Path of the Tiger, стр. 450

‘Aurora,’ he whispered. The sound of his gravelly voice was soothing; a gentle, comforting aural balm.

‘No, it’s Adriana,’ she replied, correcting him despite a strange sense of déjà vu that hit her the instant she heard that name.

It didn’t seem to matter to him.

‘Aurora, are you safe? Are you injured, are you hurt in any way at all?’ he asked, compassionate but urgent as he half-turned, hanging off the rung with his right arm so that he could face her.

‘No, no, I’m all right.’

‘Lean across to your left and take my hand. I’ll catch you and hold you safe.’

‘I can’t. My hands are handcuffed behind my back.’

‘Turn around then, let me see your hands so I can get those cuffs off.’

Adriana shuffled with slow caution on the narrow ledge, inching her way around until her back was fully turned to William. The throb of pain in her ankle was growing more intense, and she wasn’t sure how long she could continue to stand.

‘Ah yes, you’re cuffed tight. Listen, I’m going to put some liquid nitrogen on the chain of the cuffs. When it’s done its work, you should be able to snap the chain with a quick pull of your wrists in opposite directions, yeah?’

‘Yes, okay, I’ll try that.’

‘Hold tight. Extend your arms out behind you as far back as you can. We don’t want any of this nasty stuff dripping off the chain onto your skin.’

‘All right.’

Adriana extended her arms out behind her as far as she could, until her shoulders were burning from the effort.

‘That’s as far as I can stretch,’ she said.

‘Good. Keep as still as you possibly can, love.’

She heard him fumbling around, and after he had put some of the liquid nitrogen onto the chain he fell silent. It was a strange silence, and her feelings at this moment were not those of fear, anxiety or nervousness, but rather comfort and safety. She had no idea how she could feel those things in this stranger’s presence, though. She suddenly realised that she hadn’t even asked him his name.

‘What’s your name?’

‘I’m William. William Gisborne’

The way he said it sent a shiver coursing down her spine. It was not the first time she had heard this name, but when the name came from his lips it took on an altogether different aspect; it now had a presence, weighty and thick with the evocative air of almost-forgotten early childhood memories.

They each remained in silence for the next few moments as they waited for the liquid nitrogen to do its work, but it was the silence of a late night relaxation in front of a roaring hearth fire, the silence of two lovers drinking in one another’s presence, saturating themselves in the sensory swirl of an intensity of taste, scent, touch, and the melded, reciprocal warmth of two bodies, drawn together. After what felt like a long yet indulgent few moments, William finally broke the mystical quietude.

‘I think the cuffs will snap now, love. Give ‘em a good sharp tug.’

Adriana did as he suggested, and sure enough the chain linking the handcuffs snapped.

‘You’re free now,’ he said. ‘Next you’ll need turn around and face me. When you’re ready, jump across and I’ll catch you.’

William kept the flashlight off as Adriana slowly turned around. His heart was racing with a hurtling excitement that he hadn’t known for decades. His tiger eyes could see well enough in the dark from this short distance, and the instant her face was revealed to him he nearly lost his grip on the ladder. It almost caused his heart to explode inside his chest; seeing these eyes, that nose, that mouth, those ears, that flowing hair, that graceful jawline, that slender neck, and the keen, creative intelligence that burned with such effervescent vigour through the prism of those hazel irises.

‘Aurora,’ he whispered as he stared, entranced, at Adriana’s face, which seemed to be a carbon copy of his soulmate’s. ‘This is … this is impossible. This is a dream … it has to be.’

‘I need some light if I’m going to jump,’ Adriana said.

‘Okay, but whatever you do, don’t look down.’

William flicked on his flashlight, keeping it aimed at the wall so as to keep the light diffused instead of direct and blinding. Now it was Adriana’s turn to gasp, for when she finally saw the face of the man she had been talking to, a shiver of recognition shook her.

‘You!’ she gasped. ‘But … how?!How?!’

Their eyes finally met in the dim off-white effulgence, and a zap of unsettling energy tore through the space between them. All of a sudden it seemed as if the entire space was filled with the charged static that was the prelude to a lightning strike.

‘You know me, don’t you?’ William murmured. It was more a statement of plain truth than a question.

‘I, I do,’ she replied, her voice drenched with uncertainty and confusion. ‘But from my dreams. I’ve only ever seen you … in my dreams.’

‘This isn’t a dream. This is real. All of this.’

‘I … I know. I just … I just can’t believe it’s really you.’

‘I feel the same, but for a very different reason, I think. I honestly don’t know how to explain all of this to you, though,’ William murmured.

‘And I can’t explain even a fraction of what I’m feeling now, in this moment. I’ve never felt anything like this before, never.’

‘I have. Once…’

All this time their eyes had been locked together, their pupils fixed to one another by unseen rods. William forced himself to snap out of it, with the final shreds of rational thought in his muddled mind making a valiant last stand against this torrential cascade of feelings.

‘We have to get out of here,’ he said, his tone hardening. ‘Hurry, lean across and jump. I’ll catch you.’

‘Are you sure? If I fall—’

‘You won’t. I said I’ll catch you, and by God I will. We can’t linger any longer; we have to leave now.’

With new fear numbing