Chapter 86
It was hard to break away from Sana's kiss and now that he and Kaladin had fully merged, all he wanted to do was to make up for lost time with her.
Their souls had spent too many lifetimes being so close, yet so far away from each other and he didn't want to waste this life with her.
They may have another monumental battle facing them like the Great War of the past, but that didn't mean he was going to forsake this chance they had with each other.
I understand your yearning, brother.
Rhys murmured.
But we must also take things slow with our Sana. She has yet to merge with her phoenix. She doesn't share the same memories as you, yet.
I know, but it's hard when I'm finally where I should have always been and in love with the woman who I should've bound my heart to a long, long time ago.
Rhyel sighed, leaving a soft kiss against Sana's lips before he gently pulled away from her.
A smile graced his lips as her eyes fluttered open and heart simmered at the warm tenderness swirling in her beautiful violet depths.
"Sana," he murmured, caressing her bottom lip with his thumb.
"There's nothing I'd love more than to spend eternity exploring you and your mouth. "
Her eyes grew wide as laughter escaped her lips. "I-I...didn't realize that's, um, that's what we were doing just...just now," she said, looking away from him as she rubbed hand over her arm. "I-I need to learn how to control this bond we share. I'm so sorry."
Rhyel shook his head, turning her face back to him.
"There's nothing for you to apologize for, my Lady.
It's my fault too and we have nothing to feel ashamed of," he said, grinning as he brushed a kiss against her cheek.
"The bond will settle eventually, but I don't want this small embarrassment to push you back into that shell you've been hiding for so long. "
"No, my Lord," she said, smiling as she shook her head.
"I...I don't want to go back into that shell.
" She curled her fingers around his wrist. "I've spent too much of my life hiding from the world.
" The joy shimmering in her eyes and glowing on her face sent a warm tingle down his spine.
"This bond of ours can be quite embarrassing, but Ember keeps reminding me that we're allowed to feel like this for you and as you said, there's nothing to be ashamed of.
Ember says we've waited too many lifetimes not to embrace who we are to each other. "
Rhyel nodded, the warm tingles pooling in his gut as his smile grew wider. "Ember is absolutely right," he said, taking her hand and threading his fingers through hers. "Now, wasn't there something you wanted to show me before we left the south?"
"Yes," Sana said, looking away from him to a small forest of gnarly trees and lush green shrubbery nestled in the sands at the edge of the crumbled estate. "I'd like to show you the ruins of my mother's sanctuary and I want to say goodbye."
"Of course." Rhyel caressed the back of her hand before he brought it to his lips and grazed her soft, warm skin with a kiss. "I'd be honored to see it."
The gentle serene smile gracing her lips was something he always wanted to see. The peace, contentment and steadfastness in her eyes instead of the worry, shame and disquiet that used to hang at the edges of her violet depths whether she was laughing, crying or smiling was a welcoming sight.
He trailed his eyes over her, her skirts billowing around her legs and her vibrant curls swirling in the soft breeze as they walked along a shaded pebbled path that wound through patches of green cacti and big leafy trees with twisted trunks.
His heart thumped, a blush crept up his neck and burned over his bronzed cheeks as he gazed at the glowing woman beside him.
He'd always thought Sana was beautiful, and he wasn't sure if it was purely the newness of their bond, but he would truly lay down his life so that she would always shine like this as if the sun, the moon and the stars shone from her essence.
I don't know what this is, brother, but I feel it too.
Rhys murmured, lazily wagging his tail behind him.
And it is an odd, but wonderful feeling.
Mm, it is.
Rhyel said, wrapping his arm around Sana's waist and lifting her over a thick overgrown tree root that had grown through the path.
I don't want it to fade or go away.
"Thank you," Sana said, laughing. "I've never crossed that without straddling it."
Rhyel chuckled, squeezing her side. "Then I'm glad I'm with you, my Lady."
She nodded, biting her lip. "So am I," she said as the gnarly curved trees and thick brush along the path opened up to a sandy circular clearing in the middle of the forest. "This is it.
" Sana smiled, waving her arm over the reddened, sun-beaten clay stone ruins dotted in the sand. "This was my mother's sanctuary."
Glancing around the ruins, Rhyel imagined the weathered stones were once a domed sanctuary that captured the brilliance of the sun and the soft shades of the forest enclosing it.
The only thing left standing from the memory of this butterfly haven was the crumbling arch with 'Sune Sanctuary' carved into the sun-beaten stone.
"It's beautiful," Rhyel said, squeezing her hand as they walked under Sune's arch. He nodded to the garden of rocks and pink flowering succulents lying like a manicured shrine within the golden sands. "Is that your garden?"
"Yes," she said, with a smile tugging at her lips as they neared her garden.
"It's where I buried all the butterflies who were unfortunate enough to visit me in the estate.
" She kneeled in the warm sand before her makeshift shrine.
"It's the only way I knew how to care for them in their afterlife since I couldn't care for them while they lived.
" Pressing her hands over the stones, she closed her eyes.
"It's also the place I feel closest to my mother and where I'd come to ask her for forgiveness. "
Rhyel's heart clenched at the tears that rolled down her cheeks. He knew it must be hard for her to say goodbye to such an important place. He knelt beside her, threading his fingers through hers lying over the stones. "And what do you want to ask her now?" he whispered.
"I wish I could ask her why she made certain choices and I wish I could ask her to help me.
" Sana took a deep breath, laughing softly as she opened her tearful eyes and looked over at him.
"But I...I also want to thank her," she said, pressing her forehead against his.
"Because if she and your mother hadn't made the choices they did, we never would've met.
I...I would've always been trapped in my shell, I never would've got the chance to live or meet someone I care for like you. "
Rhyel let out a ragged breath at her admission. Although her eyes were wet with unshed tears, he'd never seen them so clear as if she and Ember were speaking as one.
And even though she hadn't confessed it, her love vibrated and emanated through his scales entwined in her ring and the chain of her dragon's breath hanging from her neck making his skin tingle from the soft, sweet licks of her emotions.
"I want to thank our mothers for this too," he said, sliding his hands over her cheeks. "And we can do that," he said, wiping away her tears with a gentle caress of his thumbs. "We can honor them and everything they've done for us as long as we're not afraid to be and stay together, Sana."
"I'm not afraid," she said, wrapping her hands around his wrist.
"Neither am I," he whispered, getting lost in the amorous glow burning behind her tender gaze. "I love you, Sana. You have my heart and I don't want to give it to anyone else."
His heart thumped and a comforting warmth spread down his spine as she placed her hand over his heart.
"You have mine too, Rhyel," she whispered.
"And I...I want to love you," she said, biting her lip.
"I just...I need your patience. The only love I've ever felt were the few years I spent with my mother and the few fatherly moments I've spent with Dante. "
"I know. I'm prepared to wait for you and show you what love is," he said, kissing the side of her mouth. "I'm not going anywhere and neither is my love for you."
"Thank you," Sana said, caressing the back of his hand as a whispered laugh left her lips. "Ember is trilling so loudly in my mind right now. She is very happy with you, my Lord."
"I'm glad." He grinned, kissing her forehead. "But are you happy, Sana?"
The smile that lit up her face and seemed to dry the remnants of tears in her eyes punched him in the gut, filling him with a wealth of adoration for her. "I am," she said, looking back at the shrine she created in honor of her mother. "And I'm ready to say goodbye to this part of my life."
Rhyel nodded. "That's good and I'm proud of you, but you don't have to forget this place or leave it behind."
Sana frowned, looking back at him. "What do you mean?"
"We can take the ruins of your mother's sanctuary and your garden with us, if that's something you want?"
"We...we can? But how could you displace something as big as this?" she said, looking around the circular area. "What would you put in its place?"
"I wouldn't have to displace anything," Rhyel said, glancing around as he mentally calculated the space within the ruins, the structure of the arch and compared it to the space in Sana's sanctuary. "There's enough space in your sanctuary beyond the pond to house this very comfortably."
"Are you certain?"
"Mm-hm." He nodded. "I'm sure of it," he said, looking back at her. "Would you like me to move it there for you, now?"
Her eyes lit up as she grasped his arm, her curls bouncing in excitement as she nodded. "Yes!" she exclaimed before clearing her throat. "I-I mean as long as it wouldn't be too much trouble for you."
Rhyel chuckled. "Nothing is or ever will be too much trouble if it's for you," he said, standing and taking her with him. "Would you like to help me move it?"
"Sure, but how can I?" she said, looking at her hands. "I may be a phoenix, but I don't know how to tap into my abilities yet."
"That's okay. This can be your first lesson to know what casting feels like," he said, guiding her to the perimeter of the ruins. "Everyone who has a gift or ability has an innate power to cast spells."
Rhyel turned her around, positioning her just before the arch with Sune's name carved into it.
Sliding his hands along her arms, more to tease himself with the feel of her buttery soft skin, he threaded his fingers through hers and lifted their arms with their palms facing the ruins.
"Instead of a displacement spell, we're going to cast a spell of transposement on these ruins and your shrine.
That way, the magic won't require something to replace the ruins, but the forest will grow into these sands in its place and the ruins will be forgotten here. Are you okay with that sacrifice?"
Sana nodded. "Yes, I'd rather have the memory of my mother's sanctuary with me in Darcanos. Sirius destroyed this place to hurt me. He doesn't deserve to live with the memory of my mother here."
A swell of pride swept through Rhyel at the fierceness of her decision.
"As you wish, my Lady," he said as his hands began to glow against hers.
"As you learn to channel your energy you'll be able to gather power like this to your fingertips.
" He smiled as she gasped, feeling the tingling sensation of magic prickle her skin and flow into her. "Do you feel that warmth?"
"Yes," she breathed. "It...it feels peaceful."
"Good, it should always feel peaceful to you as it's nothing to be afraid of," he said, leaning down to her ear. "Now, to help me, I need you to close your eyes and think of the place beyond the pond where these ruins will rest and find peace in their new home."
"Okay," she whispered, closing her eyes.
Rhyel took a deep breath, reciting a whispered transposing spell in his mind.
The smile tugging at his lips grew wider as he felt Sana's hesitant power mix with his as a gentle wind picked up around them.
The sand swirled around the ruins as glittering streams of blue and purple energy engulfed the circular space between the path of dark green forest.
Sana's sanctuary in the castle transposed over his vision as her mother's sanctuary found its place beyond the pond, nestling into the leafy green foliage growing around it while sand rained down, settling around it as if it still lived within the sun-kissed lands of the south.
The butterflies fluttered and flew within its structure, swirling around Sana's shrine for her mother and fallen butterflies.
The vibrant beings gathered around 'Sune' carved into the weather beaten arch as if they instinctively knew it had come from their beloved Lady and caretaker.
Letting out a deep breath, Rhyel blinked and released his magic over the empty sands that once housed the old ruins. A surprised laugh left Sana's lips as she turned around his arms with a joyous smile splayed across her lips. "I-I saw it! The butterflies seem to be happy the ruins are there, too!"
"Of course they are," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "They can feel your essence among the ruins and I'm sure they can feel your mother and your butterflies too."
Sana wrapped her arms around his shoulders and his heart stuttered at the unfiltered joy radiating from her. He'd never seen her this happy since he'd known her and she was...she was...
Everything. The sun, the moon, and the heavens. I want her to be our everything.
Rhys sighed in longing.
And I wish she could be our true mate as much as you, brother.
"Thank you," Sana said, leaning up on her tip-toes and pressing a soft, sweet and tender kiss against his lips. "Thank you for everything, Rhyel," she whispered against his lips. "I'm ready for life with you," she murmured. "I'm ready for everything with you."
When she spoke like this, she held his heart in the palm of her hand and he wished, prayed and hoped that his soul would certainly follow.
"So am I, Sana," he said, trailing his hand up the line of her spine. "There's nothing I want more," he whispered, tangling his fingers in the soft curls at the base of her neck, cradling her head as he caught her lips with his and drowned in the intoxicating taste of her.
Because he never wanted to feel this way for anyone else.
Sana Zarathos was the only woman he'd ever need, want or love in this lifetime and he wouldn't let the foreboding darkness drive a wedge between them or take him away from her.
He vowed to stand tall beside her, protect her and spend forever being whatever she needed to keep this brilliant joy flowing through her.
And I hope you enjoyed the first part of The Burning of Sana Lightbourne!