Page 70 of Blood of the Fallen
Ila found me a moment later as everyone stirred and began to gather by the largest fire.
“It’s almost time for the meeting,” she said, a concerned expression shaping her beautiful face. “Are you all right?”
I rose to my feet, dusting my bottom. “I’m fine. You?”
She swallowed thickly and shook her head.
“I already miss her so much.” Tears spilled down her cheeks, shining slightly in the dim light.
For a moment, I was flustered and didn’t know what to do, but then, without thinking, I stepped forward and wrapped her in a tight hug. As I held her, a host of fragmented memories washed over me. Ila chasing me around a tree as I toddled around. Sitting by the fire while her little hands braided my hair into a messy nest. Her voice ringing in the quiet night as she told me a story to help me go to sleep.
Words spilled out of me that came from a place long forgotten, the same place where those memories had been stored.
“We have each other,” I said. “I promise I will always be with you.”
Ila pulled away to arm’s length and scanned my face. She swallowed her tears thickly and asked, “Will you? Really?”
“Of course.”
“I was afraid you might leave us.”
I shook my head, deciding to be entirely honest with her. “At first, I wanted to, but now I can’t.”
“Because of the tetrad and the bond?”
“Yes.”
She lowered her eyes, looking disappointed.
“But that’s not all,” I continued. “There are many reasons, and you are the biggest one. You’re my sister. I never had a family. There was always a missing piece, and now that space is whole. You and… our mother made it whole. And now that she’s not here, we have to stick together more than ever.”
“Oh, Sheela!” She threw her arms around me, her sobs out of control.
I panicked, thinking I’d messed up. I smoothed her long hair which was bound in a braid. “Ila… I’m sorry… I…”
She pulled away, her sobs morphing into spastic giggles. “Thank you. Thank you. I felt everything was lost, but… oh, thank you!” She hugged me tightly again, and we almost fell over.
As I staggered back, losing my balance, she grabbed my arms and righted me. We both laughed like idiots, probably due to nerves and the ordeal we’d just been through. Abruptly, Ila stopped and placed a hand on the side of my face.
“I love you,” she said, stealing my breath.
I blinked rapidly, feeling as if something was short-circuiting inside me. No one, NO ONE, had ever said those words to me—at least not that I could remember. My eyes stung as emotions crashed in my chest. A lump formed in my throat, and I felt as fragile as a dried-out bug. If she let me go, I would fall to pieces.
I never knew this was how it would feel to be told those three simple words, never knew they had such power and could do so much to heal the deepest, oldest wounds. What if I could do the same for her?
Hesitantly, my mouth parted, then I let the words flow. “I love you, too,” I said, truly expressing my feelings and hoping to give her a bit of the peace she’d given me.
Except what I found out was astounding because by sayingI love youback, I felt amazing relief. It was like the breaking of a dam that had been built in the entirely wrong place. It was a sort of freedom I’d never experienced, and it seemed to open a new horizon.
Of their own accord, my eyes strayed through the cave and found Kall, and I wondered what other horizons were there to discover.
CHAPTER 28
AsIlaandIwalked back, ready for the meeting, Kall met us halfway.
“Is everything all right?” he asked, looking concerned.
“It’s fine,” Ila and I said in unison.
