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She was the one who was dying, not me.
“Focus on yourself,” I warned her, though my voice was gentle.
She rolled her eyes at me, and the way they fluttered was enough to have my whole fucking body tensing with worry as I continued the climb. “You worry more than enough about me for the both of us. Someone has to think about you.”
“You can think all you want about me after you’re healed,” I grumbled at her.
She laughed softly. The sound was so weak it nearly fucking broke me.
I crested the mountain, though, and halted at the top of the trail. My eyes scanned the smallish, flat area. A few feet in front of me, the trail had been paved with glittering, polished gray stone. There was only one other couple occupying the space, and they were on the far side, leaving us plenty of room.
“Stars,” Vena murmured, her eyes closing and her head tilting back. “Do you feel that?”
I glanced down at her, my forehead knitting together. “Feel what?”
“Peace.” Her whisper was soft. A moment passed before she finally opened her eyes. “I need to walk. Put me down?”
My grip on her tightened for a moment. I’d barely put her down in nearly a week, and instinct told me to clutch her tighter while her life was at risk the way it was.
“I’m going to be fine, Eiven. You made it; you got me here, and you did it perfectly. Now, the magic is the only thing that will help me.” Her fingertips trailed over my cheeks, and my eyes closed briefly. “Sit and rest. Please.”
I was helpless when it came to her requests.
My head jerked in a nod. There was a bench of sorts made from the same polished stone as the flat area before us, so I dropped onto it, ignoring my many tensed muscles as I watched the woman before me.
Her steps were slow, but my eyes still followed the sway of her hips.
She was alive, I reminded myself.
And soon, she would be well again.
Chapter17
Vena
My eyes were closedas my feet carried me slowly and carefully to the platform.
I could feel the magic; pure, light, and gentle.
Peace.
It felt like peace.
My eyes watered at the pure comfort of it.
I had found a sliver of that peace in the inn I had loved so much.
I had found another sliver with the dark king who had become mine—and claimed me as his.
And I had found another when I saw my sisters, happy beside the men who treasured them.
It had been enough, I had thought.
But the peace I’d felt before was only a tiny fraction of the one that my world’s magic was currently offering me.
Perhaps that was because in the Night Court, I was only a tiny fraction of the woman I was meant to be.
Or perhaps it was because of the way I’d been ripped from my home as a child.
