Page 35

Chapter 35

Thevin

“ How long has she spoken to you?” The Baron of Felgren paced at the gathering of the Four . Or the Three , in this case. We were missing one of the leaders.

“ Tonight was the first time I’d ever spoken to her,” Sae responded, shifting in her seat and watching her mother move back and forth across the low light of the room.

They had placed her in a red chair the color of fresh blood, and her gown clashed horribly. She looked frightened and confused, but that same determination I loved allowed for the slight raise of her chin after every inquiry as to how she knew the Blightress was coming and saved us all.

The council of the Four sat at the long table across the dais of the room used solely for these meetings in the Spire . The Viceroy , Lanna , and Lady Lamoral sat at the center of the table with the Madame of the Mountains and Clairannia at the ends. The medicus conduit had introduced herself at the gathering as a commander in the Wieldwryns . A seat had been left for Baron Karus , but she had refused it, preferring to pace in front of her daughter instead.

“ Saelyn , we are trying to understand,” Madame Zoreyah said softly, folding her hands in front of her. The brilliant gold tattoos across her brown skin almost glowed in the flickering light of the candles lit in sconces along the walls.

This circular room was windowless, lying somewhere in the middle of the Spire . There was one door in, one door out, and I’d seen my fair share of inquiries take place within its sandstone walls. I leaned against the stone, carefully watching Sae in profile, observing her reactions to the questions directed solely on her.

The Madame leaned forward further. “ How is it exactly that you knew the Blightress was coming if you had never spoken to her before this night?”

Sae’s chin lifted once more and I bit down on my tongue. I’d been allowed in this meeting by the Baron’s command, though most who usually attended had been turned away. My parents, too, had been allowed to stay, standing quietly behind the long table. I watched every one of Sae’s expressions as she tried to hold together the turmoil that kept sweeping across her face. Not a single tear fell down her cheeks, though I knew they threatened to by the occasional tremble of her chin.

“ I —” Sae started, her eyes flickering over the faces at the table, landing on her mother who had stopped her pacing, waiting for the explanation we needed.

I didn’t understand it either. How did she know?

One moment we’d been dancing, the next, she had sprinted from my grasp, finding her mother first to warn against the Blightress’s attempted onslaught. By the look of how many Blight beasts she’d brought with her, most in that room would have been slaughtered, if not all.

Sae straightened in her seat, heaving in a big gulp of breath before stating, “ I felt her presence before she came. I don’t know how. I’ve never felt it before.”

She was lying. I knew her tells, and the white-knuckled grip of her hands across her lap was one of them. Her nostrils flared slightly—another sign.

I frowned. I didn’t understand why she’d lie.

Lady Lamoral’s voice came haggard, harsh, and slow as it drifted quietly in the silence of the room. “ How could you predict the presence of the Blightress if you’ve never seen nor spoken to her?”

With her gray hair, sunken eyes, and drooping lips against her wan skin, she looked as if she’d just left her deathbed to attend. Though , the truth was, I’d never seen her any different.

Lanna placed a hand over her mother’s, amending, “ What my mother means to ask is, what was it that correctly made you believe it was the Blightress who was coming?”

“ I don't know,” Sae replied. Another lie.

I glanced at Baron Karus , curious if she also realized her daughter was not telling the truth. As if in a trance, she stared without blinking, standing still as a statue and just as silent as one. Her eyes narrowed slightly and a feather ticked in her jaw, transfixed at a blank wall.

“ You can understand, my dear,” began the Viceroy , “how we find this ability of yours to be…curious.” His gentle smile lifted, easing the tension. “ Such a power as to be able to track the movements of the Blightress could be supremely beneficial in this war, especially as the Dimming draws near.”

Sae cleared her throat. “ I cannot track her. I just… I could feel that she was coming.”

Madame Zoreyah addressed the rest of the council. “ The Blightress would not have come unless she knew Saelyn was here. She would not have expended so much power.”

“ Agreed ,” Lanna said with a nod. “ I’ve already sent word to the Blight Line to hold outside of Lythglyn . I’ve asked for a reprieve for the Wieldwryns and the Runners for a week which will allow us to settle when we arrive.”

The Viceroy countered, “ Perhaps this is the time to push for the Dimming instead of hold, Lady Lanna . The Blightress has weakened herself and will struggle for a short time to siphon enough power to replace all of the Blight beasts she lost. Not to mention the portal she created to get them here. Baron Karus ,”—he turned to address Saelyn’s mother—“will your shield hold the Spire for the time being?”

“ It is already up and holding.”

“ Good , good,” he replied. “ She certainly won’t be able to cross through?—”

“ Excuse me, but,” Saelyn interrupted, “what do you mean when you say she would not have expended such power unless she knew I was here?”

Clairannia shifted in her seat, her eyes on the Baron rather than Saelyn .

Lanna answered as if reciting from a book, “ The Blightress has limits. Ever since your father sacrificed his life to diminish the strength of her heart, she has been unable to neither portal nor produce her Blight as quickly as before, according to your mother and those in Felgren who interacted with her seventeen years ago.”

Sae frowned, glancing to her mother, but again lifting her chin. “ And what exactly is the Dimming ?”

I rubbed my hands across my face, my stomach dropping. I’d avoided telling her, hoping to find the right time, not even sure I was the right one to explain.

The Viceroy cleared his throat, adopting a soft tone. “ It is the day our armies amass to invade the Blightress’s lands and render her power useless. We are nearly ready, but have been waiting for some time.” He gave her another slight, simple smile. “ We have been waiting for you, Saelyn . For when Baron Karus has deemed you ready to join our forces with your great power and defeat the Blightress and her evil once and for all.”

Sae’s eyes flicked to her mother in shock. The Baron , catching on to what had been said, reached out to her daughter, cupping her hands over Sae’s . “ You are seventeen, Little Love . You are more than ready.”

She stood, pulling out of her mother’s touch. “ The Dimming relies on me?” Her voice seethed in a rare temper, but one that was quick to ignite. She addressed the table, “ And has she told you who is in the Blightress’s lands?”

“ Saelyn ,” her mother warned.

“ My father is there. Alive .”

Gasps and frantic looks pierced the air. I watched Lanna , knowing how she’d feel about the news that the hero she’d idolized and looked up to her whole life still lived.

Her voice cut through the shock first. “ Baron Revich is alive?”

“ Yes ,” Sae answered. “ And we must save him. That is my real reason for being here. I will not return to Felgren until he returns with us.” Sae’s voice quivered slightly and my body begged to go to her. To hold her and let her cry in my arms as she’d done the night of her seventeenth birthday.

“ Is it true?” Madame Zoreyah asked, addressing the Baron directly.

A single tear fell down Baron Karus’s cheek, though she raised her chin high, just as her daughter tended to do. “ What my daughter says is true.”

The raspy cough of Lady Lamoral came next. “ How do we know the Baron is telling the truth? What proof do you have?”

“ It’s true,” Clairannia answered swiftly. “ I was there, seventeen years ago on the day Saelyn was born.” Her lips pursed. “ And I confirmed it. I can feel their bond through Baron Karus . It is intact, which means he still lives, though I do not know of his condition.”

“ He is well,” the Baron interjected. “ Through our bond, he promises he is well. And he is waiting.”

Lanna’s fury echoed through the room. “ You’ve hidden this from the isle for seventeen years?”

“ I did not do it easily, Lanna .”

“ Then why?” she pleaded, rising from her seat. “ Why did you hide this for so long? We could have saved him by now,” her voice faltered. “ We could have had him back.”

The Baron shook her head, staring at her daughter. “ Saelyn does not know the whole truth yet, and she will be the first to hear it, not this gathering.” She turned back to the table. “ This council is adjourned. With Lady Lanna representing the Spire , I move for it to reconvene at the Blight Line when the Four represented can be gathered to discuss the change in the Dimming .”

“ Agreed ,” the Madame murmured, followed shortly by Lanna and the Viceroy .

“ I would hear your explanation before you go, Baron Karus .” Lady Lamoral glared across the room, and I wondered at the icy tone she’d used.

The Baron nodded once, continuing, “ It’s settled then. We leave at dawn by way of portal to the Blight Line . Thevin ,”—she turned her black eyes to me—“please escort Saelyn to our rooms. I will be there shortly.”

I uncrossed my arms, lifting myself from the wall, following Sae out the door. Her head was low, watching her own feet shuffle in those ridiculous shoes. We entered the short hallway that led to the outer staircase around the spire, and without a word, she grabbed my hand in hers for balance, lifted a leg, and unstrapped one silver shoe before doing the same with the other. Barefoot , she swung them between us, never letting go of my fingers that wound through her own.

The night breeze wafted through the staircase, and the sky was littered with clusters of stars, though a shimmer of green power hid their true light. The Baron’s shield would protect the Spire as long as Saelyn was in it. Through the glassy magic, a half moon shone down, casting a soft glow across Sae’s cheek.

I knew because I stared. I let myself stare as we descended, wondering at this friend whose secrets I thought I knew. I would have sworn I knew all of Sae —her hopes and dreams, her past, and what her future might become, but I did not know how she warned of the Blightress’s coming.

As we neared the hall that led to our rooms, I panicked, my mind racing for any excuse I could think of to keep our hands entwined—to keep her there with me where she was safe, and we could just be like this .

We left the staircase, turning down our white stone hall lit in flickering copper sconces. I opened my mouth to ask if she wanted to sneak down to the kitchens when she cut through our silence first.

“ Thank you.” All anger from her gone, her gaze was instead of sadness, a woeful blue in her eyes when she looked up at me. “ Thank you for saving me.”

My brows furrowed and I frowned, squeezing her hand. “ It was you who saved me. All of us. I didn’t do anything.”

A slight smile crossed her lips. “ But you would have. You would have pulled me away to safety.”

“ Yes .”

It was all I could say, all I could answer, my eyes dropping to her lips as they parted slightly on her mouth.

She lifted her free hand, her fingers tracing my jaw, traveling up my cheek and tucking a curl behind my ear. At her touch, her nearness, her scent of forest and sea, my heart thudded in a racing counter to every training I’d had on staying calm in any situation.

I hadn’t been prepared for this. I hadn’t felt the want, the need and longing as I did now to keep her here with me. To somehow keep her just like this, cupping my cheek, lifting her head, her eyes flickering from mine to my mouth rapidly, repeatedly.

I lost any sense of who we were and what we’d discussed in her room, dancing on that day before she turned seventeen. I’d told her then that I couldn’t lie. I couldn’t pretend I did not love her, pretend I didn’t need her smile like I needed air in my lungs. I’d tried. I’d tried so hard to keep our friendship what it was, to give her the same Thevin she needed, but she was so close to me in that hall. I could feel her breath, warm and sweet over my mouth as she looked into my eyes in question.

I had no answer. I had no will other than to stand there, a man waiting for his love to love him back.

“ Sae ,” I whispered, but she ended anything else I’d have mumbled, pressing her lips lightly to mine as if asking whether I wanted this, too.

I swear the air sparked. The sconces flared and the wind howled as she continued, my own lips moving with hers, her fingers tightening through mine, pulling my hand behind her to bring herself closer.

I didn’t know much, but right then, I knew her.

I didn’t know our future, her limits, or my role to play in the fight to come, but I knew Sae .

I knew the shape of her lips. I knew the sweetness of her tongue as it brushed against mine, deepening what she’d started into something from which we’d never recover.

Never once in my life would I heal from this kiss, the roam of her hands along my neck, the press of her body against mine, the taste of her on my tongue, her breath leaving her lungs so beautifully in rapid succession, matching my own.

She lifted herself further, the sound of her shoes dropping to the stone the only sound after the hurried range of our breath, the parting of our lips only to meet again, hungry, demanding, both of us discovering for the first time what it really meant to be kissed by someone you knew . Someone you’d met every summer in a forest that lived and thrived in its paths that led to yellow fields and golden sun.

That was Sae .

A glorious sun in a blue sky, lighting the world in her brilliance, her clever words, and playful laugh.

I gripped her waist as her fingers shifted through the back of my hair, pulling, scraping, urging me to give her more, take more, become more with her.

She finally broke from my mouth, tilting her head back to breathe, still pulling herself closer, wrapping her arms around me as I moved my lips across her jaw, down her neck, willing to bury myself within her skin, never parting, never experiencing another winter without her warmth.

The smallest moan lifted from her lips and sent me reeling, struggling to pull back from her as I should.

Clarity hit me like a punch to the gut, and I broke from her embrace, my lips just as swollen as hers. I stepped back, touching my mouth, my body urging me to go back. “ I’m sorry,” I whispered, watching her struggle to regain her breath, same as me.

She shook her head, her chest heaving, a smile spreading across her red lips. “ Don’t be,” she said, breathless. She shook her head again and stepped forward in a laugh. “ How could you be sorry for that ?” Her eyes glittered and she touched her own lips, a wicked smile underneath her fingers.

I regained my breath and said, “ I’m sorry I let it get that far.”

She scoffed. “ As if I wasn’t the initiator here?”

“ Saelyn ?” The Baron’s voice rose through the hall behind me, and I turned, ever the soldier in her army, ready to hear my next command.

Sae sighed and shuffled to where she’d dropped her shoes, farther away than I realized we’d moved in our kiss. She pressed them to her chest and walked to the door of her rooms. “ Goodnight , Thevin ,” she said, pressing her red, swollen, and obviously kissed lips together and opening the door.

“ Goodnight ,” I returned, barely audible, but loud enough for her to hear as she twisted her lips in a coy smile.

“ Be ready at dawn,” was all the Baron said to me, no doubt noticing my lips in the same condition, my face flushed just as well, and my hair run through by the long, beautiful fingers of her daughter.

I nodded once, turning across the hall, shaking, utterly destroyed, living on a cloud, the grin rising within me as I allowed it for just a few moments more before I opened the door to my rooms and let that memory stay with me for the rest of the night.