HINDSIGHT (YA Fantasy) excerpt...

PROLOGUE [excerpt...]

CHRIS was still fuming when he arrived back in the main square of Aletheia, the capitol city of the Fae.
     His chest rose and fell, heavy from the run back from the waterfall and from the sting of Grace's rejection. Pausing to wipe his hair from his eyes, he looked up at the glittering dome of The Hall of Memory.
     He had watched Grace for some time now, trying to figure out a way to get closer to her, a way past the walls she kept around herself. In all his years, he had never met anyone like her. Grace Archer was a goddess. A real one. Daughter of the demi-goddess Pandora and the Titan Prometheus, Grace was an actual living, breathing Olympian.
     She was strong, but at the same time fragile. Each time he touched her, he feared she might slip away like sand between his fingers. When he was with her, it was as if the stars had aligned. Being away from her made him anxious and irritable.
     He jogged up the steps to the open doors of the hall and silently cursed the Guardian James for interfering yet again.
     Today he had been so close to making a connection with her that he could almost taste it. But the beautiful, mysterious, and infuriating Grace had once again held Chris at arm's length. It was not James' fault, although it was tempting to lay blame there. Each time Chris saw James with Grace, jealousy gagged him like a bitter fruit. Something about James made Grace pull away. If Chris could only get her alone for just a few minutes, he was sure he could break through her defenses. That was why he had decided to confront her in the Hall of Memory.
     Chris paced the marble floor, walking slowly along the edges of the massive mosaic sun set in the floor.
     There was mutual attraction. He could feel that much. But there was also something else, a deep tug in the back of his mind that made it impossible to think about anything else. Something sat uncomfortably on the hazy edges of his vision, demanding that he go to her. It was a need he could not deny. He had never felt so much for anyone. Though they had only known each other a short while, he recognized exactly what it was.
     It was madness. It was frustration. It was love.
     And he would do whatever it took to make her see that....