CHAPTER 25
Kilian Valhan was a sight for sore eyes.
He stood outside the sand boundary, in the exact same position I’d left him. Septimus was beside him, the skin around his eyes red. When he saw Lana, he let out a hoarse cry, rushing toward her.
“You’re okay? You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” Septimus kept reciting as he held Lana.
Kilian stared at me, eyes wide. His gaze rose to the tips of my ears, then dropped along my body, as if scanning for injuries.
He took a step forward, halted, and blinked furiously.
The way he was looking at me, it was like he was seeing a ghost. He took a step toward me, shock giving way to realization. “Lirah…?” His voice broke.
I ran to him.
He met me, hands gripping the back of my neck as he tilted my mouth to meet his.
Everything stilled for one, blissful moment.
Even the snow drifting around us paused its descent as we stood locked together.
In this moment, there was no pain, no death.
It was just him and I, warmth and life and a future stretching endlessly ahead.
Slowly, life resumed. Everything felt heightened as an elven.
The sound of the birds chirping overhead.
The feel of the wind on my cheeks. Kilian’s lips against mine.
His whole body trembled as he held me, stroking my hair, my cheeks, every inch of exposed skin.
He was so gentle, like one wrong move might cause me to disappear.
Sobs came from behind us, and I wasn’t sure if it was from Lana or Septimus, or both of them. I couldn’t pull away from Kilian to look.
“You… you’re alive,” he murmured against my lips, almost like he was convincing himself. “I can’t believe…”
He shivered, pulling back to look into my eyes, like he needed to see me to know I was there. It felt like a fever dream to me too. His fingers brushed the tips of my ears and he grinned, his entire face lighting up. “Your ears. They’re like mine.”
I smiled back, but it was a weaker version of his. “The others didn’t make it.”
He pulled me to him again, breathing me in, fingers still shaking slightly as he ran his hand over my lower back. “There are no words for how sorry I am. Moric’s brother will be well cared for. I hope you know that. All the families of the candidates will never want for anything.”
I nodded against his chest, but my heart still burned fiercely.
He held me tightly, and I could hear his heart racing, beating like a war had just ended and he had somehow managed to survive.
I reached for the link, but there was only silence at the back of my mind. “I can’t feel you anymore. The link…”
“The sacred oath has been fulfilled,” he said, “Your mortal life has ended. I cannot feel you, either.”
The thought made my chest throb dully. I had hated the link for so long, thought it so intrusive of my innermost thoughts and feelings, but now that it was gone, I felt hollow, like a piece of me was missing.
“Are you hurt?” Kilian asked.
Apart from an overwhelming thirst and my frostbitten fingers, the pain of the transformation had subsided, replaced by a constant, prowling energy.
“Not by the Rite. The transformation was rough, but I’m okay.
The training – the channeling, it worked for both Lana and I.
There haven’t been any survivors since Augustine, but what we learned helped. You helped.” I squeezed his hand.
Kilian’s brows drew together. “I don’t doubt the training helped, but… I told you, that sort of skill takes many years to hone. Channeling the current wasn’t the sole reason you survived.”
I blinked up at him. “What? What else could it have been?”
He hesitated. “You must be freezing. Let’s go back to the house and get you warmed up before we talk about it.
We will talk about it,” he said, as my lips parted to argue.
“But my priority is your well-being.” Kilian kissed me on the brow, before grasping my hand to lead me down the trail, back to Valhan House.
I glanced over my shoulder to where Septimus and Lana still stood huddled near the boundary, their heads bent together as they spoke to each other.
“They’ll be fine,” Kilian assured me. “Septimus will take care of her. Let me take care of you, and then I’ll answer all your questions.”
Curiosity burned through my veins, but he was right.
I needed to soak my aching muscles in a bath.
And I needed to eat. I was starving. We descended quicker than it had taken to ascend the trail.
My body moved easily, sinuously, with the slightly longer limbs.
Even my muscles felt stronger. We entered the house, Kilian pulling me past the dorms on the third floor, to his bedroom on the fifth.
“What about Calendula?” I inquired. I wanted to see the shadow sprite and thank her for everything. To tell her I had passed the Rite.
“She returned home to the Shadow Soil. She was too anxious you wouldn’t make it through. She’s really grown to care for you,” Kilian said. “I’ll send her a message, though.”
I nodded. I couldn’t fault her for leaving. I knew how much she hated being away from her home.
Kilian opened his bedroom door. It was as I remembered it. I stared at the bed. Was this our room now? He hadn’t formally asked, and I wasn’t the expert on elven traditions. I assumed we’d be sharing it from now on, but maybe he hadn’t really expected me to pass the Rite and now he felt obliged–
“The link’s gone, so I won’t know what’s bothering you unless you tell me,” Kilian said.
I realized my brows had scrunched as I considered our living arrangements.
“What a shame,” I jibed, “that you can no longer spy on my innermost thoughts.”
“It truly is a pity,” he said. “I rather enjoyed your thoughts, violent as they were.”
I huffed a short laugh. “I was just wondering… where I’d stay now.”
“Here, obviously. Unless you don’t want to? Your room’s still available on the third floor if you’d prefer, I just thought… the hallway will be empty now.”
My eyes closed, a hard lump forming in my throat. Moric would no longer be next door to me. And Lana would likely room with Septimus.
“Right. I mean, here’s fine. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to–”
“Hey.” He pulled me against him, arms wrapping around me. “I don’t want you going anywhere. If I could, I’d keep you in my bed all day.”
I smiled against his chest. “All day?”
“And night. I meant what I said yesterday. I love you.” He lifted my chin and our eyes met. “Will you remember that?”
I nodded.
He pressed a soft kiss to my lips then drew away, a hand sliding down to grab mine as he led me to the bathroom. He pointed out where the towels, bath salts and soaps were and turned to leave.
“I’ll have some food sent up,” he said, closing the door behind him.
Alone in the bathroom, I let the water run in the tub.
I mixed blue and green salts together, watching as the colors swirled into a pretty teal, before shucking off my clothes and stepping into the bath.
I let the water wash over me, sinking low until my entire body was covered.
I held my breath, surprised to find that thirty seconds had passed, yet I was still comfortably submerged.
It was so quiet, so still, beneath the water.
Like life itself was muffled. I could pretend that Anama and Moric, and all the other candidates were alive for one idyllic minute, before crushing reality set in.
I resurfaced. Water streamed off my face, and I slicked my hair back, breathing in the soapy scent to ground me.
I scrubbed myself clean and dried off with a fluffy towel before padding into the bedroom.
Kilian wasn’t there, but the smell of food greeted me as soon as I entered the room, and my stomach clenched.
A fresh set of clothes had been laid out on the bed.
I changed quickly before surveying the food.
Several bowls were arranged on a tray. I salivated at the contents.
I picked up a bowl of what looked like creamy pumpkin soup, bringing the spoon to my lips.
I moaned at the taste. It was unlike anything I’d ever eaten before – spiced to perfection, with a hint of cinnamon and something else I couldn’t quite place my finger on.
“I thought you only made those sounds for me.” Kilian stood at the doorway, amusement lighting his face.
“You wish you tasted as good as this soup,” I teased.
He snorted, stepping into the room proper. “It’s elven. You’ve never tried our food before. Doesn’t it make that mortal stuff seem horrendously bland?”
I smiled, then remembered that Moric would never get the chance to try it. Fresh grief cut through my chest once more, and I set the spoon down with a clatter. “Are you ready to talk about how I survived the Rite?”
Kilian took a seat on the corner of his bed and ran a hand down his face. “Septimus is speaking to Lana about it now. I thought it best we do this separately.”
He was being cagey. I noted how his eyes did not meet mine; they were fixed on a spot on the floor. Anxiety settled in the pit of my stomach.
“You told me Augustine didn’t explain much about the Rite to you. He didn’t tell you why his body was able to process the current when no one else could?” Kilian asked.
“Yeah, that’s right. I just assumed he used one of the channeling methods.”
“No… we didn’t understand it at the time, but we later found out that somewhere along his family tree, his bloodline had been mixed with that of an elven.
Though very distantly related, Augustine was of elven descent.
And when the power of the Rite surged through his body, it was that ancient elven blood that stirred awake to protect him. ”
“But then…” My eyes grew wide. “He was not fully mortal?”
Kilian nodded. “He had mortal parents and grandparents. Even his great grandparents had been mortal. But, yes, there was some part of him that was elven.”