55. Eva
Chapter 55
Eva
D espite the fact that I had fully healed myself, Bash seemed content to keep me in bed for the foreseeable future—if not forever. We had returned to Soleara to recuperate, though I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay hidden away for long. Not when the end of the war left so much to be done. And especially not with the growing list of things I needed to do as High Queen. The rebuilding efforts were already underway in multiple kingdoms, aided by the fact that the curse was finally over.
Phantom whined as I stopped petting him to pick up my water glass from the bedside table, but Bash beat me to it, lifting it to my lips. Firmly, I took it from him lest he have any ideas about holding it while I drank.
“Are you hungry?” Bash was already writing a quick note on a piece of paper, then another—both vanishing in a wisp of shadow. He frowned, then wrote one more. “I’ll have something brought up…”
“Bash.”
His head swung toward me, ready to do whatever I asked of him.
“If you’re not going to let me out of this bed, can you at least join me?” I waggled a suggestive eyebrow. “You’re fussing.”
Phantom nudged his nose into my palm, and I scratched him behind the ear. He had barely left my side since we had brought him here, his attentiveness only eclipsed by his master.
Bash gave me an exasperated look. “No matter how well healed you are, it doesn’t mean you don’t need rest after what happened.” He swallowed. “Your injuries…the blood loss. What he—” His voice darkened, matching the swirling shadows in his eyes. “What he did to you.”
For a heartbeat, I was back there—blood seeping from my stomach, my magic torn away. Bash’s shadows reached for me, trailing up my bare legs. One curled around the exact spot where that whip of fire had nearly dragged me back to Aviel, but I didn’t feel so much as an inkling of distress.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, wondering if I was telling him or myself.
Bash sat on the bed next to me, wrapping his arms around me. His scent enfolded me, that mix of earthy woods and rain and something that made me feel utterly safe.
“I didn’t know if I’d lost you again.” Bash’s voice was raw, shaking like he, too, was back in that mountain. “And then you nearly died. You were dying.” He let out a low, pained sound in the back of his throat as he pulled me closer, shadows swirling in his eyes. “And I almost lost you forever.”
“But we won, freckles,” I said softly, taking his hand to break him away from the memory he was lost in. He smiled slightly at the nickname. “And I got a cool new party trick.”
Closing my eyes to focus, I grinned as I felt the solid weight of my crown appear on my head. As High Queen, it was mine to summon, along with the magic of the land. I pushed away the thought that claiming it sooner may have saved Alette from giving herself up in my stead—though whether it was fate or circumstance, I doubted there was anything I could have done differently. The only thing I could do now was respect her sacrifice and honor the lifetime she had given me in return by making this realm better for it.
I blinked, and the crown was gone, my darkness trailing around my fingertips as if in outrage I hadn’t called for it first. Bash’s shadows darted forward, the two swirling together in a mesmerizing vortex.
“I do like that we match,” Bash said, staring into my now ever-changing eyes. The flecks of gold within my irises moved in an endless, continuous circuit from my pupils, mirroring the gold specks flying like embers from my crown. Like Bash, it was easy to tell my relative agitation or calm from the rate at which they did so.
I shot him a playful smirk. “I’ve known that was your kink since the matching tattoos.”
He scowled at me even as a hint of wry amusement filled our bond, light and lively.
I’d been so close to losing him. Losing everything.
Bash’s expression sobered as he managed to see too much, like always. I could practically feel his questions along with his concern, the ones he had put off while insisting I convalesce. I had told him the barest of details along with everyone else—how my blood had summoned the crown from the Source itself, how Aviel had defeated me, how Alette had saved us all. But I knew he could sense the ache in my heart. Knew he was waiting for me to open up in my own time, even as he quieted my screams from the new nightmares that woke me, where Aviel dragged me back into a fiery death from which there was no escape.
Bash’s gaze was so full of worry and kindness that something pricked behind my eyes.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, hellion.”
I shrugged. “I still can’t believe he’s gone. That it’s over.”
“Neither can I,” Bash admitted. “When you sent that goodbye…”
I unconsciously touched my throat, though the mark my blade had left there had disappeared without a trace. Bash’s eyes tracked the movement, their dual-toned blue and green fading to the gray of his shadows as they reached toward me, tugging my hand away and tucking it into his own.
Pale scars still circled my throat, my wrists, my ankles, that rose still marked on my palm. Aviel’s bite mark, however, had faded significantly, as if my enhanced magic had rejected his false claiming. But I was thankful they hadn’t disappeared along with my other injuries, the scars a testament to what I had survived.
“I was so close to killing myself,” I whispered, looking away. “And it would’ve been for nothing.”
A tendril of shadow lifted my chin, bringing my eyes up with it. “I’m grateful she gave you another choice.”
“I wish I could’ve done the same for her.”
It was all too easy to imagine a world in which our places were reversed. Yet Alette hadn’t hesitated to change my fate, whether it had been driven by a sense of altruism or her own desire for revenge.
Aviel had underestimated her, just as I had, to his own detriment. The placeholder who had the misfortune to look enough like me to attract his attention. He hadn’t even spent his time or energy searching for her after she had nearly brought down his castle.
No one had ever helped her. And she hadn’t hesitated to save us all.
I hoped that wherever she was now, she had finally found peace.
“He would have won, if not for her,” I murmured, remembering the feeling of him siphoning away even the seemingly endless power I had been granted. Bash must have felt that bleakness because his grip tightened. “He was so close to winning.”
“Whether it was fate or just blind luck, he’s gone now, Eva. Because of Alette’s bravery, and her sacrifice. And yours.”
He looked pointedly down at my side, though no trace of the wound in my gut remained.
“I’m okay now,” I said haltingly. “I’m more than okay now that he’s gone…now that this is over. And I know now that there isn’t anything we can’t take on together.”
Bash let out a long breath, his thumb and forefinger catching my chin as he leaned in. “As long as you never forget that again, hellion.”
The door creaked open. “Are we interrupting something?”
Yael and Marin stood there, each holding a tray of food. I breathed in the scent of something freshly baked, my gaze immediately zeroing in on the glazed brioche rolls dusted with powdered sugar next to a mouthwatering assortment of charcuterie and fruits.
It was almost ridiculous how ravenous I had been lately. Quinn had told me it was my body regaining its strength, and I was happy to listen to it. Grinning at them, I quickly exclaimed, “Come in.”
I started to pull away—or tried to, as Bash’s arms tightened around me. He let out an exaggeratedly contented sigh. I gave him a look that brought a smirk to his face.
“I have no intention of letting you go, ever again,” he murmured into my ear.
I turned my head to graze a kiss against his jaw. His arms loosened, just slightly.
Yael sat at the foot of the bed, plucking a berry from the tray she placed in front of her. Phantom quickly repositioned himself beside her, rolling over as she scratched his belly. Marin set down her tray on my bedside table, then came up next to me.
“May I?”
I nodded, and she placed her fingers on my temples. The warm hum of her magic spread over me, and I slowly let out a breath.
“She’s fine,” Marin said, looking at her brother.
Bash arched an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be telling her that?”
Marin snorted. “Eva already knows that. You’re the one acting like a mother hen.”
I smirked, chuckling under my breath. Marin picked up her tray and put it on my lap. Bash smiled as he watched me quickly demolish one of those rolls before digging into a clay pot of eggs baked in a savory tomato sauce. A dollop of fresh cream lay on top of the bowl of berries, and I scooped some up with a raspberry before putting it in my mouth.
“You rang?”
Rivan walked into the room, also bearing a tray. I raised an eyebrow at Bash. He had the nerve not to even look embarrassed.
I rolled my eyes. “How much food, exactly, are you expecting me to eat?”
Bash only smiled, swiping a strawberry through the cream before placing it between my lips. I nipped him as I bit down. He yelped as Yael guffawed.
“I wasn’t sure who would come the fastest,” Bash said dryly, taking a steaming mug from Rivan’s tray. He carefully dipped a small metal infuser filled with loose leaf tea into it, then picked up a spool of honey, carefully twirling it before adding the exact amount I liked. “But now we get to all enjoy a meal together.”
I pouted at Rivan. “If I’m stuck in bed, you should be too.”
Rivan placed his tray on the bed, winking before scooting underneath the covers beside me.
Bash carefully blew on the mug of tea before passing it to me.
Yael grinned. “I see he’s still fussing.”
I shook my head. “You have no idea. He won’t even let me?—”
“LA-LA-LA,” Marin cut in, putting her fingers in her ears. “This is my brother you’re talking about.”
I snorted. “I was going to say, ‘get up by myself’. Get your head out of the gutter.”
There was a tingle on my palm, warm from the mug.
No, you weren’t.
A blush crept up my cheeks. Bash leaned over, spearing a bite of egg with a fork before placing it in my open mouth. His knuckles lightly grazed my cheekbone before he pulled away. Rivan reached forward, snagging a jam-filled pastry from Yael’s tray.
“Hey, stick to your own,” she teased.
“According to her majesty, I should be bedridden too,” Rivan exclaimed through his full mouth. “Besides, someone had already taken all the pastries by the time I got there.”
I reached over him, grabbing a pastry for myself. “Why is Rivan allowed to be up and about when he was worse off than me?”
Yael coughed something that sounded like, “Debatable.”
Marin stabbed some fruit with a fork. “Rivan doesn’t have a whole host of new abilities to let his body adjust too. And while that magic healed you both, it didn’t entirely replenish the blood loss. Not to mention the fact that you repeatedly burned out your magic.”
“You said yourself that I’m fine now.” I shot Bash a pointed look. “So I should be training . Just like I did the last time I got my magic.”
Marin laughed. “In my medical opinion, the only reason Rivan isn’t still stuck in bed is because Bash could only focus on one of you at a time.”
I took a long sip of the tea—savoring the restorative taste of ginger and turmeric. “It’s not like I have an entire realm to run or anything.”
“Everything will still be there once you’ve had some time to recover,” Marin said placatingly. “Though I can’t say I’m not feeling the same pressure hiding out here.”
Yael took her hand, using the free one to pick up a pastry. She used it to point at Marin, then me. “Bash is right. We’ve all been through a lot. And we somehow all made it through alive.” Her eyes flickered to Rivan, then back to me. “Even when we shouldn’t have.” She tugged Marin closer, looping her arm around her waist. “We deserve a break. So let yourself take one before it’s time to return to the real world.”
She bit into the pastry, somehow glaring threateningly at us all despite the jam running down her chin.
“You’re not wrong,” I said with a sigh. “It just seems like the to-do list is never-ending…and only getting longer.”
“Your steps don’t have to be long,” Rivan said gently. “They just have to take you in the right direction.”
I took his hand, wrapping our fingers together. “How are you feeling?”
One eyebrow twitched. “Absolutely wonderful, as always.”
I gave him a baleful look, and he chuckled.
“Honestly.” He squeezed my hand. “Whatever you did in that mountain…I’m completely healed. Not that I can make sense of it beyond the fact that it was a magic more powerful than any I’ve ever experienced.”
Bash lifted another egg-laden fork to my mouth, and I gave him a begrudging look as I closed my lips around it.
There was a knock on the open door, and I looked up to see Tobias and Quinn. Both holding trays of food.
Quinn eyed the feast already spread out on the bed, then smiled at Bash. “I see you weren’t kidding about the urgency.”
“Join us,” Yael said with a laugh. A controlled burst of air pushed two chairs up next to us. “Apparently, Bash missed group dining.”
Marin giggled. “But apparently not tables.”
“I suppose magical cleaning has the benefits of no crumbs in the bed,” Quinn mused as she plopped down on the proffered chair.
Bash let out a long-suffering sigh. “I’m not apologizing for taking care of my anima …”
The group broke out into loud conversation about the insanity of bonded couples, especially when one was recovering.
I just smiled to myself, stealing the fork from Bash before he fed me another bite. A shadow twirled itself into my hair, brushing lightly against my ear. I could feel his eyes on me as I ate, watching me closely as my family laughed around me. Unhurriedly, I finished my plate, half listening to the chatter. My lips quirked as I raised an eyebrow at Bash in a silent, Are you happy now?
He smiled smugly as I pushed the empty tray at him. Then his mouth opened in surprise as I hopped out of bed, using Rivan as a shield before he tried to pull me back.
“Eva…”
“If I stay in this bed another moment, I’m going to scream,” I said, then bit my lip as Bash’s eyes darkened at the insinuation.
I backed toward the dresser, picking out a pair of leggings and a workout top. Bash looked ready to leap from our bed and carry me back into it.
“Someone hold Bash down while I change.”
Bash crossed his arms as the rest of them grinned.
I eyed him as I retreated to the bathroom. “I’m going to train now. If you’d like to come with me, you’re welcome to. Otherwise, I’m not above using my new powers to tie you to the bedpost.”
Bash smirked, and I could practically read his retort in the sinful look in his eyes, the sensuous feeling snaking down our bond. The one that promised he would follow up on that declaration later.
He shifted, and Rivan made a move as if to block him. Bash gave him a look of pure challenge, and I knew they would soon be dueling it out in the sparring ring.
Then he sighed, raising his hands in defeat.
“Whatever you say, Your Majesty.”