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“This one is yours,” I whisper. I’m not sure why. It feels sacred to hold them and I don’t want anyone else in the world to know that I have them.
Elias’s eyes fill with what looks like fear but he swiftly blinks it away. I raise a brow when he doesn’t take his heart from my hands.
“Now what?” I ask.
He shakes his head and gives me an uncertain, beautiful smile filled with hope. “I have no fucking idea. I didn’t think we’d get this far.”
I look back down at the hearts and smile. “We found them. We really found them.”
Elias brushes my cheek with his hand as he mutters, “You found them. Now let’s get out of here before anyone realizes we’re gone.” Velis vanishes back into him and Amser does the same with me. I shudder at the cold sensation that encases my bones as it settles back inside me.
“What are we going to do with them? Should we give Arthur his tonight?” I wrap my cloak around my front so no one can see the hearts when we get back to Alkrose.
Elias tilts his head in thought before muttering, “Let me talk to him later about it. I’m not sure how he’ll react to this. We’re not supposed to be here, obviously. But of my comrades, Arthur is the most sensible.”
I nod and follow Elias back through the manor and portal. He escorts me to my room, where I hide the hearts in the bottom drawer of my wardrobe.
“I have to leave for a few days, so don’t do anything until I get back. Promise me you won’t.” Elias wraps a strand of my brown hair around his finger and holds my gaze until I close my eyes.
“I won’t do anything… Are you going back to the front lines?”
He nods.
I wouldn't care what happened to him if he were the same hollow assassin I met in Navasik. But he’s shown me that he’s so much more than a shell of a man. He’s still in there. He’s still human, and I have his heart now.
I can fix him.
Arthur levels me a tired, unenthusiastic grin as I fail horribly again at the Shadow leeching technique. I can grapple his Shadow when he allows it, but when I’m attempting to take it from someone forcefully, that’s where I’m running into problems.
“If you’re going to use this in battle, it needs to be nimble and fast. Otherwise, your opponent will have no trouble killing you at point-blank range.” Arthur steps across the lake’s solid surface and resumes his stance.
Raine watches us as he and Finn chat idly. They throw spits of flame and ice long distances, trying to reach the shore on the other end. Raine’s private lessons with Elias have been put on hold until he returns from the front lines in Whales of Tauh. It’s easy to see that the training has been helping him immensely. His eyes, however, expose the pain of the blight wearing on him.
Raine winces with every wisp of power he sends out, molding his face into a firm, angry expression before anyone else can catch it.
“Focus, Terra.” Arthur lunges at me and sweeps my legs out from beneath me.
I land on my ass and let out a low groan. “Really?” I glare at him and he raises a shoulder.
“We don’t have time for games,” he says with all seriousness and I try to match his mood, standing and refocusing. I stare into his gray eyes and swallow the dire need to tell him I found his heart. I promised Elias I wouldn’t, but holding onto a secret this important feels like betrayal.
We practice until the sun dips below the mountains and the air stings our noses. I study with Finn, Kai, and Raine in the library until the sun sets, and by the time I’m back in my room, I collapse onto my bed. Raine will be here in an hour or two. Sometimes he makes it in here before I fall asleep and other times he just crawls into my bed long after I’ve dozed off. Either way, I enjoy his company.
I’m midway through the anatomy book when chatter arises in the hallway. My head perks up and I listen to the muffled voices. It sounds like Arthur and another male, but I’m not sure who.
The door is cold against my ear as I press close to listen. But the voices have stopped and the footsteps are leading away. I crack my door open and peek, seeing the top of Arthur’s head as he descends the stairs.
Carefully, so as not to make a sound, I tiptoe to his door, trying the handle like I’ve been doing for weeks now with no luck, but to my surprise, it clicks open.
He forgot to lock it. Gods, this is stupid.
I quickly close my door across the hall before slipping into his room. My eyes widen as I take in his mystical room. It’s unlike the others I’ve been in at Alkrose. His room is two stories tall, a full library against the walls above with wooden catwalks, rickety railing lining the edges.
No wonder he always smells like pages of old tomes. He’s really made this place his own. I walk slowly through his impeccably clean room. Whereas Elias’s room is black and filled with papers and books, Arthur’s is a dusty shade of brown, scholarly and woodsy like a cozy cabin.
My fingers brush against the cream-colored sheets on his bed and I sit, looking around, but finding no notes or papers to compare to the one Raine and I found in the library.
I exhale and lie back on his bed for a moment. He’s so meticulous and careful; maybe he really is hiding something. It seems like everyone here is in some way or another.
