29. Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Leena
B ratan was really starting to get on my nerves. “I can tell you’re stalling,” I said.
He gave me a sidelong glance. “I’m not.”
“Then take me somewhere to train.” I stepped in front of him, glaring into his evasive stare. “What’s going on, Bratan? You told me you’d take me to train.”
His tongue pressed into his cheek as he thought, then he looked at me. “Fine, but I don’t know where we’re going to go. Our place at the edge of the woods isn’t safe anymore, and there are eyes everywhere, and who knows where she could be slithering around—”
“She?” I asked. His lips sewed together. “Bratan, what are you not telling me?”
He looked around, grabbing me by the arm and slinking behind a tree at the edge of the village, away from prying eyes and listening ears. His back pressed against a wide trunk, my chest against him .
“I promise I’ll tell you,” he said, “but not now and not here.”
“Tonight, then.” My voice was clipped. I wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Tonight,” he agreed, and my shoulders relaxed a little.
He hooked his forefinger on my chin and lifted my gaze to his. “I love you, Leena. I want to protect you.”
“Then show me how I can protect myself.” A beat of silence passed, then I added, “Show me more of the woods. Please take me everywhere you can. If I know my surroundings and my way around, it could be valuable if anything goes wrong.” His finger stroked my chin as he thought. I had no idea what answer danced on his lips. He was aggravatingly evasive. I had to keep telling myself that he was used to ruling this place alone and was new to love and letting someone in. But I could only be patient about something like this for so long.
In the meantime, I would fight for him to see my logic—the logic that was right before his eyes that he refused to see or couldn’t through his blind fear and vengeful rage of whatever lay out there.
“Okay,” he said, his voice quiet. “Come.” He threaded his fingers in mine and led me deep into the woods.
I wasn’t sure if it was Bratan’s anxiety soaking through his fingers and into mine, spreading through my belly like bad ale, or if the woods themselves were afraid, but there was a thick blanket of unease around us the deeper we ventured through the forest. It left chills dimpling my skin and a taste like despair on the tip of my tongue. Bratan’s face was devoid of color, and his jaw was set, his features rigid, even more than usual.
His grip on my hand tightened by the minute. Something was terribly wrong, but I could tell this wasn’t the time to push. Besides, he’d promised to tell me later tonight. I’d try again when we returned home. For now, I feigned ignorance.
“Tell me about this place.” My voice was soft and melodic and fortunately did what I’d hoped for by slightly relaxing his shoulders. But only for a moment.
As swiftly as they’d relaxed, his muscles tightened again, but at least he spoke. “It’s been here since the beginning of time. It’s a sacred place, often the destination for creeping souls and demonic beings because of it. They want a part of it—to touch its power and sanctity. To defile it with their presence.” He blew out a breath. “Vile creatures. I can feel them.”
“So that’s what it is,” I said mostly to myself, but he lifted a quizzical brow.
“You feel them?”
“I think so…it feels like death. Cold, hollow, in between places and forgotten things. Terrible things. It’s hard to explain, but it’s palpable. It makes my insides itch.”
“That’s the feeling. It appears you truly are a Keeper of these woods now. Only we can sense such things.” He jerked to a sudden stop.
“What is it?” He didn’t move, and that creeping feeling intensified. “Bratan, what is it? ”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I think that’s why you can see her. Melora. You’ve felt her presence. Heard her. Seen her shadows.” Fear permeated his eyes. “She won’t stop now she knows we’re one. How could I have missed something so important?” His free hand coiled into a tight fist, and I felt his heartbeat quicken through the bond between us.
“Bratan, it’s okay.” I let go of his hand to cup his face. “Breathe. We’ll get through this.”
“I still don’t know how to stop this. Melora has been hot and cold for centuries, but she’s gotten worse, and I think it’s because of you. She wants you.”
“What are you talking about?” Melora . The name rang a hideous bell in the back of my head. I’d heard that name before but didn’t understand then. My life here had been a whirlwind, so I’d let it fall by the wayside.
“She’s a demon—one of the strongest out there. Creatures like her are the complete opposite to us—they protect nothing but themselves, slowly going mad in the process. She once cared for my family and me, but she’s been erratic for a long time. I know she wants to be one of us and join the forest and claim a corner of it. Maybe now that I have a weakness, she’s grown drunk with power.” His eyes fell. “She was like family to me for so long. I think it was hard to see what was right in front of me. But after she hurt you the other day….after she…”
He swallowed, and I swore I saw tears form, but he turned away .
“She’ll try slithering her way between our bond until she succeeds,” he said. “She knows more about us than she’s let on, and if she does succeed…I don’t know what will happen to us.” Emotion swelled in his voice. The tears were obvious now; one slid down his face.
I tucked myself into his arms and rested my face against his chest. “It’s okay. We can get through anything. I believe…” I couldn’t say it. Even though we’d talked about it before, it sounded silly to say out loud—to even think it. But I was more convinced of it now than ever.
“You believe what, little dove?” His voice was a soothing balm to the aches in my chest. He stroked his hand down my back.
“I believe we were always destined to be one.” I didn’t think—I just spoke.
“Of course we were. That’s why we were able to bond so seamlessly. It’s why she wants you. I think it’s why you’ve been in danger.”
“What?” I staggered back, but he caught me by the hands.
“As I mentioned to you a few weeks ago, we are mated souls, Leena. We were always meant to be one, and there is a strength that will come from us being together. A power I could have shared with no one else but you.”
I shook my head. “But we’re from different worlds…”
He combed his hand through my hair before cupping my cheek and planting a kiss on the other. “At the beginning of everything, we’re all the same, and every day, I’m more convinced that before we breathed our first breaths, our souls were one. We were simply torn in two, and then we waited, wandering, completely unaware we had another part of ourselves somewhere out there until we wove back together.” His words warmed a part of me I hadn’t known was cold, and it gave me a sense of peace that sealed every shattered piece of me, fixing every bruise and break. “I never knew of such love until you.”
I sucked in a shaky breath, emotion rushing through me like the wind. I studied the deep sincerity in his face, the matchless adoration.
“Have you ever been in love before?” I asked.
He absently tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Maybe once or twice, but not like this. Nothing could ever be like this—nothing but us.”
“What was it like?” I asked, though an unjustified jealousy soaked the words.
“Before you, I lived many lives but loved only a few. Romantically, I had two loves before you over the centuries. The first was the typical first love—I was merely a boy back then and loved the way many adolescents do. So fiercely but not fully. The second love was when I was a little older and had firmer edges but with you…” His hand found my chin. “With you, Leena, I have found myself. The love I have for you is incomprehensible. I don’t think I could have believed such a thing existed until it did. I can barely utter your name without falling deeper in love with you, and every breath I breathe is steeped in my desire to forever hold you in my very being. With yo u, Leena, I’m whole, and I’m yours. Completely, fully, and everything in between.”
The power of his words overwhelmed me until my knees were weak. “Kiss me,” I breathed, gathering his tunic, and he did. His lips sent beautiful shudders through every nerve, and I fell into him. We wrapped ourselves in each other’s embrace until I couldn’t think, until my fears were dulled, and all I felt was lightness and hope. How could I continue through the woods after such a declaration?
I had to. Despite the fierceness of our sudden love, danger was still imminent, and preparations had to be made. It took immense self-control, but I peeled myself from him and gained my bearings, looking at him with a resoluteness even he couldn’t fight.
“Show me what I need to know. Teach me what I need to learn. Let me carry this burden with you. You’re not alone anymore. We’ll do this together. Together, we’ll take down this Melora person and any threat that crosses our paths.”
He twisted my hair in his fingers and tugged me in close “Of course, my queen. We’ll take her down together, and I’ll do anything you wish.”
***
To my relief, Bratan showed me around the woods, even bringing me across the threshold to the human realm to explain the ins and outs of our duties and what to look out for. “They’re tricky, the mortals, and there are always adolescents who think they want to fight me or trick me in some way. They usually regret it.”
“Please don’t tell me you hurt them,” I said as I followed him through a thick wall of vines.
“Of course not,” he grumbled, “but I do teach them lessons. Maybe give them a slap or two with a root for good measure.” He gave me a sly grin, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
When we got back to our world, it was long past suppertime. Before we went into the human realm earlier, we’d made a quick stop in town for food. I didn’t realize how much better food would be in this new, fanciful world until it consistently left me filled with a sense of sheer delight. I found myself greatly anticipating dinner, though that wasn’t entirely new. I loved a good meal. It was just seldom back in Woodsmeadow. Here, it was every few hours.
“Are we going to the market?” I asked, practically skipping ahead of him, pulling on his hand. “Hurry up! Do you have lead in your boots?”
“I’m tired, and I’m not hungry.” His brows were sharp, but he wore the trace of a smile, which showed me how he really felt. I was starting to understand his silent language—the different quirks that told me what his words didn’t.
“Well, I am.” I stuck out my tongue and let go of his hand, swiveling around to skip faster. “We should go to the deli stall. Those sandwiches were to die for. ”
“The market isn’t open in the evenings. We’ll have to go to the tavern.”
“How’s their food?” I threw a glance over my shoulder, and he sped up to catch me by the waist.
“Not as delicious as you.” He snarled into the crook of my neck; I giggled as he kissed it, surrendering to his touch. “After dinner, why don’t we—”
His hands stilled, his body rigid, freezing until he bolted upright.
“Bratan, what—” I tried pulling away to face him, but his grip tightened. He was looking somewhere far away, as alert as a Rottweiler at a prison cell.
“Did you hear that?”
My stomach sank the moment a chill passed over my body. That same feeling of death accompanied it.
“No, but I feel it.”
“We have to go. Now.” He nearly crushed my fingers as he led me along faster than I could keep up with.
“Stop! I’m tripping!”
He swept me up in his arms and kept running. I was pretty sure the sweat pilling at his hairline was from distress and not from the strain of holding me while running faster than mortally possible.
The trees were a blur of green and black, only illuminated by the full moon glinting above us. My arms wrapped tightly around him, my chin buried in the groove of his collarbone as I watched the woods speed behind us. The space between my brows puckered when a shape emerged from the distance. I couldn’t make it out. Not at first. But when it came fully into view, horror plucked at my nerves like a broken harp.
“Bratan!”
I didn’t need to explain before he changed. The smoothness of his skin quickly turned to coarse, jagged bark, and the trees fell below us as we rose beyond the woods’ ceiling. The ghastly shape chased us, crawling up Bratan’s tree-bark legs at a disturbingly quick pace.
“What is that!” I squealed. “What’s happening?”
The creature’s face was nearly human, but its body was that of a monstrous-sized spider. With ten long, crooked legs and a gray pallor, the creature buried its tiny rows of black eyes into me with a hungry gaze that made my stomach lurch. The closer it skittered, the more haunting features I could make out. Its skin was so thin I could see every black vein beneath its white casing. Oddly shaped bones snapped and popped as it moved. Even its neck bent as it crawled, and it was nearly the size of Bratan in his human form. And almost as fast.
“Bratan!” I cried. The creature’s hands were like a human’s, but the fingers were unnaturally long and crooked, with the tips forming black points at the ends. Its mouth formed a circle, which spread across its oblong face and exposed two sharp fangs steeped in black liquid that could only be the blood of something immortal.
It reached one long, crooked limb above my face, its claw opening and about to sink into my skull when Bratan flung me onto his back and crushed the creature with his massive hands. I blinked in shock. Such a terrifying creature was taken out like a common housefly.
My heart raced. “Thank goodness.”
“Stay on guard.” His voice came in every direction. I dug my fingers into his rough skin. “There are more.”
The blood drained from my face, and I was dangerously close to vomiting. Tears stung my eyes, but I needed to be strong.
“Show me how to fight,” I pleaded, but my face remained buried in his protective skin.
“Now is not the time, Leena.” His voice boomed with frustration.
I didn’t care.
“Help me so I don’t die out here!”
“You’re not ready!” he bellowed. Any further argument was cut short by three ghostly hounds pouncing at us from all sides. They were greater than any wolf and the color of night. Their eyes were red as fresh blood, which matched whatever liquid was still caked on their yellow teeth. Bratan swept them off like they were nothing, but I recoiled in fear.
“I’m protecting you. If I show you anything now, you’ll only suffer.”
“You can’t order me around and do what you want!”
“I’m not ordering you around, Leena! I’m protecting you! We’re being attacked! ”
I scowled, finally gathering the courage to pull away. I looked down at the long drop. If I tried scaling down from here, I’d be dead unless he caught me. If death was possible. At best, it would crush my bones. But I couldn’t rely on him or anyone. My life had taught me that I may end up alone one day, so I had to learn to fight for myself. I truly did believe Bratan and I were one soul—a true, mated match with an unbreakable bond—but what if something happened to him, or he was fighting one creature and hounds pounced on me? I couldn’t be useless.
“Let me go! I can take care of myself!”
“No, Leena, you can’t !”
“I need to protect myself! I can protect you, too.”
“I don’t need protection,” he hissed. “I’m supposed to protect you .”
“Is there a rule book I don’t know about? Because I feel like I’m just as much in the dark now as I was when I came here.”
“Leena, I—”
A sound like a warped bell chimed from the distance, shattering every angry thought in my mind. Something was out there.
“What was that?” Another chime sounded. I could have sworn Bratan replied, but I couldn’t make it out. It was like he was underwater. I tried calling out to him but couldn’t hear my own voice. Before I tried again, something sucked me from his back.
All I processed was the drop.
And then darkness.