Page 39

Chapter 39

Rev

I watched Karus with a smile across my face that must have been something to see, for I would no longer weep. I would not worry, nor falter in my hope. I would not give into that pacing dark which waited for me to break.

I had shed enough tears to last a lifetime in the dank tunnel underground, awaiting her return. Waiting just as I always did. Patiently waiting for my love and our growing child to come back to me.

Karus lay asleep in our bed as she had since drifting out of that portal the day before. The rhyzolm had saved me again and again from falling to my wretched despair, proving that she lived, that our child lived, and had grown stronger in the four months I’d spent alone.

When Pompeii had last visited me in the tunnel, bringing more supplies, forcing me to the surface to breathe fresh air for only a moment, I’d hardly registered how long it had been.

Four months was nothing.

My smile grew to see her belly rise and fall, so much bigger than before that tunnel. Before we learned that there was no destroying that heart without ending the lives of every magic wielder on Arcaynen Isle .

Lia had not returned, nor would she.

I knew it in my heart that she was gone from us, and there was still no sign of what had happened to Mychael and Rell . I had portaled Philius and Renn back to the grove of syphoner trees along the Tectus Trail . They’d reported there was no sign of either missing channeler and that most of the trees had been burned away, though some remained in their spectral glow.

The Blightress must have survived.

In those months below the roots of Felgren , I had pondered what it meant to be tied to the source of magic for the entire isle. Maybe Ilyenna had been right to wish for her and Talon’s child to be born without magic, which was another thing Pompeii had come to inform me.

Their baby boy was born in Felgren . Healthy and unusually long, it would be a while yet before we knew if Thevin possessed any magic.

I hadn’t gone to see them.

I hadn’t gone to check on Renn or any of my channelers.

I had done nothing but wait.

“ She breathes in a deep sleep. ” The voice of the first Baron rose again through my mind. “ You should stretch your legs. Get something to eat. Look after your people, Revich . ”

“ You can go now,” I mumbled on my hands, balled into fists at my mouth as I leaned on the bed.

“ No , I cannot go. ”

“ Then be quiet,” I snapped. Then added softer, “ Please .”

“ Baron ?” Pompeii’s voice drifted through our rooms.

I jerked, startled to see him there.

“ Yes ?” I answered.

His lips pursed in a thin line. “ I thought I heard you speaking to someone just now.”

“ No ,” I lied, turning back to Karus . “ I wasn’t speaking to anyone.”

He came closer in a careful glide, setting a tray of Karus’s favorite foods on the nearby table, arranged with everything but cinnamon buns. “ I can stay with her if you would like to see how baby Thevin fairs. And Renn has been asking after you. I kept them all away from the tunnel as you wished, but it might be time to?—”

“ Not until she wakes.” My voice came, colder than I’d meant.

“ She will not wake for hours yet, Revich . As I told you, she and your child are in a deep sleep. ”

“ The faerie has been…a nuisance,” Pompeii continued, pulling my black chair from the fireplace to sit beside me. “ I’ll admit, I’ve been no match for her. Indeed , only the Prince has been able to console her. Surprisingly so.” He chucked, sitting back. “ He took her to see Thevin . She was fascinated by his cries.”

“ You should go. Let him watch over her for a little while. Get some fresh air. I can alert you when Karus wakes. ” The voice of Adaynth echoed again as it had done over the four months of waiting in that tunnel. Sometimes it had been the only thing to keep me sane, to keep me from stepping back into that portal where I would have wandered forever searching for her.

Other times, I loathed the sound. A cruel reminder of our fates. Of what befell two people who wanted only to love. It’s all we’d ever wanted, and we’d had so little time together.

“ I will not leave until she is awake,” I repeated to both of them in the dim light.

Pompeii leaned forward, grabbing my knee. I looked to him at that with surprise.

“ At least go bathe.” He clenched his jaw, the muscles tight on his face as he pleaded, “ Show me that much, Revich . Show me you have not gone too far down the path of despair that I cannot convince you to clean yourself up.” A smile tugged on his mouth that did not reach his golden eyes. “ She will not much like the smell of you, especially in how far along she has come.”

“ Alright ,” I said, leaning in to kiss her forehead. I shuffled to the washing room with sconces already lit for me. A bath had been drawn as well, and I wondered just how long Pompeii had been in that room before I noticed him.

I did question at my sanity then.

“ You have not lost your mind, Baron Revich , ” the voice scolded. “ You are barely conscious half the time and don’t allow yourself a reprieve. ”

I nodded to the voice, shuffling out of my clothes, noticing fresh ones on the chair near the door. I swirled the minty paste at the basin around in my mouth and stepped into the enormous tub, ignoring the memories of her which formed there, choosing instead to grab the soap and attempt to scrub.

It was hard work, and forgoing a much needed shave, I instead rose, drying my skin and hair quickly, donning my fresh shirt and pants before stumbling from the washing room in record time.

“ Has she—” I started.

“ No , Revich ,” Pompeii answered, filling a plate with fruit, cheese and a soup I recognized, but could not remember from where. “ She has not moved a single inch in the seven minutes you took to bathe.”

I leaned against the bed, hand in my pocket to feel Saelyn again. I smiled down at her, promising myself I would continue to smile, for she was here. She was safe. She was alive.

“ Now show me you can eat, Revich .” Pompeii set the plate down on the bed and gestured to the black chair he’d risen from.

I sat and ate.

The meal felt heavy in my stomach and my eyes fluttered closed. I opened them again, flicking my head back in surprise at my body’s attempt at slumber.

“ You need rest. ”

“ Rest now, Revich .” Pompeii pulled the blue quilt back from the bed, gesturing for me to lay down next to her.

I all but crawled into the bed, pulling her body closer to mine, wrapping my arm around her rounded belly, scenting her skin which still smelled like her. That unchanged scent of pine and lavender. A forest and field of flowers calling me to sleep was the last thing I remembered as two voices said something to me and my thoughts drifted away to nothing.