Page 122 of Ecliptic

He backed away from me, his fingers slowly trailing away from my skin. “I’ll go get Takoda,” he said, clearing his throat again.

Once I was sure Maddock had left the dome, I changed into a slip and crashed onto the bed. Rowen’s woodsy scent encompassed me like an infinite forest. I rolled onto his side of the bed and clutched the sheets smelling of him.

I curled deeper into his scent as tears burned my eyes, but I was too tired and numb to even cry.

I woke to the familiar rustle of branches overhead and comforting light-leaks through the dome. The momentary calm vanished as panic set in. I darted my hand to the other side of the bed, hoping Rowen had returned, but his side of the mattress remained cold and vacant.

Emptiness expanded in my chest like a balloon.

“Star-touched,” a well-known voice said, and my eyes flicked up to Takoda.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I said in a relieved exhale. This wasn’t the first time I’d woken up with the healer tending to me while I slept. But it may be the last.

“As are you,” he said with a gentle grin. “Always coming home with bumps and bruises. Nothing a few of your noxlily petals can’t heal.”

“Thank you,” I said, sitting up to hug him. My hands encompassed the healer’s lean frame, and I realized my wrist had been wrapped and my bruises tended to. I raised my hand to my face and felt the caked blood had also been cleaned.

“Maddock came to retrieve me,” Takoda explained, packing away some of his medicinal powders. “You were already asleep when I arrived.”

My gaze immediately shot up to the warm brown eyes watching me from across the room. His jet-black hair was in a state of disarray, as if he’d run his hands through it repeatedly.

My body stiffened under the sheets. He’d watched me sleep in the bed Rowen had claimed me in, over and over again in every way. Heart. Flame. Body. And soul.

Madds shouldn’t be here.

“You can go now,” I said curtly to Maddock. He may have tucked me in and fetched the healer, but I hadn’t forgotten how he’d thrown me over his shoulder and threatened to spank me.

“Do you see the thanks I get?” he asked Takoda incredulously, throwing his arms in the air. He gave me one last smoldering look before darting out of the dome.

My eyes shot to the healer whose long, white hair and tan skin were striking against his dark green vest. “Everyone knows everything?” I asked, my voice taut with emotion.

“Yes, but do not fear,” he replied, giving my hand a comforting squeeze. “We have been preparing for this. Ourwarriors are ready, and Nepta deployed them this morning. They march toward Erovos’ brood.”

“And Rowen?” I asked, fear clogging up my throat. I had no idea if he was alone or hurt. The only thing that reassured me he was alive was the steady flicker of our twin flames.

“He seeks the army of his people,” Takoda said, his eyes coursing with an undercurrent of worry. “Change quickly and meet me at the Vale. There is something you should know.”

43

Dressed in leggings and a pale blue vest with Mithrion strapped to my thigh, I entered the Sacred Vale. The watery pathway once intimidated me, but now I marched with determined steps.

Takoda pulled out a chair for me at the white quartz table where Alvar, Driskell, and Nepta sat. Dyani and Maddock weren’t a part of the Summit, but they had been invited and stood nearby. My gaze flickered to the shattered Alcreon Stone floating above us before darting back to Nepta.

“Erovos’ army is marching toward Indrasyl as you predicted. In the Lirien Valley,” the Elven-head announced, sensing my eyes on her. “It is clear they mean to leave this world and carry on to the next. No doubt Erovos and his newborns are starved. Rowen’s calculations of two days was correct. At the rate they are traveling, they will be there by morning.”

My gaze shot across the table to Driskell. At the last Summit gathering, he said he would send correspondence to find help. “Did anyone agree to join us?”

Driskell frowned, his eyes glancing around the table.

Nepta answered for him. “Driskell beseeched other villages to aid us. Had other citydoms agreed, we would have outnumberedthe demons ten to one. But only one thousand souls agreed to join our battle. Even now, they march with the Wyn warriors to Indrasyl. Everyone else regretfully declined, stating: the sooner this evil leaves our world, the better.”

Shock engulfed me. “How is that possible? There won’t be anything left. Erovos will make sure of it. He will use Indrasyl one final time, and there will be no coming back from that. If the Sylvan Mother Tree of this world dies, we will slowly succumb to floods, famine, and drought.” My chest heaved in frustration. Why was no one willing to see the dire state of Luneth? It was like shouting into the void.

“Be that as it may, it is only we who will stop this cosmic darkness from spreading. I deployed our brave soldiers just after dawn, as soon as Alvar confirmed the crevice had been opened. Our forces are headed to the Lirien Valley, armed and transporting the Ever-burn weapons.”

The war captain cleared his throat, his eyes glistening with terror while his body stood still as stone. “I was there when the mountain broke apart, keeping watch. The dark creatures poured out of the crevice like a plague, clawing over each other, scrambling and fighting for release. It was a nightmare to witness. I stayed hidden, thank the spirits, and counted every last demon that escaped.” He shifted his arm as if reliving how he’d almost lost it. His dark eyes turned graver still, and his voice tightened. “They are ten thousand strong. Our warriors cap at seventeen hundred.”

A chill ran down my spine. We were vastly outnumbered, and I feared the Wyn warriors marched to their destruction. “I have to get to the Mother Tree before they do,” I said, not with fear but with pure determination. “I can astral project there and arrive before anyone else.”

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