Page 36 of What Whispers in the Dark
If only he could glimpse that very same awe and enchantment when she looked into them, then perhaps he would not feel like the demon he was famed. Maybe he could be glimpsed as even a grain’s worth of the masterpiece she turned every little thing into.
Perhaps he would dawn her a collection of deep-sea coral from the reefs in his mother’s oceans. The ones rumored to house underwater fae with fishtails. The formations that mirrored his corrupted pigment …
He longed to tell her about them. About how everything—everything—became different around her.Becauseof her. How his world, for a fleeting, unpromised moment, changed.
But Garrik only tugged Alora’s blanket higher and draped his elbow on his hip, crinkling the parchment in his pocket—the birthday gift of song lyrics she had composed for him—and searched her face. Her stunning, enrapturing, bewitching face. Mesmerized by every flawless inch.
Safe.She was safe.
He was, too.
A peace swept over him. Today—his birthday. The first one he was truly safe.
For once since he could remember, he was not wholly terrified to close his eyes. But he did not allow them to seal for long. Not when Alora was sleeping soundly on him, unafraid of the monster he was Made to be.
Garrik opened them and thought of something far better than rest. Utterly mesmerized, he began counting until sleep threatened to take him to that dark, damning place.
Who would have known that anumbercould mean so much, too?
From the one eye he could see; the number of her eyelashes.
One hundred and forty-two.
It was all too much. His birthday.
Everyone wanted to celebrate the day. Garrik simply yearned for solitude.
They never allowed him to be alone. Not there in his camp. Not in Galdheir.
That was why he left the party in that meadow. While bursts of prismed magic erupted in the sky, it was supposed to just be him, his powers, and that bottle. Ready to drown him somewhere in the darkness,outsidethe shield, until dawn.
But Alora found him—chased after him. Made him want to remain on that hillside all night and count the stars with her. Safe. Distracted. Outside the grasp of the nightmares reigning in his mind and ingrained deep in his soul.
Why didn’t he stay…?
He should have stayed…
This deletedscene is settled between Alora being gifted a tent of her own and Thalon bringing Garrik back to camp drunk after the celebrations for his birthday in Chapter Forty-six. Part one is told from Garrik’s POV, the second is from Thalon’s.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This isan extension of Garrik’s despair, the same as Chapter Thirty. This deleted scene has triggering and extremely dark and despairing situations where we see even deeper into Garrik’s suffering. I want to remind you that this is before his healingjourney in Book Two. Go into the deleted scene remembering Garrik finds hope and begins to heal his heart and mind later on.
There aretrigger warnings for this chapter.
‘Iknow you do not enjoy celebrating your birthday. But I hope this one was different. Even just a little… Happy Birthday, Your Highness.’ Alora pushed up on her toes.
Without hesitation, he leaned down to meet her when her lips pressed against his cheek. His eyes fluttered shut, savoring the feeling of her warmth before she pulled away.
‘Don’t forget. You survived every nightmare so far, real and those that still torment you. Don’t let them win.’
Garrik held the neck of a bottle to his lips, allowing the amber liquid to wash him further into oblivion. Slowly, the drink washed into his consciousness and wrapped him in a guilt-ridden vise that did nothing to keep him from falling apart.
Where are you?
He was breaking. Swallowed by the pain of the memory.The one repeated every year with the same faces. The same names.
They should have remained on that hillside. How, instead of the forest, he could be resting in the grass, watching Alora point at bursts of prismed magic in the night sky and decipher the shapes they resembled. Stars, he wished he could see her face now. Illuminated by shades of navy and emerald and violet. Watch her stunning eyes widen with every eruption and marvel at the lightshow that would never compare to the glowing sapphire of her eyes.
