Page 119 of Walking in Darkness

That was in the years before they’d understood the perversion and obscenity. The wickedness that reigned, that one day they would war against. Before the scars and the traumas and the fear.

This girl who’d been his very best friend. His only friend. The one who’d become his anchor when he felt as if he were perpetually lost in the ravages of a deep, toiling sea.

He glanced at his Nol then. At the sharp, defined angles of her face. Cheeks and jaw whittled like blades. Eyes sharp and keen, yet so unbelievably kind. Real and steeped in her desire to help those in need.

He had no question that she would be willing to sacrifice it all, even if it only served one person.

One soul.

But her mission had become so much greater than that. The scores she’d been given to protect. Every life. Every being.

The charge that had been her burden had become essential.

Basic for all survival.

The whole fucking weight of the world riding on her shoulders.

But for one night—just one night—he wanted to give her a reprieve.

A moment that only belonged to her.

A moment that only belonged to them.

Beyond where he and Aria stood on the soft grass at the edge of Tearsith, on the bank on the crystalline brook that weaved through their haven, their Laven family had begun to gather at their great teacher’s feet.

Pax’s chest tightened when he saw that Ellis had grown weary. His shriveled frame sagged even more than it had just a week ago.

Brittle beneath the great losses that had befallen their tribe. Their family, who were being picked off one by one, their numbers dwindling with each day that passed.

A quiet sorrow quivered and moaned through the flock, though in it, Pax could feel a new strength that had emerged. Nols sat closer, tied in a way they’d never been before, clinging to the other in relief that both had arrived in Tearsith that night.

That they’d made it another day.

“How many of them do you think have joined?” Aria asked beneath her breath as she stared out over the crowd. “How many do you think have found their Nol in the day?”

“I imagine that most of them ran to find the other, if there was any possibility of doing it,” Pax rumbled.

“I can only wonder if them finding each other is what has allowed them to come here tonight. If it’s what’s kept them safe.” Aria’s voicewas laden with caution, and he could feel her grief. Her pain over the ones who’d already been lost.

She suddenly trembled. “Do you think it’s because of me? Is it because of me that Ambrose has been seeking the demise of us all? He said I was the last one standing in his way. Would he stop this slaughter if I was no longer in his way?”

Ferocity filled his spirit, and he turned to her, his words emphasized. “No, Aria ... I think you’re here because this was going to happen. Because Ambrose was going to try to merge the worlds. End our kind and likely every person on the planet. I think you’ve been sent—purposed for this time—because you’re the only one who can stop it.”

She inhaled a shaky breath, and Pax ran his thumb over the object tied to her left ring finger.

Another impossibility.

Because they never crossed realms with any human properties. Not clothing, or jewelry, or even their scars and tattoos. They emerged in Laven’s uniforms, clad in brown pants and jackets and boots.

And there his promise remained on her finger.

The ribbon.

She exhaled before she tipped him a timorous smile, and the two of them slowly moved across the meadow to where the rest had settled. Dani and Timothy were already there, Dani tucked beneath Timothy’s arm and pressed to his chest.

“... of the utmost care ...” Ellis’s instructions trailed off when his regard landed on the two of them. His eyes were now nearly completely gray, as if the irises had spread out to stain the sclera, yet his gaze remained impossibly warm. An embrace from afar, though there was torment written in it.

Josephine hovered near him. Strands of stringy gray hair hung limp around her aged, weathered face.