Page 94 of A Fractured Song

She made a shooing motion with her long, slender fingers.

“Back inside, both of you. You’re not going anywhere in this state.” Kiarana didn’t let up until they’d accompanied her back through the archway and into the elves’ clearing. “In there,” she told them, indicating the closest structure, which was wrapped around a nearby tree like the others, but flushwith the ground. “Wait there while I speak with my grandmother.” She saw Zev’s hesitation and gave him a reassuring nod. “You’re safe from Jade while inside our clearing.”

Marieke saw Zev’s shoulders relax slightly, and she grabbed his arm, tugging him into the building. She wasn’t satisfied with his assurances. Jade’s magic still clung to him, and that couldn’t mean anything good.

Mercifully, the building was empty. As soon as they’d closed the door behind them, she turned to Zev.

“Let me look at you,” she instructed. She ran her hands over his arms, trying to identify the function of the magic. Bewildered, she placed her fingers over his heart, feeling the steady beat of it and the warmth of his chest, then let one hand rest against his neck while the other traveled up his face and ran through his hair.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice gruff.

“I’m checking the usual places a nefarious enchantment would target,” Marieke said. “Your heart, your head, even your sword arm. It’s not focused on any of those areas. More like…your feet. Which makes no sense.”

Zev didn’t reply, but she could see his chest rising and falling more rapidly than before. All at once she realized what she was doing, putting her hands all over him without a thought for whether he welcomed the touch.

Not that he seemed displeased. On the contrary, he was leaning in, his eyes boring into hers the moment she dared to meet his gaze.

“Marieke,” he whispered.

She swallowed, looking away to give herself time to gather her scattered thoughts. His hair was gloriously tousled from her questing fingers, and she ran them through it again, not really trying to smooth it, just relishing doing something she’d often thought about.

“Marieke.” This time his voice compelled her to return her eyes to his. “It’s going to be all right,” he said. “I won’t let her hurt you. I’ll die first.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she fought fiercely to keep them in. “It’s all such a mess, Zev. How can it be Jade? I thought she was like me.”

“You’re nothing like her,” said Zev, the words both fierce and simple.

Marieke swallowed. “I thought it was the council who’d become twisted, not Jade.”

“Both can be true,” Zev reminded her gently.

“I know.” Misery washed over Marieke. “But I don’t know what to do anymore. I got my answers, but they’ve only made everything a hundred times more tangled.”

Zev hesitated, and Marieke could have sworn she heard his heart pounding faster. “You don’t have all your answers,” he said, his voice a rough whisper. “You have more questions. I know you do.”

She searched his eyes warily.

“Go on,” he told her, his expression a strange mixture of tension and peace.

“I don’t think I need to ask,” she murmured. “I think I know.” She swallowed. “The Aeltan royals didn’t all die in the coup, did they? At least some survived.” His eyes were still locked on hers, their unflinching gaze giving her the courage to go on even as her heart was pounding ever faster at the enormity of the moment. “And you’re descended from them.”

Zev let out a long breath. He didn’t acknowledge it in words, but he didn’t need to. Marieke could see the last of his defenses falling away—his admission was clear. For a moment she was silent, trying to take it all in. Unnamed suspicions were one thing. But saying aloud that the farmer she’d fallen for wasthe heir to the country’s ancient, deposed, royal bloodline…that was something else entirely.

“I’m still figuring out what exactly that means, though,” she continued at last. “Heartsong is at the center of it, isn’t it? It’s a different kind of magic, a kind that ties you to your land. That’s why Aeltas thrives, because it still has that power. And that’s why the magic responds so much better to me when we work together. It’s like I have the blessing of the land itself. Or the land has the blessing of heartsong to release magic to me, or something like that.”

“That part is as much a surprise to me as it is to you,” Zev told her, his voice hushed. “I’ve never heard of anything like that. We’ve never thought of heartsong as being magic in the way that songcraft is. It’s never been so specific or tangible in its effect before. It’s always been more general, and more gradual. Still powerful, don’t get me wrong. Under my family’s subtle influence, the terrain of our region has physically changed, and the land has become almost unnaturally fertile. But it’s functioned on a whole new level recently.” He paused. “Since I met you.”

“Oh Zev, I’m so sorry.” His willing disclosure of information unleashed a dam inside Marieke, and the tears flowed over at last. “I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to force your confidence. I know you wouldn’t have come with me if you’d realized doing so would expose your secrets. But the truth is I’d already started to suspect, and I—”

“No,” he cut her off, shaking his head. “I’msorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t the one to tell you before you figured it out. Marieke…”

He hesitated, raising a hand to brush it across her temple, where a strand of hair had come loose, and then bringing it to rest on her cheek. His thumb moved across her skin, wiping a tear away.

“Since I can remember, I’ve been taught to keep secrets likemy life depended on it. But there’s no part of me I don’t trust you with.” His eyes drew her in—she was drowning in them. “I’m done holding back from you, Marieke.”

Marieke barely took in his words before his arm swept around her. He pulled her flush against him so abruptly that she let out a tiny gasp. A gasp that cut off as he lowered his head and his lips closed over hers.

Marieke laced her fingers behind his neck, her heart overwhelmed with the excess of emotions. Zev’s arm was strong and steady around her, and warmth seeped from his chest straight into her. His thumb traced circles on her cheek as she kissed him back with abandon, every fiber of her being surrendered to the embrace.

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