fifteen
     
    Dawn came faster than I’d wanted and the Council members found me exactly like they’d promised, only this time there were three of them. Cassandra was missing.
    “ Rowan.” Damaris greeted me. “I trust you used your time wisely.”
    For a second time in their presence I was grateful my cheeks were incapable of betraying me by revealing my embarrassment.
    “ I did,” I said, biting my bottom lip to suppress a smile and forcing my eyes to remain locked with Damaris’s.
    “ Rowan Jade Harper,” his loud voice proclaimed, filling my ears with his authority and making me jump. “Step forward and accept your position.”
    I took a small step forward and wondered if I was supposed to say something then or wait to be asked.
    “ We, the Reapers’ Council, stand before you, Rowan Jade Harper, and ask… do you accept your inherited duty as a Council member?” Evelyn asked, her face remaining eerily expressionless.
    “ And if I don’t?” The words flew from my mouth before I had a chance to stop them.
    Evelyn’s blue eyes blazed at me as though I’d slapped her. “That is not an option.”
    “ Then, I accept,” I said in a rush.
    Three hands reached out to me, filling me with a hazy white light, while slowly drawing me closer to them. Images of everything from my death up until this moment rushed through my mind until one single forgotten image, from what seemed like a lifetime ago, nudged itself in front of all the others.
    The crows, nestled in the bare-branched trees of my backyard.
    The moment the Council members’ fingertips made contact with my forehead, the image floated away, the way a feather slips softly toward the ground.
    “ It is done,” William said. “Take your place.”
    Evelyn and William parted, creating a gap for me to fill. I did as I was told and saw the deep lines of sorrow cut into Jet’s face. The emotions that swelled within me were powerful enough to make me cry out rivers, had I been capable.
    “ These lively tendencies you’re feeling are not something you will be allowed to give in to anymore. Your position is far too important for frivolous things to cloud your mind,” Damaris said, obviously noticing how much Jet meant to me, if he hadn’t known already.
    My hands balled into fists at my sides, but like a coward I kept my mouth clamped shut. I was one of the controllers now, and yet I was still being controlled.
    “ Jet, you are free to report back to your original location,” William said.
    I watched as Jet