Page 72 of Of Realms and Chaos

Against my will, my eyes fluttered closed.

“The worst part was that I didn’t just lose her but her family as well. Before she admitted that she wasn’t in love with me, her father and sister went missing. They had traveled across worlds, seeking to satiate their hunger for adventure, but years passed and they never came home. It devastated her and her mother, pushing them to do foolish things in the name of remembering. Actions that pulled them from me and into an orbit of devastation. And when they too were gone, I was left with an empty palace and an empty chest, cradling a heart which had been obliterated.”

With as much energy as I could conjure, I lifted my right hand and reached for Padon in an effort to console him. It was strange that the movement felt right, almost second nature. My palm met the cold skin of his cheek, his hand immediately cradling my own.

“What was her name?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper now.

I could feel some sort of tug, like I was being dragged somewhere new. For a split second, I thought that Padon was showing me something different, but when his muffled words came, it sounded as if he were a universe away.

And then I was gone, pine needles digging into my scalp and rain falling from a bruised sky.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Bellamy

“You fucked that mortal scum?” Noe’s voice was enough to send me hurtling myself off a cliff, but Asher’s unnaturally still form in front of me held me in place. She looked too much like she had in Haven, on the floor in a heap of blood.

“What was I supposed to do? I am deprived, and it is not like you are offering!” Henry, despite all of his injuries, had already recovered and gotten back to his feet. Now, he was apparently well enough to argue.

“I will kill you if you do not shut up.” There was Lian, normally a calm voice of reason, pacing behind me. She would never admit it, but she had grown to love Asher—just as they all had. For all her sarcasm and casual flirting, she was far more affected than she preferred, which showed with her refusal to play into the Sun and Moon’s antics.

“Oh, please. I would not get in bed with you if it would save your life.” Noe got down on her knees beside me then, waving off a smirking Henry.

“I would.” Cyprus raised his hand, his head tilting slightly closer to Asher’s. He had insisted on lying beside her, though the way he openly hit on Henry showed that his wide-spread flirtatious nature was back in full force, rather than aimed solely at the unconscious female to his left.

“Well, you would sleep with anyone.” True. Though we all knew that Luca and Cyprus would one day give into one another, the latter’s sexual activities until then were many and frequent. Not that Noe—or any of us—truly judged or cared. Until recently, our little group had all been eager to put someone new beneath us nightly.

“What if it would save your life?” Henry’s waggling brows and seductive grin were not enough to make Noe so much as hesitate.

“Dig my grave then.”

They burst into laughter, the three of them not so much as perturbed by the abnormally unmoving Asher or the creature to our right. I brought my fingers to my temples, massaging as if I could rub away the irritation and ache.

Was it wrong to loathe your family? In this moment, I truly did. I wanted nothing more than to pick Asher up, portal her to The Royal City, and simply exist with her. If I could, I would let the world fall apart while I basked in her presence. While I worshiped her and listened to her and held her. We could talk about our pasts, give truths that neither of us had been willing to part with before, and dream of a future that we would never have.

Instead, I was here, listening to Noe—the hater of all males—tell Henry that his small cock and weird toes were too much of a turn off for her.

“You are all far more annoying than you are useful. Now, shut up lest you scare the Strange One into an endless sleep,” Wrath hissed, his voice a haunting tenor.

Apart from Asher, none of us were fans of the dalistori. He was creepy at best but utterly devoted to Ash in the same way we were, which made him tolerable.

They were all silent now, each looking from Wrath to me, as if they were waiting for me to say something to shut up the creature. But I would not because he was saying exactly what I wanted to.

I reached down to grab Asher’s hand. It was colder than normal, and I could not help but offer some of the heat that flowed through my body. The many burns across her skin were gone, healed by Ranbir—who was sure she would come to when her body and mind were ready. I touched one of her new scars, which she had made sure were always left behind.

“I want to remember,” she had once said, and the Healer never forgot.

The only one not wearing the leathers I had designed for my Trusted, Ranbir was a standout amongst the group. His bright white tunic and trousers reflected the dull light of the autumn sun above, his normally shiny black hair a loose and long mess, his beard now well past his chin. He barely slept, which was made obvious by the bags under his eyes and the hunch of his shoulders. Still, he looked positive in his statement, nearly black eyes staring down at the sleeping princess with a strange mixture of sadness and love.

“I think she is awake,” Ranbir said from beside Asher’s head. I gasped, looking down at her closed eyes and parted lips. She did not look awake, but maybe that was my stress preventing me from seeing her as I usually did—fully and wholly.

“Oh yes, she is definitely awake.” We all jumped at Asher’s husky words, sounding as if she had swallowed gravel. To everyone’s surprise, Lian shoved her way to Asher’s side, kicking Cyprus in the stomach and causing him to let out a loud grunt of pain. The Air reached down and grabbed the princess, a hand on either cheek.

“You stupid, stupid thing. Why do you insist on trying to die?” No one spoke as a single tear ran down the Air’s face, falling onto Asher’s leather-clad chest. A sense of devastation seemed to bleed from Lian as the tear splashed.

Rare was not the word to explain the occurrences in which Lian showed sadness or grief. After I had brought her to Eoforhild, she had worked for years to harden herself. This small fissure in her stoic wall was by far the most pain she had shown since then, her sobs soft but jaw-dropping as she leaned down and hugged Asher.

If the princess was as baffled as the rest of us, she did not show it. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Lian and seemed to stare off into the distance, eyes flickering back and forth as if she were watching something unfold. Then, with a sad smile, she whispered into Lian’s ear, “She would not want this for you.”

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