Chapter 31
A rtem made his way along the white sand of Tolsah Bay looking like he just had his heart ripped out. Torin had watched as his brother had tried to speak to Breighly, but it had not gone down well. Something had happened back in Ashdale, but Torin didn’t have the time right now to figure it out.
Maybe she was having second thoughts about being a guard. If she was, Torin would need to know; it was Emara’s life that was at stake should she falter. Emara had taken a risk asking for Breighly to be a part of her cluster; the wolf wasn’t a trained hunter or guard, but she had great potential.
He would have to watch the wolf closely.
Emara had also watched the altercation between them from a sand dune. Men were still coming through Sybil’s portal, and he could see Gideon herding everyone towards the dock.
Torin hid a smile from his brother as he moved towards Emara. “What do you think that was about?” he asked as he approached, nodding at Breighly.
Emara’s shapely eyebrows pulled together, and she rolled her lips. “What they have…it’s complicated.”
“Like ‘us’ complicated, or like ‘ancient magic of Caledorna Gods’ complicated?”
“‘Ancient magic’ complicated.” She stared out at the glistening sea that met the blue sky in a profound embrace. “I didn’t know what they had was quite so deep until…well, I caught them in my bed a few nights ago.”
“You what? You caught them in your bed? They should both be punished for that, Emara.”
“They are already punishing themselves by feeling the way they do for each other.” She finally looked up at him. “Why would I add anything else on top of that?”
Torin hummed. “So you think there are feelings involved from both sides?” He took a seat beside her in the sand.
“Mmm.” She hummed.
He could see that something was lingering below the surface, waiting to get out. He wondered if her darkness was scratching under her skin for release.
Torin leaned in. “Why is it that when people stare at the sea they always seem to be contemplating something serious?”
She let out a small laugh and looked down at her hands buried in the sand. “The first night you agreed to stay in my bed in the Fairlands, I had a dream about this place. But the dream that I had was about Cally and I.” She paused as she let grains of the soft sand filter through her fingers. “She always wanted to come here. She said she would start up a business dressing the merchants’ wives and that she would be rolling in the coin before she reached cronehood. Callyn claimed no one would look better in a bathing suit than her and that she would make a line of swimsuits so scandalous the women of Tolsah Bay would beam bright red when they saw them. But now I understand why she wanted to come here.” Emara looked out to the calm waves once more. “It wasn’t because of all the things she had said, but because of the water element in her witching blood. I think the ocean would always call to her. She would have been a vision on this beach with her smile and her golden hair. And she would have lived in every moment, sparkling like the sun herself.”
Torin smiled as he remembered the spirit of her best friend.
“Callyn saved me that night at the Amethyst Palace.” Emara’s gaze finally found Torin. “As I lay choking on the element of my bloodline, Callyn saved me with hers. She came when I needed her and she held my hand when I thought it was the end.” Her voice broke, and it made Torin’s throat bob. He had thought it was the end too, and he had done everything he could to take the Supreme’s magic upon himself instead of Emara. He would have done anything in that moment to stop her from suffocating.
“She would have been so up for this mission just for the simple fact that she would absolutely refuse to go any further than this point and stay here to frolic instead of joining the hunt.”
Torin reached out for her hand. She let him take it, and he kissed it gently. “You miss her.”
“With every part of my heart.” She looked down at her knees as they pushed together. “It never occurred to me that I would have to go through life without her, so it sometimes hits me hard, especially in moments when I need her.”
He rubbed his thumb over her skin. “You never know, she might be sitting with you right now on this very beach, admiring how strong you have become and how wonderful you look with the sea wind in your hair. She would be so utterly proud of you, Emara.” He squeezed her hand. “And when I tie my soul to yours, I know she will be looking down on you then too. As will your grandmother. Everyone you ever wanted will be there, even if it is in spirit.”
Emara nodded as tears washed down her cheeks. “I know.” She gripped his hand tighter. “And that is why we are going to find this relic before the Dark Army. I will not have another person taken from this kingdom by their ruthless hands. I will not allow another person to look at this world from the Otherside because of the Dark God. I will not allow another person to feel the sorrow that I do.”
Torin guided her to look at him as he promised, “In the darkness of this kingdom, we will rise. In the light, the Dark Army will fall. I will not stop hunting them until this world is safe for you and rid of them—and that includes your father.”