Page 77

Chapter 77

Karus

Saelyn was fourteen and ready to train.

Her power had been manifesting for years, revealing itself in trails of white left in her wake.

Rev and I decided the winter she was fourteen that she was ready. We asked her what kind of Offering she wanted—a lavish party or a quiet celebration with just the people who loved her. She surprised us, confessing that what she truly wanted was a celebration in Hyrithia to end the Treaty between Felgren and the last city to refuse channeler Offerings .

She had met the Queen and her uncle once before, but through the years and all of our busy schedules, we had not visited the city. A part of me continued to fear Saelyn being taken from us. It was not the same pulsing dread it once had been, but I could not shake the feeling that the Blightress was there, looming in the background of every one of Saelyn’s years of life in Felgren .

Revich and I agreed to the celebration, and I quickly wrote to the Queen . Saelyn could not have chosen a more welcoming benefactor for her Offering . The Queen made sure that this celebration would be as lavish as her coin could buy.

We officially dissolved the Treaty that night, ending the proclamation that channelers born in Hyrithia could not be given Offerings to train to become conduits in Felgren .

Everyone we knew attended, and as Saelyn took the hands of her Baron parents, her gown bloomed to one of shimmering Felgren green with sleeves that billowed long to her wrists. A simple ring of silver banded across her forefinger, topped with an almost clear white stone in a teardrop shape with five smaller stones above and five below. She gasped in delight upon seeing it there, leaping into our arms with joy.

Not long after, Thevin stole her away to watch Philius perform fire tricks with his power and end the night in a show of his magic as he had embraced it over the years, giving himself hands of flame.

Revich stole me away himself, covering my eyes with gold silk, leading me up to our rooms in the castle. He ushered me through the door and with a sweep of his hand and a kiss at my ear, my blindfold was gone.

I laughed in awe at our rooms. An exact replica of the night we shared for the first time as companions lay before me. All the details were the same, even down to the same mugs that steeped styris tea and the burgundy mums on the table.

“ How much do you remember?” he whispered in my ear behind me.

I hummed, reaching for him in the candlelit glow. A few subtle notes of gray lined the black hair at his temples and graced the hair at his chin. He was still so beautiful with black eyes turning blue and that upturn of his lips always left for me to find when he loved me—just as he had loved me since the day he’d felt me through his rhyzolm.

“ All of it,” I replied, brushing my hand across his jaw. “ I remember every night like this with you, and I’ll never let myself forget them. Each day we have together is one I am thankful to keep in here.” I pressed my hand to my chest. “ To keep me warm. Because I know what could have been, Rev . I see it sometimes in my dreams, but that’s all they are. I wake up next to you and thank whomever is listening that the life we wanted is ours to live. That you are happy, and safe, and loved.”

“ I love you, Karus ,” he said with a sweep of his thumb across my lip.

“ And you will love me still, Baron Revich .”

He huffed a laugh, unbuttoning my vest, whispering, “ For a fucking lifetime.” He kissed me hard with the same urgency, the same passion we’d shared since the night we’d bonded and the years before. He bent his forehead to mine, pulling on the back of my thighs to lift me to him, murmuring, “ You live, I live. A lifetime with you is the only life I’ve ever found worth living.”