Chapter 34
AND AN EVEN BETTER ONE
Kat
“There you are.”
Kat gasped, looking up from her spot behind the massive pot in the greenhouse’s only dark corner. The leaves of whatever she huddled under were huge, and since she already felt so small, it seemed the only place she belonged now that her work was done.
Zaiya had shifted one of the frond’s out of the way and was wiggling a piece of parchment down at her.
“I didn’t put this one on display, but I thought you should see it.
Make sure you look at the back too—that’s where the clues always are.
” Then the demon flitted off, letting the leaf spring back into place and douse Kat in shadows once again.
She squinted at the parchment for a long moment, but there was no seeing it in the dark or through the blurriness of her eyes.
She groaned quietly and peeked out, but there were no canvases displayed so far back in the greenhouse, and she was thankfully alone.
It was the exact opposite of a problem because solitude was supposed to be a joy—except in this exact situation when solitude had her feeling worse than ever.
At least she had the parchment, and after wiping at her eyes, she could finally make out the sketch, obviously one of Azrion’s, and in fact one of his best. Though despite how well the figure was depicted, it still took Kat too long before she recognized herself.
She choked back the sound that wanted to rip out of her—maybe it would have been a squeal of joy or a sob of defeat, but she would never know.
Instead she swallowed and fully took in the drawing of herself curled up asleep in a chair in the corner of the post’s sorting room.
She would have expected her mouth to be hanging open and drool to be dribbling down her front, but it wasn’t like that at all.
This version of her was serene, every line deliberate and attentive, even the one on her face that portrayed the scar she couldn’t remember not having.
The scar that didn’t matter here in this strange place and had perhaps never really mattered at all.
It was difficult to admit, but there was no way around it: she looked beautiful.
But then, it often took seeing oneself through someone else’s eyes to know the truth.
And then she remembered what Zaiya had said, and she flipped the parchment over. Azrion’s fanciful script adorned the corner and read simply, “My Kat.”
“I was wrong about the candle analogy.”
Kat couldn’t look away from his writing, not yet, just in case it would break the spell she’d put herself under to hear his voice one last time.
“Finding your soulbond isn’t like being handed a lantern or a candle or fire on a stick because none of us are really stumbling through the world without any proverbial light, are we? We do know things, we just have to be brave enough to face them.”
Kat’s grip on the sketch was too tight, but she couldn’t let go.
She lifted her head, and Azrion really was there looking so handsome in the coat she’d worked with Mhot to design.
The pair of moths over the breast pocket was as perfect as she’d imagined.
Maybe it had been a little selfish to give the two of them matching designs for the event meant to fix what Azrion had before she came along, but Kat had decided just a little bit more selfishness was okay.
“I’ve come up with a new analogy though!” Azrion took another step toward her, hands clasped behind his back. “Would you like to hear it?”
She nodded carefully, finally able to fold the sketch and pocket it.
“Finding one’s soulbond is like discovering a new pigment for the first time.
Most believe it’s not actually possible, but to see a color no one else has ever seen before would be life altering.
It would have you questioning everything, acting foolishly, afraid to speak the truth for fear of ruining whatever it was you thought you had.
But once you’ve discovered you were living in shades of gray, there would be no going back.
You would only want to paint with that new color, and you would want to show it off to the world. ”
Kat inhaled slowly so that it wouldn’t shudder through her chest. Why had he come here to tell her this?
It was touching, certainly, but it was painful too when she thought that what she felt for him was just as strong as whatever he’d formed with Melora.
It was unfair, in fact, and she bit down on her lip to keep from shouting at him.
“Can I show you something?”
She stepped closer and followed him down a winding path too narrow to use for the exhibition, yet there was an easel at the end of it draped in a heavy linen. Kat hadn’t set this one up.
“Right where Zaiya said it would be.” Azrion sucked in a breath, and in one fell swoop, tore the linen away.
Kat was staring at herself again only this time in full color and twice as large.
The figure of her was sprawled in a field of blue flowers, the glow of the stars lighting up her skin silver and gold.
She was radiant, beautiful, stunning, free.
But her hands clutched something organic and oddly shaped, rivulets of black dripping down her arms. Despite the grisliness, the painting of her wore a contented smile as her blue eyes stared out at the viewer with what she could only describe as love.
“What, um…” She stepped closer and pointed to the mass in her portrait’s hands. “What’s that?”
“Oh, you don’t…shit.” Azrion slapped his forehead and ran a hand down his face.
“That, my darling, is a blightspawn heart, and it only occurs to me in this moment that a human would not be aware of the ancient demon custom of hunting down ferocious blightspawn out in the Dreadmoor, cutting out their still-beating hearts, and presenting them to their mates to profess their undying love. It’s of course not quite done in such a brutal fashion nowadays, and even if it were, your Azrion is not the hunting and cutting type, I fear, but…
” He gestured to the painting and gave her a sideways grin.
Kat looked from the demon to the portrait and back again, slowly piecing together what it all meant. “Did you say my Azrion?”
He drew in a breath. “You stepped into my world and brought every color with you, Katarina. My soul bonded to yours the moment we met in the post, but I didn’t think it was possible, so I came up with excuse after excuse for what the feeling between us was.
Forgive me, darling Kat. And please, if you’ll have me, let me spend the rest of my life making it up to you. ”
She nodded slowly and then eagerly as that feeling she’d been pushing down and fighting for so long exploded in her chest. “Yes, Az. I think I would like that very much.”
He threw his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground as the two spun, laughing through elated tears. Lips met and hands grabbed, and they fell against one another, melting into one.
“Wait,” Kat panted, pushing at his chest to break their mouths apart. “There is one more thing I want.”
“Of course,” he breathed.
“A contract.” She grinned, and she knew it was wicked, but she didn’t care. “One that says you’ll love me forever, you’ll touch me exactly the way I say whenever I want, and that promises me all of your coin.”
Azrion snorted out a laugh and squeezed her close. “Anything for you, darling. Anything.”
The two kissed again, and the world was full of color for them both.