“I’m glad you’re… you again,” I say.
“Thank you, Darkness.”
When I rise to my feet, keeping my focus firmly on his face, he glides after his brothers.
Anarchy hovers at my side, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. At a clatter from inside the training hall, she grimaces. “I’d better help them.”
I snag her arm before she can leave. “We can skip training tonight.”
She pauses. “Are you sure? It’s our last night.”
We still have to get through the final visit from the dragons in the morning, and then my path to vengeance truly begins.
“I’m sure,” I say. “You need to spend this time with your family. Besides, we’ve trained and planned as much as we can. The rest is a battle we’ll fight when we get to it.”
With a brief nod to me, she reaches for Lucian, who takes her hand and follows her inside the training hall.
I sense the keeper’s presence as he steps up close behind me. “Our last night,” he says quietly.
I turn to him, fighting the hint of finality in his voice.
We may have a fight ahead of us, but this won’t be our final night together. Not by a long shot.
I’m determined about that.
I take his hand, drawing his fingertips to my lips, daring to press kisses along his finger close to his crown, stopping onlywhen I get so near it that the energy within it sends a tingle down my spine.
He slips his free hand around my head, cupping my cheek, pulling me close and nudging my ear, little kisses trailing across my jaw to my lips.
I relax into his arms.
Over the last four weeks, I’ve done everything I promised myself I would. I’ve eaten noodles and exotic fruit until my stomach felt like it would burst. I’ve run through the jungle and sat for hours taking deep breaths of fresh air. I even swam again in the ocean, although my version of swimming was more like being tumbled around in the waves before they spat me back out onto the beach.
Planting my palms against the keeper’s chest and tipping my head back to accept his feather-light touches, I whisper, “Let’s enjoy the beautiful darkness.”
Hours later, as the sun threatens to break across the horizon, I dress in a fresh tunic and pants, tuck my blindfold around my eyes, and wait on the beach with my family, anticipating the final visit from the dragons.
The keeper and I stand ahead of the others, while Riot, Rumble, and Strife stay back near the training hall’s steps.
It doesn’t escape me that Riot watches the sky more intently than his brothers, a quiet tension settling over him.
Miku’s reaction to his new appearance can’t be predicted.
She arrives alone for the first time, alighting on the sand and tucking her teal wings to her sides. Her focus is on the sand near my legs, her gaze darting around me, immediately searching where the panthers would ordinarily be.
“Ryuji’s on his way,” she says. “He gave me a few minutes on my own so I could say goodbye to…” A crease is rapidly forming in her forehead until she adjusts her line of sight, lifting it.
Her focus alights on the dark elves and she takes a step back, her dragon scales flushing across her skin and her wings shivering as if she’s preparing for flight.
My hands have lifted reflexively and I’m on my front foot, ready to calm her. After all, Riot couldn’t exactly tell her that he used to be a dark elf, and I’m regretting not throwing her some hints.
“Who are they?” she demands to know, the alarm in her voice making me grimace.
Funny how I didn’t notice how trusting she became over the last four weeks until I see the faith in her expression rapidly draining away.
“Miku, it’s okay?—”
But Riot’s hand lands on my arm and I fall silent, allowing him to step forward. Well, he doesn’t so muchstepasprowl.
