“It’s just up ahead. I thought you might want a chance to compose yourself before we reach Feressa.”
She breathes out slowly and nods. “Thank you.”
As her heart rate returns to normal, thoughts of Rominy and Elowyn fill her head. They must be falling in love, too. It’s hard to imagine Rominy in love—truly in love—but she always assumed when he fell, he would fall hard. Wholly and completely, head over heels, sappy love songs and all.
Is that what he feels for Elowyn now? The same burning devotion she feels for Cerian? As though the air is being sucked from his lungs every moment they’re apart? As if colors only exist when she’s near, while simultaneously the world around him fades the moment his breath mingleswith hers just before his lips graze hers in a tender kiss? As if all the lights in the night sky would flicker out without her light by his side?
If that’s what Rominy feels for Elowyn...he must be broken. Barely breathing. Going through the motions of pretending to be alive while feeling dead inside.
Gravely ill. He wouldn’t exaggerate in a telegram. If he chose the word “gravely,” it was to convey the serious nature of her illness.
But they’re coming. He won’t face this alone. Not anymore.
They break through the trees and push their mounts through the grassy fields. Stardust doesn’t seem tired at all. Oh, to have the stamina of a unicorn.
As they approach Feressa, a train whistle sounds in the distance, and Arisanna’s stomach tightens. “That must be them,” she says loud enough for everyone to hear. “The trains don’t run to Feressa at night.”
Tharios urges his horse faster, and Cerian follows, as do the others. They fly into Feressa, probably waking a few city dwellers with the pounding of hooves. They reach the train station as the train slows to a stop.
A boxcar?
It must have been faster than a passenger train.
Tharios abandons his horse, flying up the steps to the platform as a flurry of guards pour from the single railcar where Elowyn and Rominy must be.
Cerian lowers Arisanna to the ground before dismounting behind her, and a group of human men emerge from the station, carrying some sort of stretcher.
Clutching her hand, Cerian drags her forward, stumbling in his own exhaustion as they hurry toward the train.
“We’rehere,YourHighness,”Jonas says when the train slows.
Dr. Fulton woke Rominy a few minutes ago, asking for a full report, and it was all Rominy could do not to punch the man.
He couldn’t tell the doctor much other than Elowyn’s mind was fine and she was coherent and fully herself in the heartlanding.
Everything else he tried to say stuck in his throat.
Not that he has any intention of telling anyone about their twilight swim. Heat pools low in his belly just thinking about it. About her.
Stars above, Elowyn must be the most gorgeous woman ever to exist. That she loves him in return seems like an impossible dream.
He glances at her lying there, her hair matted and her skin deathly pale.
She’s still beautiful. Still his Elowyn. Her heart thrums within his chest, and he latches on to the gentle, familiar rhythm.
Never alone.
Her words echo in his heart.
Strong for her.
Will anyone be in Feressa waiting? Will Tharios get there in time to save her?
It feels like forever before the train comes to a complete stop. Rominy focuses on Elowyn’s beating heart to keep from spiraling into panic. He breathes deeply the way she coached him in the heartlanding, the memory of her voice rolling over him like oil. He lets his thoughts wander to how she felt pressed against his chest. Beneath his wandering hands.
Elowyn. In every way, everything he never knew he needed.
When the train stops, Jonas gestures his men off the car and out of the way. Then, before Rominy can prepare to direct the next step, Tharios is there, and Rominy almost collapses in relief.
