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“No!” he shouted, looking appalled.
“Seven nights is not right, Ayen,” I reasoned with a hand on his shoulder, keeping my voice low. “You’ve read about his kind as much as I have. I do not have the bravery to test his patience.” I paused, hesitating even though he already knew. “He’s my mate, Ayen. I need to see him and know if he is doing well. I cannot stay away any longer.”
He inhaled a shuddering breath.
“Ayen.”
“I-I can’t.” He blinked quickly, his voice unsteady. “I can’t do that to Faelyn. He istrustingmeto look after you!” He faced me, grabbing my arm and giving it a firm squeeze. “You understand what that means, don’t you?”
I understood it perfectly. I truly, honestly did, but I couldn’t let that prevent me from breaking the miserable routine that was forced on me.
I looked him in the eyes, made sure he was listening, and whispered, “Please.”
We both had a responsibility, a duty to follow, but the weight of that responsibility, the weight of that duty, was not the same.
The consequences would not be the same.
“Please.”
“Enough with those eyes!” he yelled, but it wasn’t harsh. “Just… be safe.”
This time, my smile was easy and genuine. “You’re the best.”
We both hopped off from the tree after one last look, one last warning, one last reassuring smile. He had a duty to follow but so did I.
Looking after one person paled in comparison to ensuring another devastation to our people didn’t happen. Even if it wasn’t Eon, that fire wasn’t something an Elf would have caused. No one, not even a child, would have been careless enough to let it grow that big. And they couldn’t. Something of that scale, of that strength and atrocity, was no accident or two rocks struck together to create a spark.
That thing had been a blaze. A ravenous, bloodthirsty blaze.
And strange how the closer I got to the portals, the more I sensed something didn’t belong here.
An intruder.
Was this how Eon felt whenever I visited his world?
Keia stopped flapping her wings beside me and instead landed on my head, keeping quiet. I pointed up, and she lightly stomped her foot once before sinking her little feet into my hair to hold on. After a moment’s pause, I crouched and launched myself towards the nearest tree, aiming for one of the thicker, sturdier branches so it wouldn’t rustle the leaves too much.
On silent, deliberate feet, I hopped from branch to branch, moving in time with a few birds to minimise any noise I could make.
I didn’t have a suspect in mind, but when my eyes landed on the figure sniffing around on our side of the portals, I clenched my shaking fists and gritted my teeth.
I should have known she’d put a mark of death on me. Should have known she wouldn’t have taken Eon’s rejection and left us be.
But to take her rage out on my people?
I plunged from the branch and landed on firm, steady feet a few steps away from her. Strange that she hadn’t noticed me earlier, but when her eyes widened and her lips parted, I realised she’d been distracted. Seeking something.
Her fiery eyes burned brighter at the sight of me. Rage. Wild, blood-hungry rage.
“There you are,” the female Cyrva said, her voice feral and deep. “I should have known better than to think a pest would die so easily.”
I steeled my spine, watching her every move. “You sought me, even when he’d made it clear that he didn’t want you.” Dark satisfaction thrilled through me when she bared her teeth at the insult. “Your problem was withme. Why did you trespass deep into our home and set it on fire?”
Why did you slaughter all those innocent souls?
Why my parents?
“I tracked your repulsive scent there and burned it from existence. I cared not who was in my way. You Elves are nothing but thieving pests.”
