Relief.Redemption. Forgiveness.
She shuddered at the thought, closing her eyes as if the action could put an end to the sounds of those hopeless cries.
War is war.
Just then, the chatter and laughter in the dining hall crescendoed into a piercing silence. Nymiria glanced around at the faces that were turned towards the direction of the entrance. Her stomach dipped, the hair on the back of her neck prickling upright.
“Three hells, he finally decided to show his face.” Trio laughed. Desi offered her brother a smirk before looking at Nymiria, who was suddenly looking quite wan.
But it wasn’t the mere fact that Aziel had entered the room that made Nymiria feel as if she would faint. No… it was the man standing beside him that had Nymiria’s breath lodging in her throat, her heart pounding in her ears.
The last time she’d seen him, she and Everand Alvaros had barely entered their fourteenth year of life. And for nearly eleven years, Nymiria believed that her childhood friend had perished. She never expected to see him as an adult. She never imagined what he would’ve looked like as a man. In her mind, he was still the same young man with long limbs and a mop of golden curls sitting atop his head, a head that she once joked about him never growing into.
But he had.
Nymiria slowly lifted to her feet, the ruined goblet in her hand clattering to the floor, finally drawing both Aziel and Everand’s attention in her direction. Aziel’s brow twitched at the center, eyes moving between Nymiria and Everand, who was now staring at her in complete shock. Though tears burned her eyes, she smiled as Aziel and Everand approached. And once they were mere feet away from her, Nymiria closed the remaining distance in between, wrapping her arms around Everand’s waist.
The man did not hesitate to embrace her, his muscled arms closing around her like a shield.
It didn’t last long.
Though the hug was entirely innocent on Nymiria’s part, she was drawn away from her friend by the distinct odor of death and decay. She refused to acknowledge it, but still put distance between herself and the young prince.
“I thought you were dead.” She said through her tears.
Everand ruffled her hair playfully, his broad smile carving perfect dimples into his tanned skin. “I could have been. Had it not been for our friend, Aziel, I would have probably starved to death in the dungeons at the Gillian camp.”
Her eyes moved to Aziel and upon seeing the cold, hard look on his face, she shivered and refocused on the prince. “You were among those at the Gillian camp?”
He nodded.
Nymiria’s thoughts drifted back to that night—how she’d desperately wanted to put her life on the line to help Aziel and Trio, how Aziel had stated that he didn’t want her tormenting herself over the reality they were facing. Everand, her dearest friend, had been one of those people that she helped save.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “For all that you endured, I’m sorry.”
“Why would you need to apologize for any of that? You weren’t my captor.” Everand chuckled as if it meant nothing to him, as if she hadn’t been a witness to what Dorid and the Wardens at the campdidto people. He suddenly turned to Aziel, his jaw fluttering around clenched teeth. “Hewas.”
Aziel and Nymiria’s eyes met, an unreadable look shadowing his face.
Chapter 5
There were so many thoughts and feelings flooding her at once, she could hardly manage to focus. As always, the one that presented itself was confusion masked as anger.
“Although,” Everand continued. “After learning of his work with Thorn and seeing just how dedicated Mr. Haze is in rebuilding The Beyond, I have decided to let bygones be bygones. As it seems, we all have the same agenda now.”
When Everand clapped a large hand on Aziel’s shoulder, the God of Death went rigid. The smell of death that permeated through the air and clogged Nymiria’s senses was stifling, her jaw clamping together at the visible discomfort Aziel showed. Just before Everand could give Aziel’s shoulder a squeeze, Nymiria moved forward and gripped the god’s tunic, tugging him towards her.
“Please, excuse us.” She said quickly, feigning embarrassment. “I almost forgot that Aziel and I have somewhere to be…right now.”
Without so much as a glance at any of the faces that were watching them, Nymiria all but dragged Aziel out of that dining hall, his death warm and threatening against her skin. She took him up one flight of stairs, eyes darting around the darkened hall. Once finding it vacant, she released her hold on his tunic and turned to him.
Aziel stared down at her, one corner of his mouth titled into a smirk. “Before you begin to berate me about being hiscaptor, I will remind you that I was just a child when Dorid sent us to Alvaros.”
Her brow furrowed. “That’s–that is not why I brought you here.”
“Whydidyou bring me here, and in such haste, no less?”
“Your death. I couldfeelit.”
