Page 16 of The Stone Curse
Touron pulled himself to his feet and lifted his chin. “I won’t tell her how I feel. I’ll just be with her for as long as she’ll have me and for as long as I can.”
Orix dropped him a nod. “Wise move.”
“I think we should all go to Arcadia,” Shar said. “I didn’t know Varsa well, but I respect Willowman, and we should support him.”
“Agreed,” Palia and Ginia said in unison.
“I’ll break the news of Varsa’s death to him later,” Orix said.
He’d planned on going to pick up Willowman tomorrow, but with Varsa’s death…it felt wrong not to tell Willowman right away.
“If I’m not back by midday tomorrow, hit the training room with Levi,” Orix continued. “He knows what the trials entail, and even though he can’t tell us, he can make sure you’re physically prepared.”
A queasy sensation unfurled in my stomach at the mention of Levi. I still had to apologize for treating him like shit the last few days. It was a much-needed conversation but not one I was looking forward to.
I wasin the observatory when Levi arrived and watched him coming down the path carrying a rucksack and a duffel bag. Watched like a creep from the shadows as he got closer, his frame highlighted in moonlight, but he stopped a moment before he’d have to go out of view. Stopped and looked up at the tower as if he could see me. As if he knew I was here.
I stepped away from the window, pulse pounding as if I’d been caught doing something illicit, when in fact there was nothing wrong with watching the world go by.
I gave him an hour to settle into Serath’s old room—his room now—before gathering my courage and heading down to the fourth floor. How many times had I made this journey? Lessthan a handful. Each time to see my mate. To be with him. Would his room still smell like fresh linen or had Orix had it stripped and cleaned like they’d done for Romi? Leaving the air tinged with the tang of disinfectant.
The corridor was dark, but a strip of light shone from beneath Serath’s…Levi’s door.
I took a breath then knocked.
Levi opened the door a moment later, eyes widening a fraction at the sight of me. “Cameron…”
“Hey, I was hoping we could talk.”
“Of course. Come in.” He stepped back to admit me, but my feet refused to budge. I looked past him into the room with the neatly made bed. I’d slept on that bed with Serath, held him while poison tore at his body.
Levi groaned. “Shit, this was his room, wasn’t it?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No, I didn’t.” He ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, I’ll move. I’ll ask Orix for another room.”
There were no other rooms. “No. No, it’s fine. I’m fine.” I stepped past him into the room that smelled like fresh air and lemon fabric softener. Nothing like Serath. “I wanted to apologize for the past week. I’ve been awful to you, and I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
I set my shoulders and looked him in the eye, speaking from the heart and admitting my guilt. “Yes, I do. I had no right to take my anger out on you, to punish you for Serath’s death…to make you the villain. I…I’m sorry. Can we…can we start fresh. Friends?”
“Oh, Cam, we never stopped being friends, and there is nothing to forgive.”
His words unraveled the knots of awfulness inside me. “You’re too good, Levi. Too fucking kind.”
“Only to the people that matter,” he said. “And you matter, Cam. I promise you that I’ll get you and the others through the elite trials, no matter what it takes.”
“Orix said you’ll be training us tomorrow.”
“Yes, he spoke to me before he left. Told me about Varsa. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Again. Another loss. I fixed a smile on my face. “He was a good goyle. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
“No, and we’ll make the bastards that are responsible pay.” His words echoed Curi’s, echoed my intentions. “Serath and Varsa and everyone else they took from this world will be avenged once we kill the alpha.”
It was the only thought fueling me now.
