Seda looked up at Cahir with pleading eyes.
He took a deep breath and sincerely said, “I’m sorry, Seda.” He looked her in her eyes and then looked over Kalon’s shoulder, notmeeting his. “And I’m… I’m sorry,Kalon.” He sighed. “I’m protective of her. She has been through a lot, and I do not want to see her hurt.”
Seda walked over to him and hugged him, her lilac scent teasing his nose. He placed his palm on her shoulder and lightly pushed her back so he could look into her beautiful eyes. “Whatever you want, foryou, Sed.Always.” Then he pulled her back into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
Chapter 33
Cahir
The group continued through the Heath Forest until twilight, discovering a small, lush grove with waterfalls of fading light filtering through a mix of giant ferns, oaks, and pines. The bloody oaks thinned as they moved further north, giving way to vibrant, verdant landscapes. Seda refused any more help from anyone as she traveled throughout the day, leaving Cahir angry with himself. He offered to help her multiple times, but she rejected his offers each time.
A large, glittering pond sat at the center of the grove, with fireflies dancing above it, their glowing rays of light reflecting off the water. Their peaceful radiance reminded him of the home he wished to share with Seda someday.
“What a great spot,” Seren said, setting his pack against the trunk of a giant pine tree. “Plus, we can all bathe.” He pulledout a bar of soap from his pack and showed everyone. “I would say ladies first,” he said, as he looked toward Seda. “But I’m selfish. If no one wants to see, you’d better look away now.”
Kalon, Seren, Askold, and Benny all walked to the shoreline and removed their clothing. Cahir stayed behind with Seda as Roya, Ferona, and Feich took to the sky. Seda sat behind a large oak, and Cahir sat next to her.
“No bath for you?” she asked him as she played with a bit of moss in her palm that she picked off the tree.
“I will a bit later,” he shrugged.
They both gazed down at the moss, unsure of what to say next. Cahir felt ashamed about what he’d done earlier. Not because he’d wanted to kill Kalon, but because he’d missed the opportunity to help her and had only added to her confusion instead.
Fuck Kalon.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from the Wyrd,” he admitted to her. “I came for you as quickly as I could. I couldn’t even think straight. I just had to get to you.”
“I know, and it isn’t your fault.” She dropped the moss from her hand. She watched it fall softly to the ground, then looked back at him. “It was horrible there, Cahir, truly horrible.”
“Were you hurt?” He felt his heart start racing as he waited anxiously for her response.
She drew a deep breath and glanced down at her nails, dirty from her time in the Camp and the journey north. “Not in the way you’d expect. I was locked up in a dark cell and…” She fought back a sob. “Esper was locked up right next to me.”
Cahir looked at her in shock. “Esper? Was Diantha there?”
She shook her head. “Diantha had been killed before I arrived. But Esperwas pregnant, Cahir. And the cell was so dark and so lonely and so cold, I couldn’t see her. She gave birth while I was there. Her baby was stillborn. I will forever be haunted by her screams and the soundof her praying and rocking her baby. The guards came in and saw that she had given birth, and that the baby had died.” Tears streamed down her face, and she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “They beat her, Cahir. They beat her after she went through that. And then they dragged her out of the cell and killed her.”
She gazed up at him with a fury that Cahir had never seen in her before, and her palms and eyes started to glow. “The Rozzersrapedher into pregnancy, did not feed her well, kept her in that cold, dark cell, and when she finally gave birth, they hurt her again. That is what Joro’s society is about. I’m so upset that I was an unknowing supporter of it!”
A wave of disgust and horror roiled through him. The thought of what went on at the Camp, with Seda there to see it, and the fate of Esper and Diantha, made his stomach churn and his head spin.
Her eyes were flaring the brightest amethyst he had ever seen. He hesitantly asked, “How did you?” He paused, unsure how to ask. “How did you not receive the same treatment?”
She laughed angrily and focused on her glowing palms. “Lord Mordred wanted to see me. He had me meet with him. I tried to ask him about this ‘dark stone’ Elco told me about, but he did not answer. He told me that I was there for a reason. And you want to know what he said?” She looked over at him with her burning eyes and runny nose. “He said I was there for ‘redemption’. Whatever that means. He gave an order that no one was allowed to touch or hurt me. That didn’t stop Alexi, the Rozzer who dragged me away from you at the Wyrd, from trying, though.”
Cahir’s growl rumbled low in his throat, and Seda looked up to him and whispered with a devious smile, “Ikilledhim, Cahir. I killed him with these.” She held up her purple palms for him to see. “It came out of nowhere. I was so mad,SO MAD!” She shouted the last two words as she slammed her palms on her knees, releasing a small spark that did not affect her. “He wanted to hurt me again,so madatthat place and hearing and seeing the pain of those innocent people, all I could think about was hurting him like how you killed Michael at the Wyrd, and howgoodit felt to see you rip his heart out, and then all of the sudden he was lying on the opposite side of my cell convulsing.”
She did not show any signs of remorse for killing Alexi. That confused him, not in the sense that this change of character was bad, but rather that it was so vastly different from how she had been in Joro. He was glad that she got her revenge,thrilledeven, but she didn’t seem to mind taking the life of another, even if they deserved it.
What does she know about the dark stone?
“An eye for an eye,” she said with a malevolent grin.
The purple in her arms and hands began to fade, and her eyes returned to their regular shade. “Does this scare you?” she asked about her magic.
He responded immediately, not needing to consider his answer. “Not at all. I’m not sure what kind of magic it is, but the fact that you could protect yourself, Seda… that youDID? I’m so impressed and soproudof you. You have no idea.” He smiled, and he knew it showed in his eyes. “So fucking proud, Sed.”
“Ladies are up,” Askold announced as he circled the tree, his blond, damp hair plastered to his scalp. He stared down at them. “Where are Roya and Ferona?”
