A deafening crack boomed from above. Kellan’s body slammed into mine as he pushed me against the stone and shoved us along the wall as a boulder crashed into the ledge.
He pressed his hands into the stone wall on either side of my face as debris and dust floated from where we had stood.
“Why?” he breathed, the word hanging on a note of desperation. “Because I fell in love with you when you were a mere voice from the heavens, and I’ve seen your eyes in every star since.”
Something powerful climbed from the depths of my soul as tears threatened to form.
“What—”
“I’ve been looking for you for ten years, Bonscaíh.” The darkness in his eyes burned like a storm. “If there is an ounce of goodness in me, Lyvia, it is because you put it there. You saved me… You saved mysoulthat day. And I’ve been searching for you ever since.”
My lips parted, and the thick scar on my neck tingled, a distant memory pricking my mind. Honor warmed at my ankle, and my eyes slid to Kellan’s bleeding chest. I reached a hand forward, the tips of my fingers grazing his skin. I slipped them over his chest, pulling the tattered, bloody fabric to the side and sliding them over the long, vertical scars on his pectoral muscles to the center of his chest where the MarisarmaMwas branded.
My head lightened as realization slammed into me, and I jerked my gaze up, meeting Kellan’s dark eyes. Dark eyes that I’d seen long before I’d met Kellan at the Rising camp in Odessa when he’d swaggered in with his crew.
I’m with you. You’re not alone.
My breath came out in a shallow gasp as my eyes skipped between his.
“I saw you,” I breathed, and my hand shook as it reached back, the tips of my fingers grazing the bulbous scar on my neck.
The taut skin tightened as I swallowed, and Kellan gripped my hand, steadying it.
Impossible…
“When my throat was slit…” I said, voice shaking. “When I nearly died before being taken to the Crystal Castle…I saw you on theHydra. I saw pirates hurting you… I saw the brand… And…”
My stomach pitched at the memory, at the raw terror stretched across the young man’s face, and the inexplicable urgeto help him. He was terrified. He was alone, and I’d tried to call to him… But I had this vision just over a year ago…
“H-how—” I stuttered, shaking my head. “You were younger?—”
“I had just turned eighteen when they branded me a Marisarma Lord and named me Captain of theHydra,” he breathed. “When the four Marisarma Lords marked me with a slice of their blades. I heard you moments before they pressed the brand to my skin. I teetered on the edge of corruption. My life had become a never-ending loop of death and violence. I knew I’d take over as a Marisarma Lord, but in that moment, I was terrified. It was a moment I’d never turn back from. The life of a Marisarma Lord is one of hardened brutality, and I knew I’d never be the same. That any softness in me, any love, would disappear as the iron seared against my skin.”
He paused, his eyes searching mine. His throat bobbed before he opened his lips once more. His voice was raw. “But then Iheardyou… Ifeltsomething… Someone was out there… Someone was with me. It was you. And I’ve been looking for you ever since.”
My head shook, and my eyes pinched shut.
“But Cyril slit my throat over a year ago,” I muttered, my eyes snapping open. “How did I?—”
Kellan’s head shook. “I don’t know, Bonscaíh,” he replied, straightening as he scanned the demolished edge beside us. “Perhaps we don’t understand the laws of time, or perhaps you manipulated time somehow… But Honor,” he murmured as he knelt, his hand sliding to the dagger in my boot, “the blade used to slit your throat…”
He straightened and held the dagger between us. The golden gem in the center pulsed, a comforting warmth emanating from it. “I lost this long before I was branded a Lord of Marisarma.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
LYVIA
Connection to the Starling race remains a mystery.
– A Written History of the Itherians, by Olienna. Crystal Castle.
Lyvia – The Arx, Votruvia
My mind whirred as my mouth fell open, and his eyes dipped to my lips before he handed the dagger to me. I tucked Honor into my belt, and Kellan finally pulled his gaze from mine, inching past me. He paused and held his hand out.
There was no hesitation. I reached forward, and his warm hand slid firmly around mine. We carefully shuffled back to the hole in the side of the stone, where the path of glass awaited us.
We slipped into the labyrinth, moving slowly and cautiously as we wound our way through the forest of glass, keeping hold of each other.
