He’d committed it to memory. Every single breath, every soft movement locked in his mind, perhaps for all eternity. It was that kiss and her gentle hands on his skin that had lulled him to sleep when his senses had been foggy and distracting. The safety of being in her arms, even surrounded by danger, had allowed him to sleep through the night, and every night he wasn’t on watch.
Those were the hours he loved the most, though, because whether Brela was on watch with him or not, she was by his side, in his arms, or curled against his chest. Just… touching.
He’d doubted whether she might consider coming back to Aelstow with him. That doubt had lessened with each look and kiss she shared with him, both heated and tender.
He’d almost asked her that night. Almost said the words that he had been thinking for days. He still considered it every time he looked at her.
It was almost enough to keep that looming wall of obsidian to their left from bothering him. Almost.
Cason still felt like half of himself was missing, and that was a rather important half. The other magic wielders echoed his sentiments. Farrah said her magic felt like walking on a barely frozen lake, the ice weak and unstable. Serill commented that he couldn’t feel as strong a connection to life forces and the energy that he usually focused on mending when he healed things. Elias claimed he was fine, but after Brela challenged him to an arm wrestling contest and he lost in less than eight seconds, he admitted that it felt like even the air around him was too heavy to carry.
It was a good thing they were all still trained with blades, able to survive without magic. Brela reminded them of that fact every time one of them considered complaining, starting with a few words and adding increasingly more colorful ones as her ability to speak came back.
Despite those bruises lessening and the swelling subsiding, allowing her to talk more, she’d grown quiet over the last few hours of riding. Even if her eyes hadn’t been trained on their path ahead, Cason knew why words became more difficult.
Cason didn’t know what to think when Calcheth finally appeared. Perhaps cursed was too light of a word for the remnants of the town. Calcheth was just a blackened patch of land, structures reduced to rubble and no life to be seen for miles. He’d never smelled something so wrong. Emptiness and death and smoke. He couldn’t even tell where the roads, farms, or buildings used to be.
It was just destroyed.
“They burned it,” Elias whispered.
“Good,” Brela rasped. No emotion flickered over her features as she nudged her horse forward. “We’ll camp on the other side tonight.”
It wasn’t just Serill with a concerned look on his face, and Elias and Farrah didn’t bother hiding their shock as Brela led her horse directly through the middle of the town. Quickly, Farrah urged her mount forward to catch up to Brela, and Elias gave a long look after them.
He stalled until Serill and Cason were by his side before he spoke. “This is likely the last night we can afford a fire. We can’t risk attracting patrols, rebels, or looters.”
Cason nodded. He’d been studying the map Brela had drawn for them, memorizing the locations of any possible Veil Worshipper rebel camps and filling in the gaps where Anfroy or Rooke patrols might be. They’d only seen one patrol off in the distance before Calcheth, and it was small enough for them to go unnoticed. After tonight, the real stealth began.
Serill swallowed, his eyes scanning the charred ground and ruined town. He looked ready to say something but pinched his lips closed and lowered his head.
Elias eyed the prince. “I feel that guilt, too.” His hands tightened on the reins. “Not just for letting Brela come here alone, but the ignorance for what was happening before then, while we did nothing.”
The earth-blessed man ran a hand through his hair. “You know what I was doing in Averlyn before Brela found me? Drinking and fucking and blowing my parents’ money because I was pissed at them. They had set up a party in the hopes they could find some rich woman who would marry their failure of a son and protect our family’s name. And my dumb ass took that as a challenge to go all out, so that night I took my friends to Averlyn instead and made a scene.”
He nodded toward the women. “Brela… oh, man, my twenty-year-old, reckless self had no chance once I set eyes on her. Like a gods-damned goddess who tipped my world upside down. I’d never confided so much about myself and my family to someone, and that was before she drank all of my friends under the table. Then she dragged me to my room while they drooled on the floor.”
Despite the destruction around them, the grin Elias wore was full of mischievous delight. Cason wasn’t sure if he should feel jealous about the look Elias was giving Brela, especially when the man hadn’t shown any jealousy toward Cason and Brela’s activities. He’d even teased them about it on several occasions. And it’s not like Elias didn’t have an equally beautiful and fierce woman by his side.
“It still came as a surprise when I woke up to an empty bed and an even emptier coin purse,” Elias continued. “Finding her, though, was no doubt a test of my intelligence, because it’s not like the clues she left were straightforward. I somehow tracked her spending through the markets, and when I ended up in front of the orphanage, all the ingredients made sense.”
“The medicine for the kids,” Cason whispered.
Elias nodded. “In that moment, I realized that Brela had issued me a different kind of challenge. I was ashamed of what I’d been so oblivious to—happening right next to where I was wasting my money—and when I walked through the door of the orphanage, I knew I had to turn my life around. Make good use of my gifts. But that night, when Brela told me about her past and what she’d suffered, I’d never felt more guilty for my ignorance.”
He paused, rubbing the day’s stubble on his jaw. “It doesn’t go away, not completely. I don’t choose to help because I hope it will clear my conscience, but because I believe that one day, what we do will pave the way for others—others with more power than Farrah and I. Maybe that’s you two.” Elias looked between them. “Whether she’s inspired you or not, know this. Brela does not offer her past—nor her friendship—lightly, which means she sees something in you.”
Cason had heard that from Farrah after the Wraturo, phrased slightly different. Brela’s mind was always ten steps ahead—at the very minimum—which still seemed to surprise him. Somehow, she had been ready for those men at the auction who called her a whore. She’d thrown the knife wide in the forest, played the King of Severina, and had even been waiting for Cason in his room after he was sure she’d never talk to him again.
When she saw an opportunity, she thought it through.
Elias focused on Cason. “Until her last breath, no matter how many times you ignore it or slap it away, she will continue to extend her hand.”
Oni had told Cason to be the man she believed he was.
The more he learned about Brela, the more the woman continued to surprise him. Amaze him. He wanted to be that man for her. He wanted to take her hand when she offered it.
Elias maneuvered his horse around the charred bricks of what might have been a house. “Speak your mind, Prince. I don’t mind answering personal questions.”
