Lifesong Read Online Free PDF Page B

fallen in love with Emma the first night I’d seen her in the streets, or sometime after that.
    “I’m not sure,” I said, after giving her question some thought. “I want to say back when you were still a child. I had a need to protect you, but what I felt then isn’t anything like how I feel now. That love—that bond is even stronger since I found you.”
    “You’re still overprotective. You know that, right?” Emma stared down at her tea. “I’m not as delicate as you think.”
    “Oh, I know that. It’s just that—”
    “I’m not ready,” Emma finished for me.
    I shook my head. “I think it’s mostly me who isn’t.” I took a moment to look back on her last question. “Sometimes the need to protect another, and our instincts alone, can be mistaken for love. That is why I cannot say for sure.”
    “Is love the other half of the bond?”
    Her question caught me off guard, and I gave her a sideways glance.
    “You haven’t said anything to me since we got here unless it was worth saying,” Emma said. “And since you just asked when I first fell in love with you, I figured it had to do with the bond you mentioned earlier. I was listening, you know?”
    I cleared my throat, feeling a little stupid. “Love is the other half of the bond, yes.”
    “So after we bond, what happens next?”
    “We wait. Unfortunately, the bond isn’t enough. The songs I mentioned earlier, the ones I need to sing to the Earth?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I don’t know the words. It’s something I need to learn from our bond. I need you to give me the words. I need you to inspire me.”
    “How do you know all of this?”
    “It probably seems like some messed-up guessing game right now, but I’ve been here once before, only the roles were reversed.”
    “So that means you were bonded to another, once.”
    “Yes, but that was many, many years ago.” Way too many for it to be relevant.
    I watched Emma’s face twist in pain and hated the fact I was the reason she felt that way. I could’ve kept the truth to myself, but what good would it have done? It’s better I tell her now. The ache was something I’d carried with me ever since I’d lost my guardian, and I had sometimes wished she had told me ahead of time.
    “What happened to her?” Emma asked, setting her mug of tea on the floor before coming over to join me. She took my face in her hands so that she could look into my eyes. “What went wrong?”
    I took an unsteady breath and patted my lap, signalling for her to sit down. Emma accepted my invitation, curling up in the chair beside me.
    I combed my fingers through her hair as I spoke, twisting one of her curls around my index finger. “When a guardian and his or her human fully bonds, the guardian learns these special lyrics from the human’s memories or actions. This is why imprinting is so important. Think of the memories you have now as a set of photographs. Each one stands for a different word, and the stronger the memory, the more important that word is.”
    Emma leaned against my chest. “Can’t you just sing the song your guardian learnt from you?”
    I closed my eyes. “It doesn’t work that way, and still I tried. The song must be given to a guardian from his or her human. When the time is right, they sing together, becoming a single form in the night.” I pressed my forehead to hers. “I need you to open your mind. I can show what you happens, but there are words I cannot speak. Words that are too painful. Can you do that for me?”
    “Yes.” Emma’s voice shook.
    “Good girl. Now, close your eyes and empty your mind. Let all of your thoughts go, think of nothing else except what I’m about to show you.”
    I pushed past the pain, sharing a series of images with Emma. She tensed when our minds connected, then went limp, falling victim to my memories.
     
    * * * *
     
    Emma
     
    Tucker’s body shuddered beneath me by the time I’d emptied my mind. At first, all I saw was black, then colour.