“Me? Yes, I’m fine, but I haven’t seen you since the party!” Ember pulls away and looks me over. “I was pretty worried. I thought maybe you were hurt but then heard you were on a trip with Draven.”
I flinch, realizing I probably should’ve told her. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone worrying about me.
“I brought you something.” She pulls a cute little crystal frog from her pocket and it shines in the light as if it’s made of starlight. “There was a visiting market of merchants while you were gone. I remember you said there were frogs that would sound like a little symphony when you lived on the Isle of Riches. Kasper spotted it, but it reminded me of you. I was going to save it for your soul-day but … I’m terrible at waiting.”
“You don’t need to get anything just to commemorate me being born.” Not sure when my last soul-day party even was, and I was probably pretty little. I amend, “But it’s adorable.”I’m surprised Kasper would pick it up. I clench her hand, trying not to think about how close I got to dying on this trip. To losing Draven.
“You okay, Rune?”
I nod, putting on a smile. “Thanks for checking on me.” We both look up the steps and I tell her, “I’d better check on Draven before he goes off to the palace.”
“Okay, but then I want to hear everything!” She hugs me again, and I let myself enjoy it this time before I rush up the steps and enter our Hearth. I find Draven shaking his head as he throws some spying crystals into the fire.
“I got the last of them, but keep checking while I’m away.”
“You won’t be gone long, right?”
“You going to miss me, Wraith?” A wry grin cuts his coy mouth.
I lean closer and notice how his lips part with want as I hiss, “What if I am?”
“Then I’m sorry we don’t have more time before I have to return to the palace and haul this pitiful amount of zenith we extracted with me.”
“It wasn’t a total waste.”
His brows furrow together before his gaze sharpens. “Have you been holding out on me?”
“Turns out a drake wasn’t the only thing in that cave.” I reach into my cloak and carefully pull out the wand. Draven’s entire face lights up as he takes it in, all its intricate craftsmanship.
“Gods, Rune, you have never been sexier.”
My face heats, the tension between us coiling tighter. I try to stay focused and ask, “Do you think the legends are true?”
“When it comes to the Darkstone, there’s only one way to find out.” He accepts it as I hand it over, and the colors change, like blood poured beneath the dark crystal. He quickly handsit back, as if it’s unbearable to touch. “It called to you, so you should keep it here. Hide it. Don’t mention it to anyone.”
“I won’t,” I promise.
“I can’t believe you kept hold of it while being chased by a drake.” He grins at me, impressed.
I lift the wand, letting it catch on the light streaming through the parted curtains.
“Pretty sure it’s why the drake tried to eat us all. But … I couldn’t leave it behind.” I tilt my chin up, but he’s not watching the wand with wonder, just me.
Soto knocks at the door and I quickly hide the wand as he steps inside. “I’m afraid we need to leave now, Your Highness.”
Draven steals another moment, laying his lips against my inner wrist. “I’ll be back. Guards have been assigned to watch over the house. But, Rune …”
“Tell me when you get back.” I give him a wink, and a smile breaks across his face.
But watching him leave with Soto’s men hurts. We’ve just been through a lot, and there’s so much entangled and unsaid between us. I wanted more time.
I move the wand to the unused loft of my room and hide it away in a narrow pen box.
There’s a strange sense of anticlimax. I hope to hells it was worth it.
A FEW DAYS PASS,all without any sign of Draven.
Meanwhile our training at the Forge continues to get increasingly challenging. Combat moves into using weapons, and we’ve advanced to a course that uses magic in battle. I have a leg up on both thanks to Draven. My friends and I continue to practice, and I make it a point of working on maintaining that hope Ifound to create the Star Arcana, forging weapons and shields, but hope is a fickle thing, and without Draven here I falter at it as much as I succeed.
