Radiant (35 page)

Then, she felt him.
It was like standing in front of a furnace.

"
Hello, Mary," he said.

She didn't realize how much she had missed hearing his voice.
His real voice. Mary wanted to open her eyes, wanted to see him as he really was. But she fought to keep them closed.

Fiery hands caressed her soaked cheek and traced the lines of her brow, nose, and lips.
Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her close to him. Then scalding lips kissed hers. The rain sizzled everywhere he touched her.

Mary didn
't count how many seconds the kiss lasted. Whether one or one million, it was over too quickly.

"
I've missed you," she said.

"
You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that," he said.

She smiled.
"Where have you been?"

"
Around," he answered. "Working as usual."

Mary
smirked. "When can you take a vacation?"

"
I don't think it works like that," he chuckled. Mary was about to say something else, but his lips were on hers again.

After two or two million seconds, Mayim cleared her throat gently.
"The meteor shower?"

Phos
sighed. "Right. Back to work then."

"
There's a meteor shower tonight?" Mary asked.

"
Yes," he said. "Wait for me to leave. Then look up. Mayim will clear the clouds so that you can see it."

He was gone before her eyes opened.
In the distance, Mary saw two figures racing skyward, leaving ribbons of rain trailing behind them. One was Mayim and the other was like a shooting star, only flying up instead of falling down.

A few minutes later, t
he clouds parted like stage curtains and the rain disappeared. The brilliant diamond littered sky opened above. A small light raced across the darkness. Then another. And another. And another until the night was ablaze with burning meteoroids. Mary sank onto the patio chair, never once taking her eyes off the sky.

Back to Table of Contents

About the
Author

Christina Daley's
parents and grandparents fled Saigon in April of 1975, when American military forces abandoned the South Vietnamese capital city to the communist North army, effectively ending the Vietnam War. They were among the waves of refugees who arrived on US shores with no country to return to. Amidst many struggles, and with the generous sponsorship of a Christian church in Houston, Texas, they made this foreign land their new home.

Christina is
among the first generation of her family that was born and raised in the United States. She makes her own home in Dallas, Texas, where she lives, writes, and eats lots of Vietnamese food.

Feel free to l
eave a comment about the book at Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, or wherever you purchased it. And connect with her online on
Facebook
,
her
blog
, and on
Twitter
.

More Books by Christina Daley:

Seranfyll

(Ages 10+) For the first time in her life, Rain has a choice to make.

The thirteen-year-old slave girl lives in the country of Yoan, where slaves aren't allowed proper names, let alone anything else. After being sold by a gambler and "bought" by a thief, she ends up purchased by an eccentric young nobleman named Lord Domrey Seranfyll...while he's drunk. He's so smashed that he actually buys nine other slaves with Rain and takes them to his massive manor in the countryside, which i
s rumored to be haunted. In fact, loads of rumors surround Lord Domrey. Like that his horse can fly. Or that he's a devil.

But after getting even more intoxicated, Lord Domrey does something rather peculiar: He sets all ten slaves free that same day. And then he passes out. Many of the newly freed slaves leave, but Rain chooses to stay and look after the odd young lord. He freed them, so he can't be as bad as people say, right?

But Rain's going to learn quickly that choices have consequences, and that being "free" means much more than what she thought before.

Amazon
|
B&N
|
Smashwords
|
iBookstore (iTunes)
|
Diesel
|
Kobo

(Ages 10+) Rain. Is. Bored.

With Coal at university and Domrey away on a constant string of assignments from the Royal City, she and her sister Snow are stuck at Seranfyll Manor with their tutor Professor Digory, who has to be the dullest teacher on the face of the earth. She craves a break from the monotony or, even better, an adventure like the ones she only gets to read about in books.

A voyage to the jungles of Amyrania should do the trick. When Domrey agrees to do a favor for the king, Rain and the others get to set sail with him on what sounds like an exciting but relatively simple assignment. However, despite its tourist-friendly facade, Amyrania is called the "Untamed Isle" for good reason, and this adventure will prove to be more than any of them had bargained for.

Join Rain, Coal, Domrey, and a host of old and new friends (and enemies) in this exciting sequel to
Seranfyll
!

Amazon
|
B&N
|
Smashwords
|
iBookstore (iTunes)
|
Diesel
|
Kobo