{Rest.}
She spoke, her voice coming out in that eerie echo she was now accustomed to.
{Feel no more pain.}
The Canus Elk’s breathing immediately slowed as the pain left its body. It appeared now to be in a deep sleep, and she Knew it was close to death. She placed her hand against the Elk’s swollen belly one more time as she stroked her hand down its fur, soothing it as best she could, even in sleep.
Several minutes passed as they knelt there beside the creature, and eventually, the Elk’s breathing stopped. Its body went still, and she Knew it was dead.
Tears filled her eyes. She wasn’t normally one to cry at the natural death of animals—they were a part of Gaia’s balance after all. But something about this death felt…wrong.
“Ena,” Ty said, his voice grave. Ena looked at him, meeting his light-green eyes as they glowed in the sunset. “What is this? What does this mean?”
Ena swallowed. “I’m not sure,” she began, shaking her head. “But I don’t think it’s good.”
She ran her fingers across the snow on the ground, wiping the Canus Elk’s blood off her fingers as best she could before standing up.
“Do you want to leave it here?” Ty asked softly, rising to stand next to her. “I’m not sure of your customs, but we could bury it. Or burn it,” he added gently.
“No, we’ll leave it,” Ena said firmly. “Its body will nourish the animals and bugs that find it, and its life will return to the soil, propagating new growth in due time. It will serve Gaia’s balance in the end.”
She spoke the words that were routine to her, but inside, she wasn’t entirely sure if it had been Gaia’s will that this creature should die. She got the same sense of wrongness she’d felt when she received the vision of the amulet being used. The same gut instinct that assured her what the witches had done, forcing the daemons into the bond with Iblis, was wrong. She Knew something here was terribly off, too, but she didn’t know what, if anything, to do about it.
Ty nodded, watching the Elk reverently along with her as he reached out and grasped her hand. His heat and strength were a balm to her emotions, and she gripped his hand back firmly, until together, they turned to head back to camp, leaving the Canus Elk and its unborn calf behind them.
The sun had fully set now and the air was filled with the still coldness that came with approaching winter. They returned to their small campfire to find their overworked horse safely grazing nearby on the scrubby plants that littered the snowy, pine needle-covered ground.
“Are you okay?” Ty asked as she released his hand, moving to stoke up the fire to keep herself busy.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Ena answered truthfully. “Just…confused.” Though a part of her was shaken up by the event, she was no stranger to death. She just hoped that whatever meaning she was meant to discern from it would become apparent soon. She didn’t like not knowing. “Thanks for coming when I called,” she added, giving him a small smile.
“Always,” Ty said, looking her over appraisingly. Her heart skipped a beat when their eyes connected. In the dim light, she could just make out the darkonatatattoos that marked the shaved sides of his head—the ones that had once made her feel such resentment towards him, now filled her heart with sadness, knowing he’d been forced into serving Iblis to acquire them. Butterflies squirmed in her stomach at the look he gave her. They were only a few feet apart now. Was he going to kiss her?
They hadn’t talked at all about what had happened between them in Occidens, nor what her coming with him had meant forthem. Yes, they’d slept together, and admitted their feelings, but they’d both thought they were saying goodbye. What were they now that she’d chosen to come with him? Were they together? She wasn’t sure they even knewhowto be together. They’d gone from a temporary summer fling, to nine years of separation, to captor and captive, to…whatever they were now. Not to mention, there were still many reasons why they couldn’t—shouldn’t—be together long term, but Ena wasn’t sure those reasons mattered to her anymore. Did they matter to Ty?
He looked away from her then, breaking their eye contact as he turned to rummage through their dwindling supplies. “Here,” he said, offering her one of their remaining hunks of cheese. “Once you’ve eaten, you can rest if you want. I’ll take the first watch tonight.”
Ena smiled wryly at him. He always took the first watch, letting her sleep well over half of the night, to his detriment. The man looked almost as exhausted as she felt.
“Are you sure?” she asked skeptically. “That’s the third night in a row you’ve taken first watch.”
“I’m sure,” was all he said, giving her an arch look as if he dared her to argue. He’d probably love it if she did.
“Okay, fine,” she said with a put-upon sigh that made the corners of his mouth tip up.
Gaia, he was beautiful.
Forcing herself to focus on her food, she finished quickly, then laid down by the fire, her body and mind absolutely spent.
She thought she would fall asleep quickly, but her mind kept turning to the ominous events with the Canus Elk. The unknown of it all…and for the first time since she’d fled Occidens with Ty, she let her mind turn to her sister. She wished Greya was here to ask about it, and Heran, and her heart wrenched at the thought.
Because she’d left them.
What were they thinking now? Were they worried about her? Looking for her?
Guilt swept through her, especially for how she’d left things with Greya. The last conversation they’d had was in anger. Ena hadn’t had a chance to fully explain everything. To tell her all the details she’d learned about Ty and the other daemons, about the amulet and the ritual the witches had completed binding them to Iblis against their will. She knew without a doubt that she’d made the right decision to come with Ty, she just hoped that when all this was over, when they figured out how to break the bond, she’d be able to explain, and that Greya would understand.
Heran, on the other hand…she didn’t know how her matriarch would react to her abandoning the Coven to work with daemons. And part of her was still incredibly angry that she’d kept suchsecrets from everyone—that all the matriarchs had. But the woman had been like a grandmother to her—had raised her—and she knew she could be stubborn, but she cared deeply for the Coven. If only there was a way to help her see the error in her thinking, maybe she would come around too. Ena was hopeful, but still…she had a sinking feeling that explaining everything to Heran, and getting her acceptance, would be a much harder task.
