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The beat of my heart thumped so loudly it echoed in my ears.
“I’m not going anywhere, Nakoa…”
His face hardened as he fought back emotion, eyes glistening.
“Mareina… Last night, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said… I just… I’ve become blinded by my own determination. I would choose you with or without the bond… I can’t fathom a more perfect female not just to rule Atratus butfor me.”
He searched my gaze almost frantically as if trying to find evidence of my faith in his words. I nodded gently through this sensation of numbness that settled on my chest.
“… OK.”
His brows knit together.
“OK?”
I took a deep breath, rolling out of his arms to stare at the ceiling.
“OK. I appreciate it. Thank you for saying so.”
Nakoa perched himself on an elbow as he reached out for me, just as the sound of movement and voices outside our room filtered in.
Vyssini… We’d be heading to Vyssini today on our way to Bastrina…
My heart leapt at the idea of being in the same place as Malekai but immediately fisted with pain, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to leave with him… And just… Disappear.
What had Nakoa seen in The Well?
Had whatever he’d seen been why he’d been desperate to apologize?
* * *
By noon, our large group was dressed and ready to leave. With nothing more than the brief murmuring of an ancient tongue, Leilani opened a portal in the forest at the front of her glamored home. A portal large enough for the group of us, including our horses, to step through and arrive somewhere on the outskirts of Vyssini.
The restless energy surrounding everyone at what now felt like a silent countdown towards Zurie and our potential deaths had my anxiety rising. The closer we came to Vyssini, the more it intensified, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. The Knowingness that had spoken to me in the past days seemed to have gone silent despite my probing.
Leilani seemed somber but relatively at ease as she gave me a firm squeeze before leaving, whispering so that only I could hear. “I have seen much of your future in The Well, Mareina. You and Nakoa have nothing to fear as long as you stay together.”
My throat worked on a rough swallow as I pulled back to gaze into her dark eyes, unable to hide their worry.
“… Thank you. For everything,” I managed.
She gave me a nod and a weak smile. “I’ll see you at the palace…”
And I could only pray that Malekai wouldn’t be there. I didn’t think I could handle it if something happened to him. We had 100 years of friendship and loyalty when I’d had next to no one else along the way - only my fleeting years with my childhood best friend, Fara, and Seline, my first love. Both, now dead.
I desperately wanted to speak to Pomona to see what had passed during her encounter with Malekai. However, we still hadn’t had the privacy to do so. Thankfully, she seemed relatively at ease, if not only mildly anxious, at our rapidly impending attempt to infiltrate Zurie’s palace.
Roderick, Lokus, Rayne, Pomona, Famei, and Vesper crossed through the portal’s edge, only quickly exchanging goodbyes with Leilani and Miroslav as I waited for Nakoa and tried to breathe away my fears.
Stay together.
Right.
How in the gods’ names were we supposed to stay together when I was supposed to go inside the palace, with no one but Vesper, to kill Zurie.
Nakoa remained in the distance, discussing something even my sanguinati ears couldn’t hear. Unable to disguise the tension in Miroslav’s glittering diamond-like eyes, his gaze met mine.
“Worry not for what the future will bring, Mareina. You have nothing to fear,”he murmured calmly within my mind.
