Page 12

Chapter 12

Rev

I let my hands slide along the titles in the Felgren Origins section of Viridis . After waking, I’d headed straight there, searching for the book I’d never read, but Karus had told me plenty about.

It was the only book in all of Viridis we’d ever found about the Blightress , full of the tales parents whispered to their children at night to keep them in bed. My own mother and other townsfolk had spoken some of these stories, detailing the deeds of evil woman who would steal you in the night and show you her wrath if you misbehaved. I was promised these stories were not true and that the Blightress did not exist. She was recognized as merely a herald of your misfortunes if you gave into your anger.

I sensed Karus enter Viridis and find her way to me. Her arms wrapped around my waist and her cheek rested on my back. I took one of her hands, bringing it to my lips to kiss the inside of her wrist, finishing the last few lines of the rhyme I was reading.

“ Lia left her,” she whispered solemnly. “ Visalia pulled out her own heart from her chest, gave it to Adaynth , and Lia decided to leave her.”

I marked my place with a piece of ribbon and closed the book. Pulling Karus to my chest, I tried to ease what I knew she feared. “ No one is going to leave you. Not me, not Clairannia or Figuerah .” I kissed the top of her hair. “ Not even Moira , though I could see her wandering off for months, not realizing that counted as leaving.”

She gave a snort into my shirt.

“ I spoke to Adaynth ,” I said softly, leaning against the shelf, holding her tightly. “ He came to me in a dream. He told me their story and showed me the Blight as it was when he was alive. He kept her heart below the foyer.”

“ I know,” she mumbled. “ I was just there with Lia who told me everything, too. Is it terrible I feel some pity for the Blightress ?” She lifted her head, searching my gaze with green eyes in a thick ring of black. “ Everyone she loved, everything she had hoped for was ruined.” She shook her head. “ I understand that at least. I understand how she broke and how she turned to anger as a comfort. What she has done is wrong, what she is doing is wrong, but…”

“ I know. I feel it too.”

“ What if we can help her heal? What if we can find a way to soften her hatred and fear?” She tapped the cover of Legends of the Blightress : A Collection of Tales Passed Down Through Centuries in my hand. She recited from memory,

“ Without anger, she laughed in mirth.

Without love, she left them bleeding.

Without hope, she walks the earth.

Without fear, her heart is fleeting.”

She continued, “ What if what she truly fears is being alone? Being unloved? I hate her, but I pity her. That could have just as easily been me.”

“ No , Karus , you could never be what she is.” I cupped her face, lifting her gaze to mine. I knew my eyes had filtered to blue when a smile pulled at lips. “ I am your sky, remember? Even in the darkest of nights, I’ll be there, waiting for your light to return. I’ll hold you up forever, just as I’ve always done. You have my love, my heart.” I pulled her head back to my chest, kissing the top of her head. “ You always will.”

She sniffed, wiping the tears on her face. “ I’d like to name our daughter after you.”

I raised a brow, pulling her back to ask, “ What’s the female equivalent of Revich ?”

She laughed, biting her lip. “ No , not Rev . Sky . I’d like to name her as the magical language for sky. A reminder of who her father is and the role you’ll play in her life, too.”

I slipped my hands through the back of her hair, pressing my forehead to hers and declaring, “ Saelyn is a beautiful name, and I promise, my sun, my moon, I’ll hold her up, too.”