Chapter 7 #2
I held her gaze until I was certain she heard the distinction. “If I tell you to run, don’t hesitate. Avoid direct contact with the tear unless you’re ready to seal it. It won’t harm you, but movement could draw something from the other side.”
She nodded in understanding, and I softened my expression. “The thorn wraith was vastly more dangerous than this one. That’s the difference. I’m not saying this to frighten you. You just need to be aware.”
Selene held my gaze for a long moment, maintaining most of her composure. When she spoke, it was but a whisper. “Kill it, please.”
I hadn’t meant to terrify her. In fact, I’d taken measures so that I wouldn’t. In the end, I’d failed.
I fought back my dismay and focused on my hand. I reached for the moonlight and found my concentration fractured by her presence. I’d never experienced such a thing before, and it left me disconcerted.
This forced me to face the heavens in order to connect with my source of power. The moon hid behind clouds, but I sensed it, the solid and inherited energy that fueled me.
I inhaled a deep breath, and something akin to a small electrical shock filled my body. Strength tightened in my muscles, precision in my fingertips. Silver erupted from my hand, lengthening until it was a lethal blade.
I strode forward, and the creature glanced upward in fear. I had no mercy for it. With one stroke, I sliced through the anchor tethering the smoky black creature to the ground. It faded with the breeze.
I wanted the simple kill to reassure her.
When I turned, I found her wide-eyed, watching me. A similar look had played across her features once we’d defeated the thorn wraith in the grove. Though I accepted a measure of gratification that she didn’t seem nearly as disturbed this time.
I approached and dipped my head. “You’re completely safe now. Let’s seal that tear before something else comes through, shall we?”
Selene turned toward the general area where she’d sensed the tear, but then quickly swiveled back to the gravestone where the wraith had anchored itself. Then she lifted her gaze to me with a look of confusion. “There’s more than one.”
I frowned, prepared to deny her claim, but she was right. Another gods-damned breach. A small one. So small that I’d missed it initially.
But she hadn’t.
No. This simply couldn’t be.
Guarding the Veil was my inherited right, and it had always answered to me. It was impossible that she could understand it so well. And yet she did.
The version of the world I’d held for centuries wavered, and it took me a moment to regain my steadiness.
“Bren?” Selene stared at me with a concerned gaze. “Did you hear me? I think there’s more than one.”
I dipped my head as though that information didn’t hold such weight. “There is. Would you like to seal both?”
Selene quickly shook her head. “No. You do this one, where the wraith was, in case another comes through. And then help me with the other.”
She placed a hand over her heart. “I think I can fix it, but I want you with me.”
Gods help me. I wanted that too.
Now that there was no longer a threat, my blade retracted. My moonlight still hovered, though, and I opened my palm toward the damaged seam. The Veil momentarily resisted the shift, and then it smoothed.
A sense of calm filled the air, and yet my moonlight remained. Because of the second tear.
As I made my way to Selene’s side, I reassured myself that, although I hadn’t noticed the second, I would have sensed it once the first had been repaired. My power hadn’t failed. And I was partially human. Never completely infallible.
I stood by, prepared to coach Selene should she need help, but she responded exactly as she had that day in the castle when she stood above the inlay.
She flicked a nervous glance at me as she carefully stepped closer. “I don’t see it as much as I feel it. Is that how you sense them?”
I gave one quick shake of my head. “No. The tear is very clear to me.”
She blinked and refocused on the hairline slit. A tendril of silver shimmered in the air, yet she seemed not to notice. It slid over her cheek and down toward her throat.
The Veil thread wouldn’t harm her, but it certainly was curious. As was I. My gut tightened as it continued to survey her, and I could no longer hold my position.
Instinct overrode my patience. “Selene.”
She glanced back at me but didn’t step away. Every protective instinct I possessed surged forward, while I fought to control the urge. “Step aside. I’ll handle it.”
Selene ignored that too as she glanced at the air immediately above and around her. “Normally, I sense something physical is out of place, and it’s easy to correct it. But this… This seems to be on its own.”
She cocked her head, drawing her brows in concentration, and lifted both hands palms up, moving as if she was pressing something back into place. The silver thread retracted and disappeared.
After a moment of holding her hands suspended, she slowly lowered them. She remained still for several breaths and then turned to me. “I think that fixed it. Am I right?”
Her actions had ripped me so far out of my known reality that I had to recalibrate before I spoke. My words came out low, almost a whisper. “You did well. The Veil is sealed.”
Selene studied my face, her gaze going back and forth between my eyes, her expression turning worried. “Did I do something wrong?”
“I would tell you if you had.”
She hesitated before speaking again. “You look mad.”
I huffed then. “Of course I’m not. I thought you might struggle a bit like you had when you prevented the tear at the lakeside. But you handled that remarkably well.”
A smile broke across her face and tugged at my heart. “I can’t believe I did it. I mean, I wonder if I’ve been doing things like this for years and never knew. But…” She shook her head several times. “I don’t know what to say.”
I shared that sentiment.
But I couldn’t let her see that. So, I smiled and waved her forward, letting the raindrops splash on my hand. “We’re wet enough, don’t you think? We should go.”
My comment seemed to surprise her, and she gazed upward, laughing as she did. “I was so focused, I didn’t realize it had started raining harder.” She grinned. “I’ll race you to the car.”
She took off running, her boots grinding on the gravel with each step, and I just watched her go. She’d become increasingly impossible to categorize. The Veil had responded to her as naturally as it did to me.
That realization should have filled me with nothing but caution.
Instead, I wanted to remain beside her while she discovered what she truly was.
I inhaled a deep breath of cool forest air and raced after her. I longed to catch her, to pull her into my arms, and kiss her hard enough that both of us forgot who and what we were. I wanted to hold her against me. To feel her heart beating, her skin against mine.
But that simply couldn’t be.