Ignoring his offensive comment, Evylin raised her brow. “You’re sure?”
“Deckard can’t shrink to that world again,” he said with certainty. “It’s too mundane for him. He’s always been an idealist, and he likes to imagine that the world should measure up to the perfect standards he holds. It’s why I was so determined to prove myself to him. I didn’t want to disappoint him like everything else in his life.”
Evylin nodded, understanding. “He wants to be Euon Sergus.”
“Bloody Sergus,” Thom agreed. “He just won’t admit it because he doesn’t want people finding out he’s as selfish as the rest of us.”
“Do you think he realizes it?”
“Realizes that he’s in denial of harboring delusions of grandeur?” Thom scoffed. “Of course not.”
Evylin tugged on her rings and sighed. “Then I’ll have to help him figure it out.”
“Good luck,” Thom grumbled. “He’s been lying to himself for at least thirty years.”
Running her fingers along her wedding rings, Evylin scanned the empty paddock. She’d sat out here so many times as a child, watching the horses or playing with Ryen. This had been her refuge in the village. And now, it held only memories.
“By the way,” Thom said lightly, “I meant it.”
Evylin looked up at him.
“Wherever you and Jonn go,” he smiled, “I’ll follow.”
They shared an affectionate look, and he hopped off the fence. “Ready to go back?”
Evylin shook her head. “I have somewhere to be, actually,” she said, joining him as they walked out of the paddock. “If Jonn finds his way free of my father anytime soon, send him my way, would you?”
“And where shall I tell him you’ll be?”
Evylin glanced toward the edge of the village. “At the kirk.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The kirkyard was exactly as Evylin had left it. The gate rattled gently against its latch in the afternoon breeze. Ivy climbed the white fence, though Father Dover ensured it never grew too wild or invasive. Midday sunshine highlighted the light gray headstones of all the villagers lost amongst the creeping white and green everbloom ivy.
Evylin knelt next to Ryen’s plot, a peculiar sense of contentment in her heart. She brushed her fingers across the weathered quartz, brushing back the ivy leaves.
“Hello again,” she said with a smile. “Didn’t expect me back so soon, did you?”
She traced his name.
“Neither did I. But I did as I promised—and more.”
The breeze ruffled Evylin’s hair, causing it to trail across her face. She reached up to push it back. “I’ve seen the sea,” she told Ryen. “It’s as beautiful as we imagined. It stretches on forever; though I know it ends, I can’t fathom how. I explored the Shires. I won dozens—well, probably hundreds of duels. I rescued a prince, which is even better than a princess. I fought a dragon,andI found Mages.”
Evylin paused, her smile turning wry. “Imarrieda Mage.”
The ivory flowers of the everbloom shivered in the wind.
“I know,” Evylin said, amused. “I couldn’t believe it either. But do you want to know what’s even more amazing? It turns out that I’m magical too. Have you heard of Warriors? I hadn’t. But I’m one of them, and together, Jonn and I are Bonded, our magic a perfect balance to help protect and serve Terraeus.”
Evylin glanced down at her ring, the onyx gemstones glinting in the light. The elegant band represented Deckard and their future—that’s what he’d told her when he gave it to her. He’d chosen this ring with its obsidian black stones because it felt right. And for the first time, Evylin realizedwhy.
Eyes still on the ring, Evylin pulled the Space Relic out from beneath her collar. She compared the two. One setting was gold, the other silver, but their gemstones were identical.
Onyx. The blackness of Space. The infinity of the Heavens.
He’d known. Subconsciously, Deckard had known even then that Space was his resource. He was drawn to it, though he didn’t feel it. It made her wonder how many times he’d connected with the resource without knowing it.
