Page 64 of Ember and Eclipse
“Go.” A knowing sadness was in his eyes.
Tabion. The Lunae who had lost his mate in the witch prison.He had every reason to hate witches, yet he was helping them escape.
“Thank you,” Rel murmured, unable to think of any other words that would effectively communicate her gratitude.
“He would do the same for me,” Tabion said as he reached out for her arm and squeezed. “Now go.”
Rel clutched the witch close and stepped through the portal.
The humidity welcomed her first. It caressed her face, clung to her exposed flesh.Where have you been? What have you brought us?the swamp seemed to ask, growing louder with excited chatter. The green of the wetlands seemed overly stark after the winter-ready lands she had come from. Flourishing and bursting with life.
Home. She was home again.
She collapsed to her knees, still cradling the witch close. The gateway closed behind them with a fading whisper.
“It’s beautiful,” Saral marveled, “and full of old magic.” The light filtering through the canopy illuminated her eyes. Now opened and focused, they were the colors of moss over brown stones.
“This is home,” Rel said, unable to muster up anything else.
“It’s a good place to die.”
“I can try to heal you. I—”
The witch shook her head weakly. “My love awaits me,” she whispered. “Bury me where I can see the sky.”
“I will,” Rel vowed it.
The witch admired that blue expanse and how the sun reached through the canopy for another heartbeat and then stilled.
Though she was on the brink of death herself, Rel buried the witch first thing. She first carried her to a higher location surrounded by large willow trees spread out far enough for their branches to flourish while not blocking the world above.
Then, she made the journey to her island. By the time she had rowed across and climbed the rope ladder, she was so dizzy with exhaustion that she momentarily lost consciousness in the doorway. When she awoke with her face against the floor, she heaved herself up and persisted. While grabbing supplies, she ate a raw grood reed purely for the energy, even though it tasted like bitter ash. Choking it down, she headed back out.
The sun rose higher over the swamp as she dug the grave.
The mound would sit between the giant trees with an unobstructed view of the sky. It seemed fitting to reserve that space for the dead.
She wrapped Saral in a white sheet, carefully and painstakingly putting her to rest in the hole. It took her a long time to find the strength to climb out.
She would not yield to death this day.
This would not be her grave.
Chapter XXXVIII
Relslept.Shedidn’tknow for how long, having fallen asleep after burying the witch, dirt still under her fingernails. When she awoke next, it was in the middle of the day.
She picked at the food that hadn’t gone bad, eating only because she knew she needed to and not because she was actually hungry. She drifted around her home in a daze, putting things away, dusting, watering the plants. The days passed like she was in a fever dream.
But each night, she ended up in the chair, curled up, a deep and unsettling feeling keeping her there until she could no longer keep her eyes open.
It felt like she had lost something. Like part of herbeingwas missing. Deserted, like she had traded her heart for her magic, only to realize it was all for nothing without it. Her magicwasthere, no longer dead in her veins, but now a constant thrum beneath her skin.
And yet, she felt in an endless state of waiting and yearning.
Mate.
What did that even mean? The concept that there was a singular person that was meant for her? Fated for her? Or was it thatshewas only destined forhim?
