“Then what, Kael? What am I if not a convenient solution?”
“You’re... the Lightborne and I’m—” He cuts himself off and drags his hand through his hair, frustration winning.
“You’re what, Kael? What the fuck are you?” His throat bobs and his jaw clenches, but he doesn’t answer. And that silence unsettles me more than any answer could.
I want to turn around and walk away. To leave this room right now and never look back. But I can’t help myself. I have to keep pushing him despite feeling as though I’m tearing my own heart from my chest.
“Tell me, Kael. Tell me I’m just a pawn, just another piece on your board. Tell me so I can walk out of this room and pretend none of this meant anything.”
We’re so close, eyes locked in a silent conversation.
“Fine. Just tell me this, Kael. Why are you still here? Because you need me—or because you want me?” My voice softens almost to a whisper, and a single thread holds my heart intact.
He exhales heavily, closing his eyes.
“I came for you because I needed you,” he says, and my lungs threaten to give out. He pauses, breathing ragged, composing himself, “But I’m ready to ruin everything because I want you.”
I’m ready to ruin everything because I want you.
I replay the words again and again, searching them for truth in a haze of lies and illusions.What do I even believe anymore?
Kael closes the distance between us, his hands wrapping around my shoulders tenderly. “Elyssara, I—” He tries to steady himself, but his hands are trembling, “I can’t lose you. I won’t,” he says the words like a promise.
“That’s not your decision, Kael,” I say softly.
“What can I do?” He asks, almost pleading.
My heart hammers in my chest.How many times can my trust be broken before I stop giving it away so freely?
Despite myself, Iwantto trust him. I want to believe him. And the part of me that knows the weight of keeping secrets from those you love understands. I understand the willingness to sacrifice anything—everything—to preserve a legacy, to keep a promise, to save those we love.
“Tell me everything,” I say, wiping the tears from my cheeks and squaring my shoulders. “What else haven’t you told me?”
He meets my gaze steadily, eyes dark and vulnerable, throat bobbing, as though he’s swallowing down the words he won’t allow himself to say.
He steps back from me, and for a heartbeat, I think he’s walking away, but he reaches for the first clasp of his chest plate and starts to unbuckle it.
WHAT—
“Let me show you,” he says cryptically, seeing my confusion.
Kael unbuckles each clasp slowly, glancing up at me, but my gaze is fixed on his chest plate. With each buckle, more of his sun-kissed golden skin is bared, revealing swirls of black ink in intricate patterns.
I’ve never noticed it before, or rather, I’ve never had a chance to see it before, despite our night in the tent on Skaedor’s mountain.
He reaches the final clasp, unbuckling it with efficiency, letting it drop with a heavy thud. In the flickering candlelight, inked starkly across his chest, a swirling sea of Stars—constellations spattered across his skin, just like the night sky. So precise they look like they’ve been etched by the gods themselves.
My breath hitches, and I instinctively reach out to touch it, speechless at the sight before me.
The Lightborne and The Sky must tread as one.
The words return to me instantly, and I whip my gaze to him, shock and surprise defining my features.
“You’re The Sky,” I breathe. “It’s you.”
I allow myself to touch his skin—to trace my fingers over the ink marking his chest—and The Sky faintly illuminates with my physical presence.It recognizes me.
“It’s me, Elyssara,” he confirms, voice gentle, tentative. “I’m the one that’s meant to be with you,” he ventures. “I think it’s why I can sense you.”
