Epilogue
“There. All done.” I finish wrapping Thane’s wrist with a clean strip of linen before giving it a soft pat. “I’ll see if Conred has anything we can use to speed up your healing.”
We’ve been sailing for close to an hour. While on the deck, we talked a bit more about what comes next when we dock in Junsho. We’re inside the cabin, settled on the edge of one of the beds close to Analla’s.
Analla is still fast asleep.
The ship crew is at the table, playing cards.
Knowing The Shadow Guild is after us has me a bit uneasy, but also knowing Thane is by our side and he has Azidel’s tome eases some of those worries. He’s assured me there are places we can hide and spells we can use that’ll make it hard for Seferin to ever find us.
I’m hopeful about it. He was in hiding for over a year before showing up in Meriva again.
Before I can get too far away, Thane catches my hand and reels me toward him. I wind up between his thighs and can’t help shaking my head and smiling as he reaches up to clasp my face in his hands.
“Kiss me one last time before you go,” he murmurs, already bringing my face down so our lips can meet.
He kisses me softly, tenderly, and the strongest, most delightful buzz courses through my bones. Shadows. Do I really want to go through with taking it slow? Climbing him like a tree seems much more ideal.
I break the kiss and replace my lips with my index finger, pressing it to his mouth. “I think you’re trying to unravel me.”
He smirks behind my finger. “Is it working?”
I huff a laugh as he lowers his gaze. For some reason, he frowns as he sweeps the backs of his fingers across my chest. “Where’s your necklace?”
I instantly look down. My stomach hollows as I rub my chest. “Oh my gods.”
“What?” he asks, now a bit more concerned.
My eyes drift to the cabin door, as if my necklace will just appear there. “I—I don’t know where it is. It must’ve fallen off while we were escaping or…”
As I snap my gaze back to Thane’s worried and partially confused eyes, it hits me like a ton of alvanite.
No…it didn’t fall. It wassnatchedoff of me.
I remember feeling a popping sensation when Seferin grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. I thought it was just threads breaking loose, but that was my chain snapping.
He took my necklace. Oh gods. I didn’t even notice.
Panicking, I start to run for the door so I can search for it on the deck, but before I can go anywhere, dizziness strikes me, and the interior of the cabin feels as if it’s expanding and then contracting.
“Zaira,” Thane calls with more urgency. “Are you okay?”
The ship crew quiets as they look at me.
“Is there something you need, Zaira?” Conred asks.
The oddest sensation comes over me before I can answer him or Thane. Something putrid and cold seeps through my skin, and an icy chill slithers through my veins. The edges of my vision tunnel, and black shadows swirl inward. Everything is so black. I can’t see.
Several of the crew members gasp while one of them curses loudly.
“What’s happening to her?” I hear Conred call out.
Their voices are drowned out by the sound of my roaring pulse and panicked breathing.
Then a familiar, sinister voice enters my mind.
Mind and marrow. Soul and dreams.
