They—slow and steady—reassure and keep me glued together with each responding stroke.
Creed
26
Stillness surrounds us.
It’s as if the realm—and every revered creature spread across this meadow—is holding everything steady for her.
For us.
I level my breathing to match hers.
My gaze traces the dried tear streaks Kyzen missed on her cheeks. They mark her beautiful face and scar my heart.
My soul.
Witnessing death is easier than witnessing what I just did.
I don’t know if the chill cascading across her skin comes from the wet morning dew soaking the flattened grass beneath our knees, or from the intensity of her emotions finally easing.
Her soul tentatively releases the stranglehold it’s had on ours, and with that easing, I break the stillness.
My hand chases away the chill bumps on her legs, and her exhale breezes over my fingers.
The invisible pressure that had been burying me into the soil lifts from my shoulders as she runs her thumb back and forth over my knuckles.
My brothers react differently now than they have for the last…however long.
Amick had been still as a statue, staring at her petrified, as though she was about to slip away. Now he lays his free hand over their laced fingers, holding them together like he’s afraid she might pull away.
As her tremors fade, so do Riven’s. The fear seared into every line of his face relents when she wraps her hand around his wrist.
Her grip will always outweigh those new chains.
He’ll see that.
If he doesn’t already.
Kyzen…
His eyes dart to the side every few moments as he blinks his other half away. I noticed the void receding when he and I went to my room to discuss what he and Riven had done. It’s been creeping back since he crawled behind her.
He isn’t letting it win.
Gods, I’ve never been as appreciative of him as I am right now.
We aren’t his anchors—despite what he may believe.
He’s ours.
The calm explanations, the reassuring whispers, the constant contact. None of it was only for her. It was for the three of us as well.
He knew that for her to break however she needed to, he had to keep us steady. So he took the lead. Like he always does. Like we usually give him no choice but to.
It’s unfair of us to expect it, yet he does it without complaint because he knows we wouldn’t get it right.
Amick would’ve been unintentionally blunt, too informative.
