Chapter 24 #2
The risk, the danger… Worth it, perhaps, to glimpse that side of her. Of who she might really be, free, without her secrets and pain. Burning Solyrian, maybe it was all worth it.
Another thunderous landing, the shield stretching towards a new step—they went on like that, over and over as they ventured ever deeper, the onyx fog lightening to a dense, smoky grey the further they fell into the bowels of the Dread Chasm.
Until, at last, rocky ground was revealed below.
Brand called a large platform from the chasm wall just in case, and leapt for the last time.
Dust and dirt sprayed when they hit, pebbles raining down to clatter against the shield wall as the swirling cloud settled.
“We made it.” Luna’s words were more question than statement.
Brand could hardly believe it himself.
She wiggled to get down, but he put a finger to his lips and stuck a foot out to test the safety of the chasm floor—alert, tuned in to every shift in the air, the tiniest of sounds.
“There’s nothing here,” she whispered. “You can put me down.”
He couldn’t feel anything waiting to jump out at them, but still. “I’d rather carry you.”
“Not on your life, Demon,” she snapped under her breath, fierce determination pinched across her brow. “I’m frightened, yes. But if we make it out of this, I want to be able to say I’ve touched the floor of a Dread Chasm and lived to tell the tale. Try and stop me.”
Her words from the night before echoed. I value my freedom above all else.
“Fine,” he grumbled, setting her down and fighting the urge to claw her right back into his arms.
It was not fine, but what else could he do?
Without a thought, she stepped off the landing and onto the chasm floor, and—for the first, utterly confusing time in his greater form—Brand had to bite back a shout of alarm caused by fear.
Something he’d never felt while raging, Ever.
He chased her into the grey, hissing, “You must stay close to me. We can’t see a damned thing, and danger could be lurking anywhere.”
She tossed an irritated look over her shoulder. “You have no way of knowing. I, however, am completely certain there’s nothing lurking nearby.”
“Explain.”
“Demon Brand is bossy and likes the word explain. Got it.” She tilted her head as if listening. “There isn’t a heartbeat, nothing living, for at least… a mile, give or take? It’s hard to know how far my threads are reaching with nothing to compare them to, but that’s a safe estimate.”
The corners of his mouth turned down, suitably impressed. “I don’t suppose you could clear some of this up then, so I can see as well?”
Her expression was same one she’d made when he asked her to stretch the shield, and then again after he’d asked if she could hold it.
It clicked into place after she put some distance between them and faced him again.
Resignation.
“Luna—”
The air fluttered around him, grabbing at the waves of his hair.
She grimaced and brought clawed hands up in front of her. Sparks gathered in her palms, the shadows darkening at the same time—as if she was sucking the light from them, what little they had to offer now hers to command.
Weeping Sisters, the breeze was her.
Pricks of light turned to starry orbs, swirling and spinning at the center of the vortex she was creating. It cast her in an eerie, ethereal glow, highlighting the flashing speckles in her skin and shorter strands of hair whipping around her face.
Brand braced himself as the wind picked up, the sheer magnitude of her power slamming into him.
Forget her serenity as they’d flown down, step-by-step. This was seeing her for the first time—the real her—and it hit like a punch to the gut. What he’d sensed before was a pale imitation of her true ability. Nothing in comparison.
This, he’d only felt within his own family. From other Imperials.
She was commanding the very fabric of the world, bending it to her wishes, and it was… immense. Beautiful. Enough to bring him to his knees, though he fought the impulse.
Barely.
He held his breath when she froze, the entire universe stilling around them.
She flung her arms out and power surged away from her, the violent gale ripping through the shadows and fog until they were nothing. Infinite stars followed the currents, spreading up and out, hanging in the air and illuminating the empty floor of the chasm in every direction.
“As I said, nothing to see.”
There was no missing the forced lightness in her tone, the breathy huff that wasn’t doing anything to cover her trembling hands and refusal to meet his eyes.
“Hmm. From where I’m standing, there’s plenty to see.”
Ah, now she looked at him, gaze wild. “Such as?”
Lucky for him, she wasn’t used to this form. Didn’t expect him to rise to her challenge.
“The mystery gets old. You have enough power to level me. I know it, you know it. Can we please stop the act and move on?”
She was worthy, his true equal, and pride overflowed with every word.
Luna blinked. “I have no idea what you mean.”
He buried his laugh, not so awestruck that he’d forgotten their shite surroundings. “Lies do not become you, little moon. Nor does false modesty or diminishing yourself to go unnoticed. Do you not tire of the charade? I’m exhausted just thinking about it.”
She gaped. “I’m not… I don’t…”
Brand narrowed his gaze down at her, daring her to finish any one of the ridiculous sentences she was concocting.
She finally settled on, “We don’t have time for this.”
“Hiding behind an undeniable truth? Clever.”
Even if it did get under his skin, just a little, that she refused to trust him. That they might die, and he’d spend his last hours wondering, never knowing her truths or the future he wanted to give her. Even then… she was still bloody clever. He’d give her that.
Scanning the ground, he looked for anything that would tell them which direction to go, one ear waiting for the next shout or cry or bellow. Any sound at all.
Maybe ten yards off was a jagged disturbance in the otherwise smooth landscape. “Come.”
“That… that’s it?” She was breathless, her words asking far deeper questions than it seemed, practically running to keep up with his long strides.
He tempered his speed, agonizing though it was. “Faldir needs our help more than I need my answers. I’ll get them soon enough.”
Sweet and merciful Sisters, let him be alive enough to help.
They came upon the lengthy divot, just like the ones above, blood dotting the dust around it.
“This is the way. Still not feeling any life?”
She was clearly at a loss, staring at him for a long moment while she chewed her lip. “No,” she whispered. “Nothing.”
And it had been the longest span of time since the last they’d heard Fal, the silence weighing heavier because of it.
“Then he is either dead, or too far away.”
Her head jerked back. “You say it so matter of factly.”
“It is a matter of fact.” Despite the hollow ache it opened in his chest. “Will you let me carry you, now? I can move much faster than you can.”
“Who are you?” she rasped, leaning forward as if it would help her understand.
“I am as I have ever been, without the faults of my lesser self. May I please pick you up?”
Her lip curled, but it was not a pleasant expression. “Lesser? Hmm. So I’m not the only one who diminishes myself.”
His brows rose. She was wrong, but he liked that fire in her. Very much.
“It’s not diminishing if it’s the truth. Interesting, though, for you to automatically assume I mean inferior when I say lesser, instead of the intended meaning—which is that I am, quite literally, smaller outside of this form.”
Brand knelt and stretched his arms out, waiting for her to come to him.
Instead, she backed away.
That unfamiliar fear spiked again, stealing a little control. “Please. Don’t fix so desperately on trying to hide, on being defensive, that you abandon reason.”
Wrong thing to say.
She began weaving her fingers, lips a thin line. “You wish to move more quickly? Find him with haste? Fine.”
Sisters save him. They were in a bloody fucking Dread Chasm, and she was still choosing stubbornness over sense.
“Luna…”
A writhing orb appeared between her palms, wings of light springing from the mass. She lifted a hand as the silhouette of an owl took shape, the ghostly bird circling once above their heads before coming to rest on her outstretched arm.
He was transfixed, marveling at the spectral creature, each feather wrought from the ether in stunning detail.
She brought it close and whispered to it, the owl bumping affectionately against her cheek before it took flight again and shot away—a glowing blur amidst the damp gloom.
It was the white-hot ring of glowing blue around one of her irises that was perhaps the most surprising. “I see what he sees. I’ll let you know whether he finds anything worth increasing our speed for. Then, you can pick me up.”
With that, she left him behind and stomped after the faint dot flying off into the distance.
Contrary female.