Page 85 of Emylia

As if survival depended on making sure no one ever saw the pieces slipping through the cracks.

“It was only this year I decided to return to my uncle. It took many months before I managed to track him down.” He visibly swallowed what I could only assume was a ball of dread. “But I was too late.”

My stomach hollowed. “Too late for what?” I braced myself, fearing I already knew the answer to my question.

“He passed away before I found him.”

Bile stung my esophagus as acid threatened to choke me. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t. It was just something people said because admitting how much losing someone they loved destroyed them.

The feeling was too raw.

Too obliterating.

No one would ever move on if they were completely honest about their pain.

“Honestly, I’m not sure how he died. Possibly a disease of the heart. Wolves had almost completely devoured him; there wasn’t much left of him when I found him. Just enough to identify him, I guess.”

Well, that was incredibly terrifying and super gross.

“I can’t help but wonder if I’d never left, would I have been able to save him, you know? If I found him one day earlier, just one day, I could’ve saved him.”

“Oh, Maalikai.”

Without thinking, I reached for him, taking his hand in my own, and squeezing it softly. Out of nowhere, his eyes lifted, holding mine, and just like that the Earth stood still.

“Would you believe me if I told you that you are the first person I’ve ever admitted any of this to. My parents, my uncle, the Western Warriors… Gods, you must think I’m crazy.”

“No, I think you’re perfect.”

Surprised by my candor, I stared at him like I’d been struck across the face by one of the Gods. His smile hitched, disembodying any nervousness as if this was somehow completely normal, like we were somehow destined for one another.

“So, I guess to answer your initial question, home for me is nowhere. I’ve spent more time in the Western Wastelands than I have in the rest of Agertheria.”

I couldn’t help but pity him, not only had he been stripped of his entire family, but he had no place that he could call his own.

No place where he felt like he truly belonged.

“You know that feeling you get when you go home, that sense of belonging and rightness in the world. The only place I get anything close to that is in the forest. I know that must sound stupid, but it’s all I’ve ever really known.”

A voice jarred us out of our conversation, causing me to jump. “Don’t you two look cozy?”

Sebastian’s sudden presence sent a jolt through my spine, my breath hitching. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard voices, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Worry etched his dark features.

My heart softened. Sebastian had just been trying to protect me. Like always, I was the one makinghislife more difficult, not the other way around.

As much as I wanted to blame it on the weirdness that had settled between us, it was just the way we had always been. We were fiery and sometimes we couldn’t help but erupt with a force that could quite literally burn the world to the ground.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I conceded.

“Do you mind?” Sebastian gestured to the room, asking if he was allowed to come in.

I nodded.

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