Page 31 of Veiled By Smoke (The Nature Hunters Academy #5)
“The freedom that comes with the truth is worth the pain that might also come with it. The brief comfort of the cover from lies is only a bandage to a festering wound. But the truth is like a wound being debrided and cleaned until the infection is gone, and then what is left is a chance to heal.” ~ Osiris
T he echoes of the group’s voices still hung in the cavern, sharp-edged and unresolved.
Osiris stood just outside the entry of the cave that made up the home of the soul bonded.
He’d kept himself separate while they’d discussed Rory’s sister, still feeling the group’s unease with him.
Their suspicion weighed on him, heavier than any chain he’d worn in the underworld.
He was changing, he could feel it, each day the darkness of the underworld lessened and the light that once filled him took up more and more space.
It was odd, like putting on a comfortable jacket after having worn something too tight for too long.
Kimba eventually wandered out, her eyes finding his immediately.
She gave him a soft smile, and he felt her pleasure at seeing him.
Even though she was worried about what was happening around them, she was happy to see him, to be with him.
It shook him to his core to know she felt that way about him.
He’d missed that and hadn’t really understood it while he’d been the ruler of hell.
When she finally crossed to him, the thread between them vibrated with both hope and old wounds.
He drew a breath, searching for words that wouldn’t sound like weakness.
“I’ve been feeling off,” he admitted, voice low so the echoes wouldn’t carry.
“Like something’s reaching through to me.
Something from below. I try to shut it out, but it’s persistent.
It’s like I’m standing at the mouth of a cave and there’s a wind coming up from the deep, and it knows my name. ”
Kimba’s features softened, her guard dropping.
“You always did feel the darkness first,” she murmured.
“When we were whole, it was how we found the wounds in the world. Remember? We’d meditate, join the bond, let our magic stretch out and find the rot.
We always found the places that needed healing. ”
Osiris nodded, the memory aching in his chest. “I remember. I just, I’m not sure I can do it anymore.
Not after living with the darkness and letting it consume me.
” It was something he’d been considering but a weakness he hadn’t wanted revealed, especially to her.
“I fear my pull towards it. The intoxicating feeling that comes from that kind of power.” He closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head in an attempt to forget all those years in the underworld.
Leaving hadn’t just simply wiped it all away.
She reached for his hand, her grip grounding him. “It’s okay to be vulnerable. And you’re not in this alone, not anymore. We do this together, Osiris. That’s the only way it’s ever worked.”
He let her lead him away from the cave, down a path that led to the cave he’d been sleeping in.
She’d yet to stay there with him, despite the fact that he’d told her about Mother Gaia speaking to him and that he was ready to move forward.
He understood that she needed time. They both did.
But as his past returned to him, as the memories of their life together resurfaced from the centuries of darkness, he realized he missed her.
Desperately. The further they got from the cave housing the soul bonded, the quieter it became.
The hush here was thick, the stone of the mountain cool against his side and Kimba’s presence warm beside him.
As they entered his living quarters, he suddenly felt nervous, like a boy with a crush who was unsure of himself.
It seemed ridiculous and appropriate all at the same time.
The room was simple—just a bed, a woven rug that looked like it was from a hundred years ago, a shelf lined with relics both sacred and mundane.
It was a far cry from the throne of writhing souls and flame he’d occupied for centuries.
Here, there was only the truth: the man he was now, stripped of titles, laid bare before the only person who had ever truly seen him.
Kimba paused just inside the threshold, her fingers trailing along the rough stone.
The silence between them was not empty, but full of memory, of wounds, of the fragile hope that had survived hell and time and heartbreak.
Osiris watched her, his heart thundering, his palms suddenly damp.
He’d faced armies, monsters, the wrath of gods and the temptations of devils, and yet he’d never felt so unsteady as he did now, standing in front of the woman his soul had always craved.
He tried to speak, but the words tangled. Kimba stepped closer, her gaze searching his face, reading every flicker of doubt, every shadow of pain. She reached up, cupping his jaw, and the warmth of her touch stoked a fire that had lain dormant for too long.
“I know you’re afraid,” she whispered, her voice trembling with truth.
“I am too, Osiris. When you left, when you fell, I thought my heart had been ripped out. I tried to keep healing, tried to use my gift the way Gaia intended, but it was broken, just like I was. I did more harm than good. The light in me, it turned. And that’s why Sepheron made me a dragon and exiled me here to protect the world from what I’d become. ”
He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead to hers, drinking in the confession like water in a desert.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed. “For all of it. Not just what I did to you, but what I let myself become. Down there, in the dark, I lied to myself. I told myself I didn’t need you, that power was enough, that I could fill the ache with anything but you.
Even when I thought I wanted someone else, it was just a shadow, Kimba.
A pale, colorless echo. You’ve always been the truth.
My soul—” His voice broke, raw and desperate.
“My soul never forgot you. Not for a moment.”
Her hands slipped to his shoulders, gripping tight.
“I hated you for a time. I tried not to, but the pain was too much. I thought I’d never trust you again, never let myself hope.
But as the memories came back, as I remembered us, the real us, I realized I never stopped loving you. Not for a single heartbeat.”
He opened his eyes, finding her gaze fierce and wet with unshed tears.
“I want you,” he said, the words ripped from the deepest part of him, wild and unguarded.
“Not a memory, not a ghost, I want you, now, here. Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. I’ll fight for your trust, for your love. I’ll do anything, Kimba. Anything.”
A sob caught in her chest, and she surged into his arms, her lips capturing his with a hunger that was both ancient and new.
The kiss was fire and forgiveness, agony and relief, years of longing poured into a single, shattering moment.
Osiris held her as if she were the only thing anchoring him to the earth.
His hands shook as he ran them over her, desperate to memorize every inch of her, to relearn the feel of her body pressed against his.
Their magic flared between them, a living thing that crackled and purred and roared, filling the cavern with a golden light so warm it chased every shadow from the corners.
The soul bond, once frayed and tattered, knit itself whole in a single, blinding rush, a torrent of memory and desire and relief that left Osiris gasping, awash in her love, her forgiveness, her strength.
He kissed her again and again, each touch a vow, each breath a promise.
Kimba’s hands tangled in his hair, her laughter breaking like dawn through the last of the night.
“I’m yours,” she whispered, and he felt the truth of it ripple through every part of him, old wounds closing, new hope unfurling like wings.
They tumbled to the bed, limbs entwined, hearts pounding, a dance older than memory, as fierce as dragons, as gentle as the first wildflowers after winter.
Every barrier fell away, every scar honored and healed in the heat of their union.
The cave shook with the force of their magic, the mountain itself bearing witness as their love remade the world.
Osiris pressed his lips to her brow, her cheeks, her throat, worshipping her with hands and mouth and soul. “Never again,” he vowed, voice hoarse and holy. “No darkness, no fear, no power will ever take me from you. We are one, Kimba. We always were.”
She arched to meet him, her body a prayer, her spirit a flame that burned away every doubt. “Never apart,” she echoed. “Mother Gaia brought us together for a reason. This bond, nothing can break it.”
Light poured from them, filling the chamber, spilling into the cracks of the mountain, warming the very stone. Osiris felt the soul bond settle into place, stronger than steel, softer than sunlight, eternal as the stars.
When at last they lay tangled together, breathless and spent, the world seemed quieter, steadier, a new peace humming in the air.
Osiris brushed Kimba’s hair from her face, his thumb tracing the curve of her cheek. “You’re my home,” he whispered.
She smiled, a promise blazing in her eyes. “And you’re mine.”
They lay together as the magic faded to a gentle glow, the soul bond pulsing between them with every heartbeat.
Whatever darkness lay ahead, Osiris knew, down to the marrow of his bones, that this time, they would face it together.
And nothing, not hell or fate or fear, could ever tear them apart again.