Page 94 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
Eventually, I spoke. “Kieran. Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”
He snorted. “What do you care?”
“I care,” I said, turning away from the ocean to face him. “Because I care about you. I want to know what’s bothering you, so I can make it better.”
“Okay,” he drawled sarcastically.
I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. So the sarcasm wasn’t a new thing for him, then.
“I mean it,” I said patiently. “I care about you, and I don’t want you to be upset. I want you to be happy. In fact, I want you to be the happiest person on the entire planet.” He tried to stifle a laugh. A real one, I detected. I kept going. “I want you to be so happy that you don’t know what to do with yourself. So happy that you get bored with it and actually wish you were sad sometimes, just to change things up.”
He chuckled then, and his eyes darted to mine warily. Then he resumed staring out to sea, all traces of laughter gone. “You shouldn’t bother.”
“Why?” I shifted so that I was sitting cross-legged, tilting my head toward the sand until I caught his eye.
“I think I’m just supposed to be by myself,” he said with all the authority of a seven-year-old. When he continued, his voice was soft. “Everyone I care about always dies. My mom, my dad…and now you.”
I swallowed. “So your mom and dad died, then?”
“Yeah. My mom first, my dad second. My mom died because she was sick. My dad died because his family didn’t like me and my mom. They said he had more important things to do.”
“That’s hard stuff,” I said quietly. “Especially at your age.”
“Yeah.” He nodded, his dark hair bouncing. “But your parents died, too. And your sister. That’s even more people.”
I went still.
“When you told me they all died,” he continued. “I was sad. It’s sad to be alone. It’s scary sometimes, too. Like maybe I’ll get eaten by a marsh wolf or something, and no one will even care because I’m all alone anyway.”
“You’re not alone, Kieran.” My voice was a whisper. “Larimar’s magic saved me somehow. I’m not really sure how it’s possible, honestly. But the important thing is that I’m not dead. Or at least, I’m not anymore. I’m here. With you.”
He turned to face me fully then. His eyes were that blending of bright silver and muted gray. Hope and fear. “Why do you care so much about me?”
I took his small hand.
“Because I love you, Kieran.”
I was back on the battlefield, clinging to Kieran’s chest.
The wind was still roaring around me.
Then it was silent, and I wondered if the roaring had finally shattered my eardrums. Still squeezing my eyes shut, I was too afraid to hope for the alternative—that it was finally coming to an end.
I don’t know how long I stood there before I tentatively opened my eyes and tilted my head up to Kieran’s face. He was already looking down at me. The sun, emerging from the ominous black overhead, was reflected in his eyes. A gradient of silver and gold. The colors began to tremble. His eyes were filling with tears.
“I watched you die,” he said softly. He traced my face with his fingertips, studying every inch of it. As if he were seeing me for the first time.
I placed my hand over his. “I know, but I’m here now.”
Kieran smiled back at me, and it was brighter than the sun. There was no sarcasm in it, no wryness. Just joy.
The most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Then he fell forward slightly, and Nya was beside me, helping hold him upright. A spike of dread shot through me. Kieran’s head rolled back, his eyes fluttered closed. Then his breathing slowed, becoming automatic. Relief flooded me as I realized he was just unconscious. Asleep.
“I guess I would be exhausted, too, if I just annihilated half the fucking bay,” Nya muttered as we lowered him carefully to the ground.
At her words, I stood abruptly and turned a circle, taking everything in.
