Page 98

Chapter

Sixty-Six

Liv

Even with the relief of Brekt’s return, the box in my chest grows heavier.

How much happiness will it take to undo years of loneliness?

I need to get rid of this box. I need to feel and live and not fight my past. I haven’t had companionship since my mother died, but I have it now.

I don’t have to piece myself back together alone.

“ W hat are you wearing?”

Maev wore a tight leather outfit that hugged her slim figure beautifully. It was made of varying shades of navy blue and grey. There were pockets and straps everywhere. She had goggles on her head and all sorts of gadgets attached to her hip.

“You look like a Guardian,” I admired.

Maev tore through my room, ready to leave. “I may have taken some inspiration from the Guards. Their clothing was practical for travelling.” She spun in a circle, showing me where she kept extra crystals, her prototype tracker and other gadgets we may need in our search for the shrines.

We were leaving, headed for a new adventure, and all I could think about was the dirty things Brekt had done and said to me last night.

Maev wore a belt around her waist with pockets attached to it. “You look like you copied Nuo,” I noted.

“Yeah, well, he is the mapper, right? I am taking on that role for our team.”

“The Guard of the Ikhor. I was right when I teased you about it the first time.”

Maev busied herself with her bags, then stopped, glancing around the room, taking in the mess and the crystals full of magic.

I cut her off before she said anything. “What happened with your date last night?”

Her face fell. “It was … not what I hoped. We will see what happens when I come back. Hanold and I are going out again. Livy, did you fill all these crystals?” Maev was standing over a bucket that had toppled over.

Actually, no bucket was left standing. It would require some cleaning to collect every crystal.

“Interesting diversion,” I muttered, wondering what happened on her date.

I joined Maev in packing crystals for our trip. We filled every pocket in our bags that we could.

“I don’t need to ask what happened here.” She winked at me, nodding toward my shredded sheets.

When we had everything we needed, Maev passed me an outfit similar to hers. I dressed in soft leather pants and a tight fabric top secured with a leather vest. I pulled the strings at the sides, glancing down as the vest shoved everything up and together.

“It’s a little revealing, Maev,” I said, my face heating.

“If the Aspis is following us, you’ll be thanking me later.” She finished packing her bags and rushed us out the door. She planned to leave a few crystals for her professor before we departed Avenmae for the shrine.

Several hours later, and after a quick lunch aboard a new airship, we were away from Avenmae and approaching the western coast of Rydavas.

The airship Maev had arranged for us was unlike the others I had seen before.

It wasn’t as large as Falizha’s, but it was similarly built for a small crew to live comfortably during long-distance flights.

“You already updated this ship’s maps?” I inspected the map displayed on a table in the navigation room.

The map hovered, a series of glowing lines and names projected with magic. If you spun the tabletop, the map spun with it. It wasn’t easy to understand how it worked because I couldn’t make sense of most of the terms she used.

Maev had brought several of her inventions, powered by crystals, including updating the ship’s AO tech. She’d done other masterful things I couldn’t understand, so I just nodded as she explained.

“As you know, I’ve been preparing for this trip, knowing what it was like on our last. We weren’t ready for everything we faced before. Now I know to be ready for anything to go wrong at any time.”

“That’s reassuring,” I muttered.

“That’s using your head,” she replied.

Maev was bouncing in the front seat, steering us toward the shrine. We were to meet the Guards there.

“If Ollo were piloting, I could be working on other updates and unfinished projects while we travel.”

“Maybe the Guards will know more once we meet them,” I said as the blue sky soared past the front window.

I stayed near the front, enjoying the view. Rydavas was much nicer to see from the sky when the magic wasn’t consuming me. “Too bad Cal wouldn’t come. He would have been useful.”

“We will have fun this time,” Maev said, spinning to face me. “We will make sure of it.”

Mayra’s shrine was visible from the airship even before we began our descent.

I could imagine it once rising high in the sky with spiralling towers made of shining white.

Those towers had now crumbled, a scattered heap of stones and shells littering the forest floor.

The shrine’s pearlescent glow had faded to dark blue near the base, resembling an ocean wave.

Only a few large sheets of rippled glass remained intact in several windows to the left of the shrine.

The other half was in ruins, pieces of the roof gone.

It looked like it could crumble at any moment.

Overgrowth consumed the area where gardens may have once been, and past the shrine, the forest gave way to rocky shores where the sea divided Veydes and Rydavas.

Maev steered us away from the shrine to find a place to land. It would be a long walk through the forest to get back to it.

I leaned on her chair at the narrow front of the airship. “You think the Guards are here already?”

“The Guardian’s ship that was reported to the aerial units was a day’s ride away. If they came on foot, they may not arrive until tomorrow.” Maev performed a series of actions to land the ship smoothly.

I paid attention as best as I could in case I needed the information in the future. “The Guards would find a way to be here. They wouldn’t waste time walking,” I said.

Maev had our bags ready to go, having packed our things efficiently, and we headed west toward the shrine, listening for any signs we may not be alone. The forest was dense and full of life. Birds chirped, and the wind hummed through the trees.

“How can they not have this shrine on a map? It’s obviously here. It’s huge.” I touched the trees as I passed, the bark smooth under my fingers.

Maev’s hair was down today—she had braided a single strand to the side of her temple to keep the hair falling in her face.

“It could be as simple as it’s no longer in use, and mappers decided not to include it for travellers.

It could be that someone doesn’t want us snooping in there.

There are no villages around here and no major roads, so it’s not like many people would see it unless they were passing by sea. ”

I twirled around a tree. “There’s the shrine, now.” A blue reflection stole my breath away. “And if you wouldn’t believe it, the Guards are already here.”

Their voices carried through the forest. They were arguing as we inched closer.

“Nuo, you got branches caught in my hair,” Kazhi complained.

“They’ve been there for hours.” Nuo’s reply was so casual it surprised me. I hadn’t heard him talk like that in a very long time, like nothing was bothering him. Like normal.

Maev pulled on my arm before I could break out into a run.

“I know you feel comfortable meeting them. But remember, when you walk us out there, I’m facing off with members of the most feared group of warriors our people have ever heard of.

I have no defences against them nor guarantees they are on my side. ”

“Brekt won’t allow anything to happen to you.”

I was eager to get moving. Although it had only been several hours, I was excited to see him. We walked carefully out of the forest, trying not to make too much noise in case it was a trap. Maev’s nerves were making me doubt my judgement.

Tall grass filled the clearing in front of the shrine, and from down below, the decaying structure seemed impossibly tall. The blue stones and shells sparkled in the afternoon sun.

The Guards, hidden up to their waist in the grass, went silent when Maev stepped on a twig and snapped it. Four apprehensive glares swivelled in our direction.

Brekt was first to relax, and my heart pounded in my chest. The shrine behind him disappeared as visions of what we’d done, the things he’d said, quickened my breath. If it weren’t for the other wary glances my way, I would have run into his arms.

Our eyes locked. I tracked every small movement his body made.

“ I love you too, Olivia. Since the first time I dreamt of you.” I had replayed those words over and again before I fell asleep last night.

I had once envied the woman in Brekt’s dreams—the version of me he saw before we met. But now I was thankful and wondered just how strongly he felt when we first travelled together.

Brekt stood in the shadows of the trees above, a breeze playing at the pieces of hair falling in his face. I melted at the sight of him, but was soon distracted by the others.

The other Guards’ hands inched closer to their belts.

They were all in black, loaded with weapons as if ready for battle.

Bastane didn’t have his typical fur-lined cloak.

Instead, he had on a tight top, similar to Brekt’s, with his bow wrapped around the front of his body.

Kazhi had her high boots and leather skirt, with knives strapped in every possible location.

Brekt had his sword at his side and a heated look on his face as he watched me approach.

I suppose he’d never seen me wearing tight leather.

Not that he had to use his imagination to know what was underneath.

Nuo … I didn’t notice what he wore because I was caught in how he stared at us. He was emotionless. His perfect mask was back on, hiding what he really felt.

I swallowed my fear. Maev was right. These were the fiercest warriors from across the sea, maybe in the entire world, and the two of us could barely fight.