Chapter Forty-Eight Aria
Chapter Forty-Eight
Aria
Pax’s arms were curled around me where we lay in the middle of the bed.
Legs and hearts tangled.
Our breaths long, steady, and in sync.
Night pressed in, hovering in the room, lulling and coaxing our exhausted bodies toward the bliss of sleep.
For my whole life, there had always been a bare space in between asleep and awake.
A sense of anticipation.
One of joy and fear and purpose.
I began to drift on it, hovering in that nothingness.
Where I was weightless.
Timeless.
And heard the voice whisper somewhere in my ear. In my spirit. In my heart.
“Aria, dear Valient. The last Laven born. The last of my power. Our last chance to defeat the ones who would destroy us all. Chosen for a specific time to stand in my weakness. For many times love comes with the greatest burden, and the love I bore for Kreed nearly became our destruction.”
“Valeen,” my spirit murmured as I floated through a wispy light.
“But your love conquered. Your strength prevailed. Because of you, this world is safe, and I am replenished. Because of your hope, we go on. And now, sweet child, rest.”
I blinked my eyes open to the faintest rays of morning light. I was still wrapped in Pax’s hold, his breaths steady and slow where he slept next to me.
For the first time ever, the sharpened, honed edges of his face were serene.
And there was no panic inside me, no fear or distress, since I had not emerged in Tearsith when I’d fallen asleep.
Because we were no longer needed.
That battle we’d thought would rage on forever in Faydor had been won.
We were free.
Truly, completely free.