“Eventually, in its time, life would return to these lands. Or find a way to persist.”
I resent the old god’s calmness, his peaceful detachment from the world. But I suppose I could not expect much else from the god of death—living is not his role, responsibility, or concern.
“Like my love, it is audacious,” Krokan finishes.
I rack my brain trying to think of what else could be done. What has not been pursued… “You mentioned a keeper?”
“It was something discussed by the first Elf King,” Krokan admits.
“To do what?”
“That was between my love and him. I only concerned myself with seeing her wishes done.”
I bite my lip, thinking. My mind is so full it nearly hurts. There must be a path forward. One that has been uncharted. But one Iwillfind. All I know is that we must liberate her. If Lady Lellia dies in the tree, the world is lost anyway. Perhaps, in freeing her, we’ll find another solution.
Krokan shifts, emerging from the gloom once more. It’s just his massive head and shining green eyes. But he stares me down—straight to my marrow, testing my make. I stand as tall as I would to face off against the Gray Passage. As tall as I stood against Charles in the council chambers.
“I will teach you her song and allow you to depart.” He’s made up his mind.
Tentacles wrap around me once more. But this time they hold me with all the delicacy of a child cradling a treasured doll. I am weightless as he lifts me up.
“Victoria—” Ilryth drifts forward, still hovering as if swimming.
“Don’t.” I hold out a hand and look over my shoulder to him so he can see I’m calm. “I made an oath to save the Eversea, and the world. One I will see through.”
Pain flashes through his eyes. He is afraid for me. Perhaps he should be… I don’t know what will come next. But I do know that this is the right choice. And no matter what awaits me, I will live without regrets. My life feels full. I have sailed every sea, and ventured to the deepest depths. I have known and lost love and found it again. I have chosen a purpose when I could’ve avoided the responsibility.
My song is complete.
I shift to face Krokan once more and soft words fill my mind. I have spent months learning and repeating the words of the old ones. I am ready to accept these just like I accepted Krokan’s hymns. Part of me already knows them. I heard them in the anamnesis. In banishing the rot of Sheel’s daughter Yenni. In the bleeding roots of the tree. In the shifting of the branches overhead when Ilryth and I made love.
The song fills me with meaning and purpose. Light floods the water, turning every last marking on my skin—even the newest—silver. When Krokan releases me, my mind sings in harmony.
Mortal minds cannot comprehend fully the songs of one god. But both? A duet… I cross to Ilryth without word and press my forehead against his, singing a few words to stabilize his mind and bathe him in Lellia’s blessings enough for us to leave without harm.
“We will go now,” I say.
“Go, and be successful. For the Blood Moon rises in three years. One way or another, my wife will be one with me once more. Even if I must tear down this world to achieve it.” The tentacles around us begin to writhe, kicking up silt and spinning the current into a vortex. “So return to your world. And do not fail us.”
CHAPTER45
The currents slow,and the buzzing in my ears comes to a halt. The waters grow still, and there is no longer the feeling of writhing movement around us. We stand on a large, rocky outcropping, overlooking Krokan’s deepest den, transported. Both of us are too stunned to say anything for several long seconds.
I recover before he does. “What are you… How?”Okay…I didn’t recover as much as I thought.
Ilryth still glows with radiant light. I notice that small pieces of wood have been fastened with ribbon around his arms, legs, neck, and torso. No doubt wood from the Lifetree to keep him safe. Another theft that unknowingly wounded the tree…but to good end.
Rather than answering me, Ilryth takes my face in both of his hands. He draws me to him with deliberate purpose, and he kisses me. It is firm, yet sweet. Tender but needy.
Thoughts vanish. I grab behind his arms, above his elbows, and pull myself to him. Our bodies crash together, all distance collapsing into a breathless moment of relief, joy, and passion.
“I realized I couldn’t do it.” He breaks away and presses his forehead against mine. His voice quivers, as though he is close to weeping. “These past three months have been unbearable. I’ve had nothing but time to think about what I had with you, and what I lost. About everything we could’ve been. About what I knew in my very soul to be the one brightest spot in my life—us.”
“Three months?” I repeat. Out of everything he said, that’s what I’m focusing on. The rest is too overwhelming and threatens to break me with emotions. “No… It’s only been a few hours, a day at most.”
He frowns slightly and slowly shakes his head. But he does not dismiss my experience. “Perhaps for you, it has been; I don’t know. In this realm—this between of life and death—time doesn’t flow the same as it does above.”
“Then we must move quickly. Every minute here might well be an hour, or a day.” I lead our ascent, scrambling over boulders and marching up narrow, sandy paths between the rocks. Ilryth assists me. In this weird ether that surrounds us, he hovers—like swimming—though not entirely, as every now and then he seems to sag to the ground. “Your markings?”
