Not in a rejection.
Not in an acceptance.
That future he kept talking about wasn’t built with grand declarations and displays. It grew slowly, in those quiet moments when someone lent a hand you didn’t ask for, in stolen glances over tea, and laughter in the halls.
One thing I did know for sure, though.
“We do need to be on the same team,” I whispered. “Whatever happens between us…we must always stand on one side.”
Disappointment tugged at his energy, even as he kept his face calm. “I understand.”
“I don’t know what else to say right now,” I muttered. “I want everything you’ve just said, but I cannot forget what happened. Perhaps one day I will forgive. But I give no guarantee on that.”
Human and vulnerable. Going into battle to save a city was a split-second decision, but the bridging between two souls was another matter entirely.
Risking my heart felt more dangerous than risking my life.
Ryker wanted to protect me–but I wanted to protect myself as well.
“Time,” I said at last. “Time will be your only ally.”
Perhaps, one day, it would be mine.
My own disappointment beat against his.
Two souls that had been caught in a whirlwind created by others, left to gather the pieces. One day, we might be able to cement them back together.
But today was not that day, even as my heart and mind screamed at me to throw myself in his arms and forget about the entire ordeal.
To his credit, Ryker smiled, still staring at me like he was mesmerized, grateful for each breath he inhaled in my presence.
“I’m a patient man,” he said. “And a hopeful one, it seems. The fates have not brought us together for nothing. I intend to prove that.”
Chapter 66
Allie
The forest was alive.
Not with grunts and the metal slash of swords that still–and probably always would–hiss in my ears, but with the chant of sorrow.
All of Solkar’s Reach had gathered into a final procession heading for the Memory Hall, to mourn and celebrate the lives of the fallen warriors. Their statues had been carved and already entombed in the crypt, waiting for their loved ones to say a final farewell. At least they could see their faces one final time, though they didn’t have the comfort of burying them.
With few portraits and the bodies burned during the war, the closer the statue resembled the fallen soul, it meant the more that person had an impact on those that remained behind. They could all help the stonecarvers bring their likeness back, even in one frozen for all eternity.
I shuddered as I thought about Geryll and his own sculpture waiting for us ahead. The red candle gripped in my hands shook alongside me, the flame fickle and weary, like it could sense I didn’t feel like I deserved to mourn along so many broken families I’d never broken bread with.
People cried. Children hung onto embraces asking where mommy and daddy were. Everyone who had a weapon carried it, my bow and arrows strapped to my back. The surviving warriors marched solemnly, a defeated slump to their spines. Among them, Vylkor muttered prayers of forgiveness.
A few flinched whenever a tree branch crunched or a rock got disturbed, the horrors of war dancing in their wide, terrified eyes.
The marks of war never left. Not really. They could soften and scab over with time, but they settled deep beyond the surface.
My gaze found Ryker before I could stop it. Even after everything that happened, it still sought comfort in him.
I wondered if time could truly soften the memories and bridge the chasm.
But that was a selfish sorrow, for another day.
