Since I’d woken in the cave, Auriel had felt more human, more fragile. His aura weakened. He’d looked every bit an immortal, looked exactly as I would have imagined an all-powerful being. But he’d mentioned moving slower, having trouble adjusting to the physical world. And I’d seen it.
Seen him struggle with his mind slowing down—forgetting what he knew in the other realms, forgetting the knowledge he possessed as a God. Even sounding unsure of how he’d gotten here, or how he might leave.
The light began to spark between us—bursting like fireworks, growing brighter and brighter, until it hurt to look at him.
And then, I felt it. The moment his aura healed.
There was a sudden dimming of the light and strength of mine. My power. My knees shook, then gave out.
“Asherah!” Auriel yelled, jumping to his feet and catching me. He scooped me into his arms, and laid me back on the bed, his eyes wide and blazing with green. The color was more vibrantthan before. It looked more like Rhyan’s green in the sunlight. Now … even in the dark, it was an exact copy. As if the light from the green shard of the Valalumir itself was behind them.
“Asherah. My love.” His mouth opened, then closed and he stumbled back, another burst of light exploding from his body.
“Fuck,” he yelled, and fell to his knees, his hands opening and closing helplessly. “You’re the fire,” he said. “It’s inside you.Rakashonim.In your heart.”
“Auriel,” I said, reaching my hand for him. But I couldn’t move. The effect of the healing had taken its toll.
His breathing was heavy as he stood up, and then the room darkened again, the only lights which remained were the flickering flames of the candles.
“By the realms—by the fucking realms,” Auriel yelled, rushing to my side, and taking my hand in his. “Lyriana? Lyriana, please. Please. Are you okay?” He kissed my knuckles.
I nodded. “Just a little tired. Again.”
He kneeled at the edge of the bed, and squeezed my hand. “Do you know what you’ve just done?” he asked. “You healed more than my body. You—oh shit. Oh shit!” He was breathless, his eyes wild. He let go of me then, and stood, stumbling backwards, until he hit the wall.
“What? What happened?” I asked weakly.
“I remember,” he cried out. “I remember now. Fuck! You healed—you healed my memory, too. I … I’m not cut off anymore. The light. It’s the light. The Red Ray! By the realms! The Valalumir itself.”
I frowned, not sure what that meant—he was almost babbling. “Are you okay?” I asked. From the look on his face, I couldn’t tell if having his aura in full force, and his memory of being a God while mortal, was good or bad. Or if … somehow, I’d done something wrong. Something that hurt him.
Auriel shivered. “I’d been trying to remember this the whole time. Since the moment I felt my power drain. I could feel it—at the edge of my mind, but I couldn’t touch it.” He gasped. “It will happen again, soon. But I know now why we’ve been fighting. What I was trying to say without knowing it. I know now why it feels wrong to you to go after Rhyan. Why it feels wrong to let Sean do it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Lyriana,” he gasped. “I was so close to remembering back at the tomb. To telling you everything. But my mind was already clouded, weak, and with the sun in your hair like that, and Asherah’s chest plate I forgot.”
“Forgot what?”
“Rhyan doesn’t have to die.” His throat bobbed, his entire body vibrating with the knowledge. “It’s been hidden. It’s been hidden for a thousand years. It was forgotten. The knowledge lost. Buried. But, I remember. I remember now. We can save him, we can save his soul—the part of my soul that’s his. The personality that’s Rhyan. Lyriana, we can bring him back—restore him from the state of being an akadim.”
“What?” I sat up, my heart thundering. I shook my head. “Auriel, don’t say that. Not unless you mean it. Absolutely mean it. You cannot joke about this.”
“I’m not.” His eyes were wide and blazing with fire and emeralds, and then the light left him again. His chest heaved, gasping for breath as he sank to his knees. “I buried the knowledge with me. In my tomb. That’s why you were drawn there. That’s why you were brought there. You were desperate to save him, to heal him. And with all the power you’d called on and wielded—you thought you’d failed. You hadn’t. You went to the source. I remember now. I think that might be why I’m here. To right the wrong. To fix a mistake we made a thousand years ago.”Tears were falling from his eyes, streaking across his cheeks. “There’s a way forward for Rhyan. Lyriana, there’s a cure.”
Chapter
Fourteen
LYRIANA
A cure.
For a moment, I felt like my heart would burst. Like I could leave my skin and fly. Like for the first time since I saw Rhyan in the akadim’s arms—anything was possible.
Auriel crossed the room, and knelt before me at the edge of the bed.
“Are you sure?” I asked, my heart thundering. “I can—” My voice shook, too many thoughts, too many emotions racing through me at once. “I can heal him? Auriel, truly?” I grasped at his arms, pulling him up to the bed to sit beside me, my fingers digging into his flesh before I could stop myself.
