The thorns were lifting into the sky, unfurling and twisting in new directions to form an archway. The fog that surrounded them dissipated, spilling out into the surrounding foliage and settling into the dirt from whence they came. Sunlight spilled through the arch, giving light to a path that was blooming with purple flowers the size of Nymiria's head. It took everything in her not to extend her fingers and touch them, being sure to keep a safe distance as they passed through the tunnel.
Aziel was hesitant, his sword returned to his hand and gripped tightly as they passed through, his eyes moving from one side of the tunnel to the other and then to the front where the sunlight bled in and to the back again. He looked at the vines as if they would betray them at any moment—like this was all just a trick to lure them into the belly of the tunnel in order to trap a new meal. Despite his worst fears, the vines never moved from their arched position. Their flowers shivered as they approached them, all of the blooms swaying and dipping as if they were greeting them. Nymiria, letting the whispers of their life spread over her skin.
She felt each silver dust flake of life tingling against her pores. Swelling around her—filling her with a ball of something so powerful that it nearly brought her to her knees. Upon feeling that she'd fallen behind, Aziel turned to her. He watched as she walked towards one wall of the tunnel and used her index finger to lightly stroke over the purple blooms.
She had to have noticed by now.
He wished that he would have told her from the beginning, but he knew how that would end—the same way it’d ended for him. Drinking himself into a stupor, using his Grace in the most ruthless ways possible…
It was a path that he didn’t want her to take.
Seeing her joy and her bewilderment as the truth unfolded right in front of her eyes was far better an outcome than the alternative. The world had quite literally opened up for her. The vinesbloomedfor her, danced for her, and praised her as she walked through them. Not to say goodbye to her, but to welcome her home.
They did not lash out at her with their thorns, they tucked their thorns away from her and let her fingers trail over them with a gentleness they had not felt in a painfully long time.
The last being to ever tend to them had been Greia.
Nymiria lifted her hood and let it fall to her shoulders before slipping the mask from her head. She revealed her face to them, let them see her only because it felt like the right thing to do.
Aziel also deeply wished that he didn’t have to take her back. This place was her home. It was where she belonged. No matter what had happened in the Beyond ten years ago, this place was still written in her bones, bred into her blood. He saw these things in the gleam in her eyes, the brightness of her smile. It was a livelihood that did not exist in her across that damned border.
He wanted her to stay. He wanted her to flourish and find herself here.Seeing all of this now, he was glad he refused Trio's offer to return them via shadows. She needed this.
Going back to Yaar would be added to his long list of regrets, but it needed to be done. Dorid’s men were already searching for her and the Duke of Fairnam. In the days that Nymiria had been rendered unconscious, Aziel spent his time traveling back and forth between Yaar and the Beyond to maintain his credibility and to not be seen as a suspect. Rumors had started to spread that they’d eloped, both of them entangled in some frivolous affair. So it was not just her reputation that was at stake, but the safety of this place that he wanted to bring her back to.Her having a place to call home, a place that made her smile like this, it was all that mattered at the moment and he could not risk Dorid’s Huntsmen stumbling into their resurrected kingdom and ruin all of the hard work he and his people had put into rebuilding it.
Allowing her a moment of peace before crossing the border back into the world they both dreaded returning to was the most that he could do for her. There was no denying the thrill in her heart, nor the comfort she must have felt at seeing the flowers and vines reacting to her in such a way. If what she'd said was true, Nymiria had not felt her Grace in the last ten years.
It was a surprise, to say the least, that the king was in such a frenzy to find her. He didn't believe that Dorid would care this much, but the king wasn't eating—he wasn't even leaving his office. Dorid spent all hours of the day scouring maps and deriving plans to bring Nymiria back.
But Dorid's protectiveness was not out of love. It was an obsession.
There was no other way to explain away the crazed look in his father's eyes other thanthat. It was evident that Nymiria was like a sacred blade—a preferred weapon—and Dorid had become so accustomed to having her at his side that he felt vulnerable without her.
It reminded Aziel so much of how Dorid was with his mother that it made his heart ache.
He refused for history to continue repeating itself.
"You're staring at me."
The sound of her voice made him jolt, his eyes snapping back into focus as he took in the look she wore on her face. She didn't seem aggravated. She seemed… at peace.
And he was going to have to ruin it all.
"We should be going." He said gruffly, wincing at the harsh sound of his own voice. He hadn't realized how silent the forest had become until he spoke. Nymiria took one final glance at the vines before nodding, a small frown toying with the corner of her mouth as she walked towards him. "I should have disclosed this with you sooner, but you will need to give the appearance that you've been held against your will. It was my intention to inform everyone of the Mimics. A coven of them, somewhere deep in the Divide and away from the new kingdom." Nymiria followed along with his words, her fingers mindlessly toying with thepins on his jacket. "Mimics do tend to live in covens, deep underground. A tunnel system, of sorts. You'll need to remember that when they question you about your whereabouts. You won't need to give specific locations, just tell them that they kept you in the dark, tied up, and that all you could see was me pulling you out of a hole. The rest, I will inform them of."
Nymiria glanced down at her clothing. Aside from the little remnants of dirt and leaves sticking to her clothing from where they slept on the ground, she looked rather unscathed. "Aren't I far too clean to give the appearance that I've been trapped in a tunnel somewhere?" She hummed, arching her brow curiously.
Aziel turned to her then, stopping them both in their tracks. "Yes. Which leads me to my next statement. We need to rough you up a bit."
Agreeing to his plan was only logical. Despite the innate urge to go against everything he told her to do, Nymiria relented and let him smear dirt on her face and in her hair. She even took handfuls of dirt and leaves and rubbed them over her arms, legs, and her clothing while Aziel paid attention to making her hair look like a complete and utter disaster. She couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of her when he dove his fingers into her hair and began tossing it around.
It was odd, really, knowing that she was returning to the place that was the root of all of her nightmares, and laughing about the steps needed to ensure that she wasn't strung up in the middle of the city and stoned to death.
Aziel took a step back and narrowed his eyes as he looked her over. "Can you punch yourself in the face?" He asked.
Nymiria's brow crumpled. "I've never tried."
"Can you?"
