65. Karus
Chapter 65
Karus
Viv had the baby. A healthy girl we named Allyanna. Ashton is a good big brother when he wants to be. We would love for you to visit when you can. There is more news at the border, but I cannot write it here. Stay happy, stay safe.
Love,
Geyrand
I read his letter with joy, so pleased they were all well.
I picked up Figuerah’s and read it too, my feet tucked up under me by the fire, no Revich there to warm them.
I cannot believe Viridis has returned. Karus, you did it. I’m so proud of you, I could shout it to each person I meet. Unfortunately, there are quite a few these days as Clairannia plans all these gatherings in Hyrithia. Nyeimah and I are exhausted, but we love her and come to them anyway.
We have a few more meetings to attend with the Queen and her royal procession before we can travel to Felgren. There’s some news here that you and Revich need to know if the Queen has not written already.
Karus, I cannot wait to walk into Viridis with you. I cannot wait to show Nyeimah. Clairannia already has plans and two trunks of books on medicus conduit magic she’d like to add to that section. Her memoire is done. I should be able to finish mine while we’re there and add it to the shelves as well.
I just want to see you. I miss Felgren, Karus. I miss it every day I am away, and I miss you. By the time you get this, I’ll be there in just a few days, weeks for me out here. Regardless, know that no matter the outcome of the trials, you are a full conduit to me.
I love you, my dearest friend,
Figuerah
I let myself sob, tears splashing the letter and running down the ink in her messy scrawl. I missed her. I missed both of them, and again, I wished they were here for my conduit trials, as they had planned to be.
I wiped my tears on my sleeve and sniffed, folding both letters and sitting them on the table beside me.
Emotions tore through me as I sat alone in our room, watching the flames burn through a log of ash wood. Revich would be gone most of the night. He had insisted the trials take place in the morning and needed a few hours still to finish.
I had no real foretelling of what I’d face. Lia’s book was a careful history, not a guide, and Clairannia and Figuerah had never told me what to expect, as was tradition.
We were supposed to go in blind, without knowledge of what we’d see or how we’d prove our magic for each type of conduit.
I pulled a midnight blue throw from the foot of the bed and tucked it in around me. I didn’t want to get in without Rev, a ridiculous sentiment of romance, but I didn’t care. Our bed felt strange without him in it.
I leaned against the armrest, tucked in like a ball to the seat of the chair and let my eyes fall, the day’s events exhausting me past any more of my wandering thoughts.
I woke in bed. My back was pressed to Rev’s chest as his arm draped over me, keeping my body pulled to him. I turned in his grasp, snuggling up under his chin, breathing him in, and kissing his chest to wake him.
He gave the slightest stir, and that was all the opening I needed, sliding my leg over his hip and pushing my self closer, my desire taking the reins of all thought.
“Karus,” he rumbled, “you need to save your strength.”
“Somehow,” I lilted between kisses up his neck, “I think I can manage this and what the day has to offer.”
“I mean it.” He pulled on my chin, his eyes black as night. “There will be time to celebrate later. If you want.” He sighed, kissing my pout lightly. “One of these trials is more difficult than you know. You need to dress and eat a full breakfast. Then we’ll go.”
“Fine,” I sighed, untangling my leg from him, but not before catching a quick look at what I loved to see. “How late were you up last night? I don’t remember getting into bed.”
He sat up and rubbed his face. “Late. I brought you to bed only a few hours ago.”
“Baron Revich, you need a nap today.” I threw a clean shirt to the bed for him and dressed in my own clothes, nerves and excitement buzzing through my body.
By the end of the day, I’d be a conduit. I didn’t know which kind I’d choose. I planned to go through each trial and decide after—if I passed them all—which type of magic I felt I belonged to.
Dressed, we entered the dining hall, our breakfast laid out on the table, courtesy of Lia. All my favorites were there—cinnamon buns, meat pies filled with gravy, pears, and crumbly cheese.
Rev poured us tea and filled his plate with bacon, eggs, and strawberries.
“Why don’t you like cinnamon buns?” I asked, stuffing my mouth with dough still warm and soft, the icing from the treat coating my tongue.
“Too sweet.”
Pouting, I offered a bite on my fork. “Just try it. How long since you’ve had one?”
“I’ve tried them before. Don’t like ‘em. Besides,” he grinned, pointing his own fork at me, golden egg speared, “I get plenty of sweet from you.”
“Gross,” Philius muttered as he entered the dining hall, followed by Mychael, Rell, Renn, Talon, and Ilyenna.
I laughed and took the bite I had offered Rev.
Rell and Renn hurried to either side of me, sliding chairs out at the same time.
“Today’s the day!” Rell began.
Her sister followed with, “How nervous are you?”
“I’m surprisingly calm, actually. I’m more excited to be through them. I’ve been here a long time without taking the trials, and I feel ready.”
“How long will they take, Baron Revich?” Mychael asked, spooning eggs and toasted bread on his plate.
“It depends on the channeler, but I’ve found that most of them last all day, at times going into the evening.” He eyed me. “That was Clairannia because she was so stubborn. She refused to give up on the agricola trial.”
“How do you give up?” Philius asked, sitting across from Mychael and handing a plate of food to Ilyenna.
“You tap your conduit ring three times, return to the Baron, and you’ve failed that one.”
He glanced at me quickly before returning his eyes to his plate.
I quirked my head and chewed on a slice of pear.
He really was hiding something from me. It kept trying to spill out of him, locked back into place, but slipping at times when he looked at me.
It must have been something with the trials. Something he couldn’t tell me, likely because he was my Baron during them, not my companion.
“Well, I wish you the best of luck today, Karus,” Mychael grinned my way and a murmur of agreements were sent out across the table.
I nodded and said my thanks, suddenly ready to be done. The whole one, maybe two cinnamon buns I’d eaten sat doughy in my stomach with half a pear.
Rev cleared his plate and I rose saying, “Shall we?”
He stood as well, grabbing one more piece of thick bacon. He held it out to me. “Yes, but eat this last thing for me, will you?”
Rev held my hand as we walked through Felgren. We didn’t say much—me thinking about what I’d face, him probably thinking about the same.
We walked for some time, and I wasn’t sure where we were going. I didn’t ask. We finally broke through the pathway, and I recognized the massive burned maple tree atop the rocky outcropping with the gentle trickle of a stream running down the black stones.
Since my display of power over seven years ago in this place, the seeds I had produced had sprouted. Long, gangly saplings lined the shore, a bright green trunk growing from the burnt remnants of the great maple tree.
I surveyed the area while the memory of that fateful day slipped into my thoughts. It had been a cold awakening that my power was not all lovely and warm.
A brilliant flickering green portal hummed on the edge of the tiny stream.
He squeezed my hand in his. “This is the first place you really showed me what you can do. I set up the trials here to remind you that you are great, you are powerful, and you are beautiful, Karus.” He nodded to the broken tree, the one I’d killed in fire. “But you also hold a darkness inside. Use everything you have to get through these trials.”
I swallowed hard, nodding.
“Remember, nothing in there is real. Each one was set up by me for you.” He cupped my face. “I followed every rule I had to. Every single one. If I strayed even the slightest, the trials would fail, regardless of how far you were in them.”
“I feel like I should be more worried than I am,” I laughed nervously.
“You’ll be fine. Just remember for me, nothing that happens in there is real out here. You can do this.”
I nodded again and he pressed his lips to mine, taking his time with each kiss, heating my blood as he was meant to do.
“I love you, Karus,” he whispered on my mouth.
I kissed him one last time. “I love you, too.”
I smiled, feeling the need to reassure him and not myself, looking into his eyes so black, I could see my reflection on the surface.
I let go of him and stepped toward the portal, flicking my fingers at my side, my feet bouncing, ready to face my first trial.
I rolled my shoulders and turned my head before I stepped into his portal, grinning and promising, “I’ll see you on the other side.”
I saw the mournful eyes of the man I loved staring back at me and ignored any inkling that what I was about to face would be my undoing.