He confirmed. “A back-up plan.”
So he had wanted to keep me locked up so Thrax wouldn’t have his chance. Because he was carrying on his bloodline’s mission. “Andyou didn’t tell him you had no intention of going through with the prophecy.”
His eyes darkened. “I have nothing to discuss with the old fucker.”
Sure, they were enemies. “So the medallion really kept you away. You only came close to me and moved in when I lost it,” I murmured, then froze, realisation kicking in. “You took it away!”
“You were dying near the Pylath and I couldn’t come close because of it.”
“Then how did you eventually—” I trailed off as my question answered itself. “Your telekinesis.” The look in his eyes told me I was right. “Then where did you drop it?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. I just flung it far away from you. Probably buried somewhere there.”
“That was Selvanyra’s perfect chance to send something to erase me from this world.”
Thrax reached forward and tucked my hair behind my ear. “There’s a limit to what she can do to humans. If she could do anything, you’d have been dead the second you stepped foot in Nimorran. That’s why she’s using tricky ways to get to you.”
“Like the monsters and the way The Crater used to call me to it.”
“Yes.”
I sighed, the realisation that Selvanyra had been the villain going against everything I’d read and been taught. It was insane that she did this to one human, and what the world knew was a whole different story.
“Thank you, Thrax. Really,” I said sincerely, from the depth of my heart.
His hand under my chin moved, thumb pressing softly against my bottom lip. “I can think of several ways you can thank me.”
I couldn’t help the smile stretching my lips, my mood shifting like the tide. “I bet.”
His hand lingered on my face for a heartbeat longer before he turned back to the fire demanding his attention.
I kept staring at him, contentment wrapping itself around me again, this time with a string of sadness. Sadness at how temporary this all was, how none of it would last until I was old and grey. Gods, I’d do anything to live in this moment forever, to live in a time where I didn’t have to constantly worry about our future. I just wanted him. But apparently that was too much to ask.
It was bittersweet, this moment.
Erasing those thoughts before Thrax could feel them, I teased, distracting myself. “And also, I’m older than you by a year.”
He’d stopped growing at twenty-two, though no part of him looked that young. If I were seeing him for the first time, I’d guess he was brushing close to his thirties. Humans in the past must have had some kind of fast-burn youth because he certainly didn’t seem twenty-two with the ragged way he’d looked in the dream.
“I’ll make you repeat that once your soreness is gone.” He glanced at me as I burst into laughter. “Which should be in one hour.”
That made me laugh harder, the weight in my chest easing, if only a little.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
SANORA
When I woke up, Thrax wasn’t by my side.
We’d gone to bed the same as always, fallen asleep with him beside me. When I listened, I realised the house was too quiet. He wasn’t downstairs.
I swung my legs out of bed and padded to the door, going down the stairs. I was in his shirt, had not touched any of the clothes he’d bought me since we walked home from my exile four days ago, and really, why would I? His shirts smelled like him, and I’d rather sink into that scent and stay there.
None of us had left the house since I returned; he’d even stopped going to the cave. Still, a small part of me wondered if that was where he’d gone before I woke.
I gulped water and let out a deep breath, stretching out the stiffness from my muscles. I’d let my running routine die since I came to Nimorran, and my body was feeling that impact. My bones ached in a way that made me move sluggishly, so in the kitchen, I did a few half-hearted exercises—stretching, squats, jogging on the spot—just enough to loosen the pins and needles.
When I finally felt a little less like a folding chair, I headed back up the steps, hands reaching for the rail. I reminded myself that Ineeded sunlight after being cooped up inside for four days straight. I needed to walk. I needed to go outside—
