She vanished, her body turning to coils of smoke and light, twisting across the clearing like wind that had taken form and fled. She shot into the forest and was gone.
Reyla didn’t speak, but her chest rose. Her breathing came steady. Her wounds had sealed.
Alive.
I held her, leaning my forehead against hers, afraid her next inhalation could be her last. My tears dropped onto her cheeks, but she didn't wake. She’d always wiped them away. Even when I didn’t want her to see. Now she just…let them fall. She wasn’t here to tease me, to scold me, or to cup my face and tell me we’d make it through this together.
Dorion stared toward the forest. “What…just happened?”
“I’m not sure.” My voice came out gritty, worn out by pain. “I’m taking Reyla and Farris to Evergorne Court.”
Dorion nodded slowly. “I’ll follow. I think I know where the third talisman is. I’ll…let you know.”
I only half heard him. The night buzzed in my ears. The third talisman didn’t matter. Not now. Only Reyla.
“Come with me, Farris,” I croaked.
When I stood with Reyla, her fluffy pet pressed against my leg, his solemn gaze locked on my wife.
A flit, and we arrived in our bedroom.
Farris whined and leaped up onto the bed, his gaze still on Reyla.
After easing the blankets down, I gently laid her on the surface. Drew up the covers as if she shivered with cold. She looked almost peaceful, as sweet as the first time I’d met her. If only her eyes would open. If only she’d spit fire. She’d call me an ass, tell me to straighten myself out and get looking for the third talisman.
She’d tell me she loved me.
I wanted to coil myself around her, hold her forever.
On my knees beside the bed, I clutched the quilt. With my head bowed to the mattress, I pressed my forehead against her hip. I was determined to bring her back to me through sheer will alone, but I couldn’t feel her inside me like usual. All that remained was silence. Cold, aching silence.
“I was never meant to survive,” I whispered, my voice hoarse and broken. “You were. You hear me? You were always supposed to live through this.” Never me.
No one else but my wildfire would roll their eyes and fill my life with something better. No one else would dare call me out in front of the court and kiss me in the same breath.
“You were never just my love. You were my balance. My reckoning. If your soul can hear me, hold on. I’m coming. I’ll find you in the dark, even if I have to crawl.”
Tears slipped down my cheeks and soaked the bedding. I’d faced armies, monsters, and the fates themselves. But nothing like this. Not the yawning abyss of losing the only woman I'd ever love.
If I could shove myself into her world, into her pain, I would follow her even through dreams full of chains and death, and I would bring her back.
Farris curled up beside her on the bed, resting his chin on her thigh.
I rose to my feet. “Stay with her. Guard her. Please.”
Farris huffed as if to say that was a given.
I flitted to the library.
“My king.” Valera jumped out of the chair behind her desk and rounded it, rushing over to bow deeply in front of me. “I didn’t hear you were coming.”
“I just returned from…” I supposed it didn’t matter who I told. “From Halendor Court.”
Her head tilted. “Halendor, you say? How interesting.”
“King Tallin is dead.” More or less. “Dorion has returned to assume the throne. He’ll be visiting soon to discuss a treaty between our people.”
Her eyes lit up, and a hint of a smile curled her lips upward. “How wonderful.”
