Page 153 of Season Warriors & Wolves

“Keep talking,” I mumbled between chewing big bites of my snack. “Tell me more. I want to know all of it.”

He pointed to a building atop the hill, at what looked like a temple. “I was born there. My mother was Sidran, and her father was a priest, they were quite set I was to be born under the southern star, right below Henah’s second heaven, like tradition required.”

“Why not under the moon? I hear it is good luck for your people.”

“There was no moon when I was born. Only darkness. No Obscur is ever born under moonlight. There was no southern star either, no stars at all, but the temple sits exactly where it should be.”

We stopped again, this time for him to buy me some fluffy colourful candy wrapped around a stick.

My eyes rolled back at the taste. “Go on,” I said, putting some of the cottony stuff in his mouth. Perhaps this was my new favourite thing. Feeling normal. Even if it was for just a fleeting moment. Because when he looked at me, nothing about it made me feel normal. No power, no magic had made me feel as exquisite as that.

“Do you know why the heavenly creatures have remained in Amaris?” he asked, pointing to where a few flower folk were hurrying to close the petals of their homes for the night.

Driada had mentioned something about them once. Him being the reason why they were not afraid to remain among humans. “You? In all fairness, I would have stayed, too, if I was a little flower spirit. To fawn over you. Would have worked like a dog to spread my happy dust on everything if you were my king and I was a little woodland creature.”

He threw his head back and laughed, the whole city turning to look at us. More at him. Eyes wide. Not wider than me though. He was so pretty when he laughed.

He threw an arm over my shoulder. “I am your king. You’d be an exquisite woodland creature, but I like my queen as she is. Only spreading happy dust on me,” he said, throwing me a wink and stealing some of my fluffy candy.

“So, why do they stay if they’re not here to fawn over you?”

“They go where they feel the land needs them most.”

“Your people are the closest with their faith. Your lands also seem to be doing fine.”

“Debatable. Faith is a two-edged sword. You cut using it, it will cut you back. These people have suffered most because they love to use faith. But it is not because of them the creatures stay, it is because of me and those who were like me. Obscurs can no longer be buried or set free at sea. Their power lingers after death. If not for these creatures, the land below would have slowly and eventually died from housing an Obscur, so they remain here to nurture it.”

“I still think it’s because of what I said.”

More smiling. “Yeah? Any more fun facts for tonight? Or can I take you to see that secret place of mine?”

I polished the remaining candy and nodded. “Curiosity sated for now.”

“Hold tight,” he said, fading again, this time at the edge of a tall cliff that overlooked the Moor Sea gleaming under the round and full moonlight. The breeze was ever so gentle, almost as gentle as his hand on my waist. “Are you nauseous? I thought the smell of fish wasn’t so bad down this coast. No one comes to fish here.”

“No, just…it’s beautiful.” The silver cast of the moon had draped such exquisite shadows over his face as well as the sea.

“It’s even better down there,” he said, lacing our hands together and pulling me down the stone stairs that led to the open sandy beach enclosed between tall cliffs. The space felt like a secret. A pocket where you stored hidden gems. The sapphire waters. The white sand. The stars above. Those down here below that looked at me the same as some looked at the skies.

He took off my coat and bent down to unlace my boots, and then his until we were both barefooted and wearing barely anything. “The water is not cold,” he said, walking backward and pulling me toward the shore where waves brushed the sand softly.

Our feet met water. The deeper we got, the warmer it felt. He pulled me to him when my feet no longer reached the ground, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

His lips were warm against mine. “Wait for it,” he murmured and then almost in command, the water below us began glowing a fluorescent blue. His fingers skimmed my cheek. “Now you know.”

I did not know why my chest felt so heavy, why my words were choked out when I spun around to look at the marvel illuminating the clear waters around us and the sand below. My fingers grazed the water, watching the blue hue shift and glow more when the small waves rolled over the calm surface.

So there were wonders as such.

Resting my forehead on his, I said, “I want to know them all. As much as you can show me. All your favourite places.”

“Everywhere that you are, those are all my favourite places. This is simply a place. It became special the moment you stepped on it.”

This hurt. It shouldn’t hurt.

I wanted to live out every fantasy of ours. Every single one. Leave our mark everywhere. I wanted to picture our life ten, twenty, one hundred years from now. But there was so little time, and there was so much to live out. Things I’ve not told him, things I want to do with him, things I want to share with him. Things I wanted to give him. Just like that little fantasy that night. I would have let him name our children every ridiculous name he wanted. But they were the sacrifice I had to make to ensure many others had a future. Lila deserved a future. Nia and Mor deserved to know how their love would grow old. Thora and Eren had been prisoners most of their lives, they were just learning life again. Mal—Mal had to live and dare to know how beautiful the other side was. And Kil. My darling. He’d make sure that all happened, that they would all be safe and happy. I was sure he would eventually be happy, too.

His thumbs swiped over my cheeks. “Why do you cry, my love? Why must you break my heart again?”