72. Everett
Everett
Acouple of the rebels showed Vera, Tessa, and me to another section of the tunnels to give us time to rest. This area had smaller rooms separated by curtains nailed into the stone.
One of the rebels pulled aside the dingy green curtain, exposing a room with two sets of bunk beds against the wall.
Thin mattresses, a worn, brown blanket, and a change of clothes rested on the beds for each of us.
“The hot springs are just down this hall and to the right,” one of them said, gesturing outside the room. “We have extra towels and bars of soap if you need to bathe. It’s almost evening, so most people will be at dinner and won’t be using it yet.”
Evening. I’d been gone for most of the day, and now we only had one day left to find Starke, raise the kingdom, and rescue Odessa from the infection. I scrubbed a hand down my face. Everything I’d learned today felt like too much to bear.
While the rebels gathered intel about the catacombs from Vera and Tessa, I took the gray cotton pants and shirt from one of the bunks and slipped down the hall.
The air warmed, and the walls grew slick with moisture as I neared the hot springs.
The narrow rock tunnel opened into a domed cavern, with a slippery stone path leading to bubbling water.
Blue lights twinkled around the walls and high ceiling, and when I got closer, they looked like little glowing bugs.
The light made the golden water sparkle an iridescent turquoise.
Against the very back wall was a small waterfall cascading from the ceiling, rushing into the water with a rhythmic, hypnotizing sound.
I took a deep breath as steam washed over me.
I left my pants on but pulled my shirt over my head, wincing at a twinge in my shoulder, and tossed it to the side.
A groan left my lips when I waded into the water.
Heat lapped at my ankles, my calves, my waist, pulling the tension from my muscles in slow waves.
I ducked my head under, drowning out everything except the pulse in my ears and the distorted bubbling coming from beneath.
I had always had an affinity for water. Sitting on the shore or the bank of a river, dangling off the side of a fishing boat, plunging into the depths after a catch.
Even as a young boy, it allowed me to focus, if only for a moment, on something besides the worries pressing in.
The way the water felt like silk at my fingertips, how it slowed everything down, and how when you broke the surface once more, the pressure lifted.
When I lost count of how long I’d been under, I raised my head and shook the water from my skin, watching it spray back into the bubbles.
“I wasn’t sure you were going to come up,” a voice said ahead of me.
I looked up, water sluicing down my bare chest. Vera stared at me through a cloud of mist, those golden eyes heating me more than any hot spring could.
“Just needed a moment to breathe,” I replied.
The edge of her lip quirked up. “Underwater?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes it’s hard to breathe anywhere else.”
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Honestly?” I rubbed a hand on the back of my neck. “I don’t know. When I close my eyes, I still see that altar. Those bodies, the faces…” I shook my head. “I can feel it. What they almost did to me. I was—it was so empty. So cold.” I cleared my throat, trying to banish the phantom pain.
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I’m so sorry, Everett.
I wish I could take it away.” She slowly stepped in the water.
The waves rippled as she waded closer. I shivered when she placed both hands on my chest, muscles flexing beneath her touch.
Her hands glowed a soft orange, and warmth spread from my chest over my entire body.
It was a different kind of heat than the hot springs.
This warmth seeped deeper, bringing comfort and peace.
Her magic pushed away the memories, letting me finally take a full, deep breath.
My chest expanded as I inhaled. Her eyes fell to the tattoo resting under her right hand. She raised her fingers to hover over the delicate black wing inked above my heart. Even the mere whisper of her touch made my pulse race.
“It’s a songbird,” she said. I merely nodded. “When did you get it?”
“After you left.”
Her eyes locked with mine again. “Why?”
I took her hand and gently pressed her palm against the wing. “Because I had hope that one day, you’d fly back to me.”
She hummed softly. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Do what?”
Her eyes softened. “Have so much faith.”
I cupped her cheek, and she leaned into me. “I wrote you letters.” My voice echoed in the empty chamber. “Any chance I could.”
She ran her fingers through the water, sending ripples over us both. “I know.”
I stilled. “You do? How?”
“They just appeared in my bag. I found them right after I woke up this morning. After you were…” She took a deep breath, and I didn’t miss the hitch in her voice.
“I thought I lost you, Everett. You were gone again, just like last time. And all—all I could think about was how you never gave up on me.”
I looked at her, truly looked. Ash still streaked her cheeks. She hadn’t changed yet, and her clothes were torn and bloodstained, her hair tangled from the fight. She walked through those catacombs for me. She endured more loss today and held herself tall the entire time.
“You didn’t give up on me, either,” I said. I slowly kissed her forehead, and felt her shuddering breath on my skin. “You’ve been taking care of everyone else, but how are you doing?”
“I have to be okay,” she said. “There’s so much happening. So many things we have to fix.”
I pulled away and tipped her chin up with my thumb, my eyes darting between hers. “That’s not an answer, sweetheart,” I murmured.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I just—I keep thinking, what if I’d been too late? What if I got there and you were already—” She stopped. “I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
“I do. You would’ve kept going, because that’s who you are.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.” She shook her head. “I don’t know who I really am anymore without a mission. Without something to be angry at.”
“I know who you are.” My thumb brushed across her cheek. “You’re the girl who shared her nuts with a hungry boy in a cell,” I said, earning a soft laugh. “You’re the one who sang to me through a wall. You’re the one who gave me hope when I’d given up on ever seeing the sun again.”
She let out a breath, and a tear collected in the corner of her eye.
“You’re the girl who recklessly throws herself in front of monsters.
The one who fights to the very end for people who need rescuing.
” My hand slid around the back of her neck, cradling her head.
“You’re the girl who saves her happiness for her dreams because you think that’s where it belongs. But I’m here to prove you wrong.”
For a moment, she didn’t say anything. She pulled back, eyes searching my face as her guard slowly, slowly fell away.
“I don’t see what you see,” she admitted softly.
“Most days I look at myself and all I see are the memories of what they made me do. I don’t know how to look past that, but I’m trying.
” Her palms rested on my chest, over my tattoo.
“I haven’t had many good things in this life.
But you, Everett Swift…” Her voice broke.
“You’re the one thing that always felt like home. ”
I found the edge of her tunic and grazed my thumb over her hip, feeling her stomach tighten at my touch. “Then let me love you, Songbird,” I whispered. “That’s all I’ve wanted since I heard your voice in that cell.”
She pushed up onto her toes, lips hovering a breath from mine as if she was daring herself to fall. With an exhale, she crashed into me.
And we burned.
Lightning laced down my spine in a spark of heat, and one hand wrapped around the small of her back while the other tangled in her hair.
It was everything I wanted and more—smoky amber and rose, soft lips, nails scraping up my chest. For as much power as I knew rested beneath the surface, she always felt so small in my hands. Completely mine, completely undone.
I swiped my tongue along her lips, and a sigh escaped her. My world stopped and started again at the sound. Her back grew warmer when I tightened my hold on her, then I hitched her legs up to wrap around my waist. Her hair cascaded around me as our kiss deepened, and a groan dragged up my throat.
Without warning, heat exploded around us, making the water hiss. Her phoenix wings burst from her back in a gleam of gold fire, but it didn’t burn me. She never did. Her magic was so controlled, allowing me to touch her flames if she willed it.
I shifted my grip and ran a finger along the sensitive spot of her wings, where they met her back. She sucked in a breath and arched against me. When she broke the kiss, her eyes gleamed bright gold, glowing in the shadowed cavern.
She cupped my face with her hands, both of our chests heaving. “I’m never leaving you again, Swift,” she forced out through ragged breaths. “It’s you and me. For good.”
I brushed her hair behind her ear. “It’s about time, sweetheart.”