Chapter 1

Her heart would always belong to him.

Problem was, she couldn't recall who he was. He was a figment of her imagination, a dream lover.

That night, the same dream came to Harper Ashley in an ethereal mist of vague images.

Swirling, the opaque mist became solid, transforming into a scene much like a movie. She saw herself, dressed in long gown with sprigged violets, black ringlets spilling down her shoulders.

Her name in the dream was Isabella. She had magick, though weak magick.

Her powers were fledgling. Inconsequential. She hid them from the human who professed to make her his wife.

A warm sun beamed down upon a lovely, bucolic meadow, chasing away the bitter cold of winter with the renewal of spring. All of nature experienced rebirth, the green, lush meadow outside her fiancé's country house bursting with delicate blossoms of primroses, bluebells, and violets. Meadow grass swayed gently in the breeze, creating a soothing rustle that accompanied the joyous chorus of birdsong.

There was no joy for her as she walked the familiar path through the meadow.

She was marrying to save her parents from ruin. Once they traveled extensively, living large off her father's inheritance as he sought a way to increase his magick powers. Though her father was a pyrokinetic with the ability to shoot fire from his fingertips, he could barely summon a flame hot enough to ignite the wood in their hearth.

Then, visiting the island of Java, they became enchanted with the Kawah Ijen volcano and the villagers who lived beneath the slopes. Her father declared here was the place where he would regain his powers. They boarded a boat to sail back to London where her father planned to purchase land around the mighty volcano.

It never happened.

Days after they set sail, the volcano erupted, blasting out the crater lake and destroying enormous swaths of land. Entire villages were swallowed by destruction, with countless people and their animals dying.

The tragedy shook her father so deeply, he fell into a depression and began to drink, losing all their money. Eventually he lost the English country house as well.

Without money, with feeble magick, she had nothing to offer but her body to a wealthy human man who treated her like a servant, but wanted her in his bed.

Harper felt the utter loneliness and despair at an impending marriage Isabella did not want.

"Isabella," the deep voice whispered on the breeze. "My Isabella."

She looked up and saw him standing before him. Jared, her lover, the incubus demon who came to her at night.

She feared him not, for he was truly the only friend she had in this world. Every night he made love to her, his touch gentle and yet filling her with fire.

Never had she felt so alive, so connected to another.

He stood before her now, not in his incubus form of a muscular male with powerful wings and a sensual air, but an ordinary man. His trousers were dark as was his shirt, and his paisley waistcoat hid the strong male beneath.

"Bella, I cannot let you marry this man."

"Jared." Her gaze whipping about, she shook her head. "You must not be here in the daylight…oh no… am I imagining this?"

He shook his head. "This is real. Look, Bella. See the bird you described to me last night? The goldfinch? I've been watching him."

Together they watched the ginger-brown small bird, its black and yellow wings in view as it sat upon a nearby tree branch.

"Bird watching," she mused. "A demon who enjoys birds as I do. Because they have wings?"

His smile brought a surge of pure happiness. "Because you enjoy winged creatures as well. And they do fascinate me with their freedom, their joy for life."

Her own smile vanished. "You must leave."

"I can save you from your marriage, Bella. Come with me. Be my mate, forever."

His hand stretched out to her. She took a tentative step forward, and then backed away in misery.

"I cannot. My parents… they need this union. They need the money. Chet took us into his house when my parents were evicted. We have nowhere else to go."

It hurt to think of her life without Jared. He meant everything to her. Jared was the missing half of her heart.

"Bella, flee with me. You are meant to be mine."

"How I wish that were true," she whispered.

"Then marry this imbecile. And be with me at night."

Jared's eyes filled with passion. "I can save you from his cold indifference." The incubus stroked his warm hand across the naked skin of her collarbone, evoking a shiver.

"Is it possible?"

"I shall make it that you only remember my caress, my touch, my body penetrating yours. When he takes you into his bed, I will invade your mind, your thoughts, and I will be the one making love to you."

Her hand cupped his face, felt the crisp hairs of his short beard. Incubus or not, her soul melded to him, as if they had been intended for each other.

Jared picked up her hand and kissed it.

As her eyes closed, she heard another voice, filled with rage and hatred.

"So it is true. You do have a lover. I heard you whispering to him last night when I came to your door to say good night. You bitch. You betrayed me."

.Chet drew out a pistol and aimed at Jared. "Die you bastard."

Panic gripped her. Not Jared, not her true soulmate, her love.

"No," she cried out, flinging herself in front of the incubus, praying her weak pyrokinetic magick could melt the bullet.

"Bella," Jared screamed, but it was too late.

The bullet slammed into her chest, tearing tender flesh Jared had stroked with such gentleness. Crimson spread upon the violet-sprigged gown. Her powers failed.

There was no pain, dear goddess, only a growing chill.

Numbness.

She collapsed to the ground.

Dimly she saw Chet run away. Jared knelt beside her.

"Why? Why did you sacrifice yourself for me? I am powerful, bullets cannot harm me…"

Tears formed in his dark eyes, eyes that had held her gaze with such soulfulness. "No, no, Bella," he pleaded, his voice breaking. "Stay with me. Please, don"t leave me."

Isabella"s breaths became shallow, and her gaze locked onto Jared's tear-filled eyes. With a trembling hand, she touched his cheek, whispering, "I love you, Jared. Always."

Jared cradled her tenderly, brushing hair away from her pale face. "Stay with me, Bella."

"I'm sorry." Even now she felt herself slipping away.

He pressed his lips to her cold cheek. "I love you. Never forget it. My soul shall wait for you through the ages. Our love is bound by eternity. Never will I declare my love for another but you."

The dream faded. Harper woke up, shivering. It was merely a recurring dream, one that began two months ago. Probably resulting from the Jane Austen film fest she attended with her bestie, Charlotte.

Yet it seemed so real.

Did such a love exist? Did such a man exist, with powers enough to make you shiver and yearn?

She climbed out of bed and rubbed her eyes. Glancing at the clock, she groaned. No time for reflection on the dream. She had work, and her studies.

Minutes later, getting ready for her job at the college science lab, everything from the dream faded. The visage of the sexy man in the dream became a memory she forgot.

Jared Griffin wokefrom the dream, his body quivering. Seldom did he need sleep. Yet the curse wracking him had left him despondent, so he slipped into sleep hoping to escape reality and then had this dream…

It left him disoriented and filled with heart-wrenching sorrow, as if it were true and he had watched his only love die on that field of grass.

"Bella," he murmured. "My Isabella."

His soulmate. He was a 234-year-old incubus demon and never truly knew love, so the dream was a mockery. Yet he vaguely remembered a girl, some kind of girl, from Regency-era England when he was still a young demon, searching for love.

So stupid. It was probably one of the many women he'd seduced over the decades.

He laughed and rubbed a hand over his face. His twisted, deformed face, cursed by a witch to remain like that during the darkest night.

"It was just a dream," he said aloud to no one.

There were no such things as soulmates, not for him.

His soul was damned for all eternity.