The Colonel

Natalie Edwards

Description

Blue eyes find me in the deep.

Waimea Bay, North Shore, Oahu. The night sea rages in a Paso Doble wrought from love and war. Light and darkness. Good and evil.

Lilly Rose has waited all day with zealous determination to glimpse her angel on the horizon and up close. So she dives into the alchemy of a typhoon-rattled sea to find one Soon rip currents claim her as the deep sea pulls her under its abyss.

Overhead, Colonel Skye Worthy soars with his army of angels on this night of reckoning, sent to battle The Raven and emit the light of Zion. But when he sees a light under the sea unexpectedly, he halts his direction and dives into the deep. It’s a divine collision. An angel and a human. Light on light. A moment Skye and Lilly Rose will never forget.

Do you want to see the angels?

Love finds you when light encroaches upon the darkness.

In THE COLONEL, divine collisions orchestrate The King’s love unfurled on the earth to shine His light and defeat The Raven. New Zion is coming. Eternity will reign in endless goodness and perfect love. But every angel and every person must decide whom they want to follow: The King or The Raven. The dueling paradigms of Earth and Heaven paint the backdrop of a love story between Lilly and Skye where light shines, love rises, redemption prevails, and life ignites from The King who seeks to engender a world without evil.

Sujets

• God
• Heaven
• Christian
• Zion
• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: LifeRich Publishing
• Date de parution: 14 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781489743848
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE COLONEL





Natalie Edwards










Copyright © 2022 Natalie Edwards.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.



LifeRich Publishing
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.liferichpublishing.com
844-686-9607

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Cover Graphics/Art Credit: Natalie Edwards

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
reference : http://www.biblica.com/en-us/about-us/terms-of-use/

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4383-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4897-4382-4 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4897-4384-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022917754



LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 10/05/2022



Contents
1 Lilly
2 Skye
3 Lilly
4 Skye
5 Lilly
6 Skye
7 Lilly
8 Skye
9 Lilly
10 Skye
11 Lilly
12 Skye
13 Lilly
14 Skye
15 Lilly
16 Skye
17 Lilly
18 Skye
19 Lilly
20 Skye
21 Lilly
22 Skye
23 Lilly
24 Skye
25 Lilly
26 Skye
27 Lilly
















For Edith Shirley
my Mema, my bright light, my angel of unconditional love



1
Lilly
dance with me fondly
dance with me softly
dance with me
dawning
the starlight enthralling
where I saw him
for the first time
T he ocean dances in the sunlight like a ballerina in silk. Ribbons of radiance flow from the Heavens where the light shines. Watch intently and you’ll see her… the angel who walks upon the water like a prima ballerina. Here I wait for mine, camped out at Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu’s glory. I want an encounter with the divine. An encounter with my angel. Heaven, come and invade every aspect of my existence.
Here the ocean reflects its ethereal existence as the light scintillates on the glittering waves like opal gems onto the aqua beneath. Its reflection reminds me the spiritual realm is closer than we think. Heaven and its King is only a sunbeam away. My heart beckons the light to come and pierce the clouds and rend the sky. Angels do that when they dawn upon the earth.
“You ready, Lilly Rose?” The voice of Jenna Houston, my best friend, echoes in the ocean breeze. She rises, stretches her arms to the sky, and adjusts her red bikini top.
Her reminder alerts me it is necessary for my cozy, planted feet to relocate to bus’s loading zone where Silverton High’s class will depart at 4:30pm. Is it time already?
“Just a few more minutes!” I exclaim with bright eyes.
I can’t leave yet…
My angel is waiting for me.
I fold back into the sand and outstretch my arms to make a snow angel in the sand like I’m in a wintry blizzard. My skin feels the massage of its grainy texture. Here the elements are free for the rejuvenation of my hands and feet. Overhead the sun blazes brightly through the clouds and my eyes enjoy the fusion of its brilliant, fluorescent rays. I wonder what it would taste like if I collided with its aura…
“Your skin is glowing, my love,” Jenna winks over her shoulder as she grooms her hair bouncing in the wind.
“And so are you, my bronzing beauty,” I say as I look up at her from the sand.
Conversations about the male gender and Jenna’s “Would You Rather” game are now ending. Thank goodness. I never liked that game. Nor do I enjoy the weight of my naivety rolling like an avalanche when she asks me what I have and have not done.
“Okay, Lilly! Before we go… one last question.” Jenna throws her hands in the air and brings one back to her chin with an inquisitive look on her face. I know what that means. This is when her sarcasm and wit land at an all-time peak for the day.
“Would you rather date a tattoo artist who asks you to needle your name on his thigh while he prunes your garden? Or marry a gardener who wants to mark you every night making love in the rose bushes?” she asks.
“Jenna!” I shoot straight up. I cover my eyes to erase the mental image. Then I realize closing my eyes won’t erase it. I open my eyes to the gracious sunlight above and wait for my angel to dazzle with light on the turquoise waters.
“What!” She shrugs her bronzing shoulders with a playful grin. “It’s our last question. I have had to end on a high note. You know me.”
“Your mind is an ocean of metaphors, Jenna,” I say with surrender. She likes to press my buttons in this game, which leaves very little room for victory without a shriek or two.
Jenna paints her lips with her rum-punch lip color, glances at me with her twinkling eyes of serendipity, and tiptoes over to me.
She bends down gently and caresses my face with her red, manicured nails. Her nails are flawless. I look at mine coated in rosy, pink that she helped me paint last night in the hotel room. These are the same nails we first painted together when we were eight years old and snacked on pomegranates, when boys and games like “ Would You Rather” were not a topic of discussion.
“Don’t worry, my Rose of Sharon...” she says gently. “I won’t let anyone touch your innocence.”
She rises and touches her arms now heated from the sunlight. I return my gaze to the sun where I am reminded euphoria is found in the sky. I melt into its blissful oasis.
Beep! Beep!
The sound of the bus interrupts my train of thought and I look over the sandy shore to the parking lot where our departure beckons.
“It’s time to go, Lilly!” Jenna says.
“I can’t go yet! My angel is close, Jenna.” The sun is still high above the ocean, dazzling bright where the angels shine, and I won’t leave until I’ve seen my witnessed my divine collision.
I wrap my sun-kissed arms around my chest, look into the sunlight, and lie back into the sand that molds my body like a soft cradle of violets. I outstretch my arms to feel the blanket of the shore’s sand. Nestled on the sandy beach of Waimea Bay, I hear the melody of ocean waves rolling in like a gentle violin. They carol like a sonnet, and I want more of the poetic synesthesia.
“Angel?” Jenna asks with curiosity.
“Yes. Angel,” I say with expectation and eyes facing upward.
My gaze scans the outline of the few clouds scattered across the bright blue sky as I lie on the body-forming sand and look up at the sky hosting Heaven. Light dazzles in every shade like a kaleidoscope of luminescence from this point of view. I look over at her from the 90-degree angle as the ocean slants into a view of a river without gravity. I like to see the world from every angle. Like Heaven sees us. All of us.
“I want to see my angel, Jenna,” I say with expectancy.
“You’re looking at one, my love,” Jenna says. She winks at me with her luscious eyelashes as she wraps her floral pink towel around her red bikini.
“I must confess I knew you were one of Charlie’s angels,” I say.
“Did you now? My secret is out!” Jenna retorts with playfulness. I stay parallel with the sand and watch as she folds a white tank top into the pineapple-patterned beach bag. Particles of sand mix in with the packing of books and garments. It’s like that by the sea. You leave but you take a part of it with you every time. Like the sand and hibiscus flower petals nestled in the crevices of beach bags and ponytails. The ocean stays with you. I want the ocean to stay with me. To behold it. To belong to it.
“And I must confess, my Lilly… you are far too worthy to belong to anybody,” she says. Then she bends down and presses her lips to my forehead. I can feel the imprint of her rum-punch gloss on my skin. She looks at me with her maternal look. Her loving look. My green eyes look back with gratitude for the nurturing.
“I’m glad we’re friends, Jenna.” Her sultry comedy and inappropriate “Would You Rather” games may challenge my patience at times, but she’s loyal.
“Remember, Lilly! Our pact. No boys. Only men ,” she asserts with confidence. She rises and places her sunglasses atop her head, shakes out her ocean-kissed brunette locks, and unveils her bombshell eyes of toffee caramel. “Men like to be smitten. Boys only want to be bitten in order to want you. No time for that game.”
I’ve never played that game.
Jenna has.
Her boyfriends would comprise a compelling list of Forbes “Top 20 Men to Sleep With.”
“He’s looking at you,” she’ll tell me when I don’t want to notice. “Flirtation is your forte. Your eyes are your lovemaking. Steer him where you want him to go.” “No!” I tell her. “I mean… sorry, I just… I don’t want to,” I say. “I’m not you, Jenna. I don’t want to seduce him.” It’s the truth. “