I turn away again, arms crossed, trying to calm the storm raging in my chest.
After a long pause, he says, “For what it’s worth, Serenya…thank you.”
My nails dig into my palms.Gods, help me.I wish he hadn’t said that.
------------? ? ? ? ?------------
The sun had dipped behind thick clouds hours ago, leaving this damned, cursed swamp in dusky twilight. The mist slithers along the water’s surface, coiling around gnarled trees and half sunken ruins.
I scan our surroundings as I wade through oddly warm, ankle-deep water behind Koen.
Far off, in the distance, a palace looms like a forgotten,ethereal fortress. It towers above the murky waters with its gothic spires reaching into a misty sky, glowing faintly. It feels both majestic and haunting, shrouded in eerie silence. The whole scene is a mix of awe and dread. I can feel it calling to me—beckoning me to uncover its hidden secrets.
I shake my head, clearing those thoughts, and turn my attention to Koen.
“Are we going anywhere specific, or is this the part where we wander until something else tries to kill you?”
He glances back over his shoulder, and even in the low light, I catch the spark of amusement in his eyes. “I’m honored by your concern, Your Highness.”
I narrow my eyes. “It’s not concern. I’m just trying to decide if I need to tie you to a tree so you stop attracting death.”
“You know,” he says, ducking beneath a vine-covered branch, “you keep threatening me with violence, but I’m not entirely convinced you don’tenjoysaving my life.”
I step around a root that looks a little too much like a submerged ribcage and mutter, “Don’t flatter yourself.”
A half-collapsed stone structure rises ahead, half-buried in the water and overgrown with thorny vines. Koen stops in front of it and turns to me.
“This’ll work,” he says. “Dry enough inside. Crumbling, but stable.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s stable?”
“I don’t,” he says with a grin. “But I’d rather take my chances with a ceiling than another water demon with a taste for my face.”
I snort, then immediately regret it when his grin widens.
Stars above, that grin.
We duck into the ruin, finding a corner mostly protected from the elements.
Koen sinks down onto a mossy stone, wincing as he touches a gash on his ribs, where his shirt is darkened with dried blood.
I sigh, reaching for his shirt. “Let me see it.”
He gives me a smug look. “You just can’t keep your hands off me.”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, your near-death aesthetic is justsocompelling.”
Still, my fingers tremble slightly as I kneel beside him and peel his shirt away from the wound. It isn’t as deep as I had feared, but it is angry and raw.
My magic stirs at the sight of it.
I press a hand lightly to his ribs. “This may sting.”
“Oh, good,” he says. “I love a bit of pain with my flirting.”
“Would youshut up?”
The dark glow of my shadowlight illuminates my palm. The warm magic pulses as it sinks into his skin. Around us, the darkness moves too. Whispers of shadow flow toward Koen. I freeze as tendrils of smoke-like shadow twist around his shoulders and arms. Gentle, almost eager.
