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‘So, my Sableman, do you forgive me?’

There was a short silence.

Riv’s lips twitched. ‘I forgave you the moment you laughed at my sad joke that first night at the hollow.’

She turned her head to kiss his skin. ‘Sante,my beloved.’

‘Am I? Your love still?’

‘My one true love, the only one with the keys to my soul that perceived you even when you were in disguise. My heart has always been yours.’

He lifted the hand she’d placed over his chest and trailed kisses along it. ‘And you are mine. For eternity. If you ever leave me now, I’ll throw myself off the deepest fissures on this land and let the wild animals pick my bones apart.’

She shook her forehead against his shoulder blade. ‘So dramatic.’

‘I mean it, woman,’ his voice was graveled and hard-edged. ‘Life will have no meaning without you.’

She tightened her arms around him. ‘It won’t be easy, but I vow to stay on this path with you no matter the twists and turns.’

They sat there for a while until Riv stirred. ‘How do we move forward?’

‘I’ve thought about this. We need Killen healed first. That will take a trip back to Kume—the first Katánian settlement on a moon that circles the planet. Our ancestors founded it, where we can still find the faithful. Those who practice peace. They also have healers who can lift this curse off Killen’s sight and heal mine. Will you still take us where we need to go?’

He turned his head. ‘Of course, my love. Whatever it takes to not let you out of my grasp again.’

Her single visible eye clouded over with sadness. ‘About that. Our son is convinced we are not coming back to Devansi. He believes he is needed on Katáne, in the citadel itself. The problem is that my father will not allow another regent to exist alongside himself. He’ll see Killen as a challenge. One that has to be destroyed.’

Riv leaned in and stroked her face. ‘Let’s cross that bridge when we get there. Let’s make up for lost time before our son returns from his wandering.’

‘How now? Indulge me …’

‘My pleasure, silver angel.’

He proceeded to show her how.

They spent the next day and the following reacquainting themselves with each other.

Feeling their bodies, whispering sweet nothings, making love, trying to make up for the years lost between them, hidden away in their secret haven.

Watching the sun dance on the horizon, talking, kissing, drinking, and losing themselves in bliss.

They took long walks in the fissured plains and sat on the fringe of the escarpment that stretched for miles behind her home.

They returned home to make love some more, then sat up in her bed talking for hours.

Élisa resisted discussing the past, not wanting to stir up their pain and angst.

He made her change her mind. ‘It’ll give me peace, angel.’

Her heart softened, and she shared the misery that had almost destroyed her, her retelling hesitant, wounded.

‘This last year was my worst. I came so close to giving up hope that I’d be free of my father’s hunters. That Killen and I would find healing and restore our sight. That I would be free. I didn’t even want to hope about ever reuniting with you. It was so far-fetched and out of reach that I knew I’d break if I even thought of you. Killen sensed that I was sliding into darkness, despair, and depression. So he went on a walkabout and sought the hawkstone’s wisdom. Which led to Ribau, to you.’

She took his hand and kissed the inside of his palm.

‘Hearing there was some hope, that someone out there could be the catalyst for a new future, was the only thread I held onto to stay sane. That it was you, my love, is a gift beyond anything I could ever have dreamed of.’

His soul broke as she outlined her loneliness, and he held her as she cried for all the years she’d walked alone and bore the burden of her secrecy and survival by herself.