Chapter Fifty-Eight – Scarlett #2
I walked past Malek, momentarily speechless. A selection of Ravalian plants and flowers enveloped me: all colourful, deadly and familiar. Some of my favourites from the greenhouse in Ravalia. The greenhouse I had destroyed, except – here it was. Brought back to life.
‘Severin would have loved this,’ I breathed, thinking of the precious moments we had shared together. How he had loved exploring it with me and telling me the names of the flowers. ‘Was that why you did it?’ I asked Malek, unable to tear my gaze away from the plants. ‘To honour him?’
‘I did it to honour you,’ a deep, melodious voice said.
Every inch of my body went still. Taut and tense as a wire.
I turned slowly, tentatively, not daring to believe it.
But there he was, standing amongst the greenery, dressed in the same clothes Malek had been wearing a few seconds earlier.
He looked as devastatingly beautiful as I remembered, but his expression was infinitely softer as he regarded me, his mismatched eyes intent on mine.
‘Hello, Scar,’ he murmured.
I didn’t move. I hardly even breathed as my eyes swept over him: the tattoos creeping across his dark skin, the kohl darkening his eyes, the gold dust glittering invitingly on his full lips.
‘You’re dead.’ It was all I could think to say. ‘Zandri killed you.’
‘Do I feel dead to you?’ Severin asked, bringing my hand up to his chest. The warmth of his skin met mine, and so did the rhythmic thump of his heartbeat.
I tried to respond – to ask the obvious question – but the words wouldn’t come. I just kept staring at his chest, watching the way it rose and fell beneath my hand. Had he – had he been masquerading as Malek this entire time ?
Severin took hold of my shoulders and gently eased me down, until we were sitting side by side on the edge of a cascading fountain.
‘Everything I told you about my past was true,’ he said softly, his eyes never leaving mine.
‘I grew up in the Western Lands – and I was the only survivor of a massacre that claimed the lives of my family and my village. But on that day, I fought my way to our temple and begged the Sorceress to save my family. As I lay dying from my wounds, her voice answered me – impossibly clear. She told me that it was too late for them, but that it wasn’t too late for me. If I was willing to accept the price.’
I felt Selussa listening, and I knew that every word was the truth. Somehow, she had saved Severin’s life.
‘She led me to a vial of her blood. There was only enough for me, but I hoped – somehow, I still hoped that I could find a way of saving my family as well. When I returned, my parents and sister were dead, and my village had been razed to the ground.’ Severin paused, but he didn’t look away from me.
Allowing me to glimpse the true depth of the pain – and guilt – he carried.
‘I removed the blade from my mother’s body, intending to use it to join her.
But my wound healed. Every wound eventually healed. ’
‘So,’ I said through numb lips, ‘when you fell from the battlements . . .’
‘The fall wasn’t fatal – though I made sure Zandri believed it was. I even took a corpse from the infirmary for her to burn. One that resembled me enough to ensure she was satisfied.’
‘Because you thought she would try again.’ It was the only explanation that made sense. He started to say something but I spoke before he could, my voice rising. ‘Why didn’t you come to me? I would have helped you. I would have protected you from my mother.’
‘You would have tried. But what would Zandri have done,’ Severin asked gently, ‘if she discovered you were working against her? Or if she discovered the full extent of my regenerative abilities?’
I shook my head, unwilling to concede the point. ‘If you had come to me, if you had trusted me with your secrets–’
‘I wanted to,’ Severin interrupted, his voice soft, ‘but I couldn’t. I–’
‘You didn’t trust me.’
‘It was more complicated than that. I knew you would have to make a choice – a choice that had the power to destroy or save nations.’ Severin’s eyes were filled with unexpected gravity as he studied me.
‘There were many visions of the future, Scarlett, but only one in which Kalure didn’t fall.
Where you and Kasmira weren’t at odds – but working together to reshape your worlds.
That vision only came to pass if you understood who Zandri really was. ’
‘You wanted me to believe you were dead,’ I said, my voice trembling as the full ramifications of his words sank in.
‘Would you have turned against Zandri otherwise?’
I stood and took a step back from him. I didn’t care what he thought I might or might not have done – he had never given me the chance to find out.
‘I am sorry for the pain I caused you,’ Severin said, standing as well. It was impossible to doubt the sincerity radiating from him. ‘There were many times when I wanted to reveal myself, to help guide your path forward. But you had to make your own choices. I couldn’t make them for you.’
‘It seems you tried,’ I said coolly. ‘Why else would you have shown me the vision of your death?’
Severin didn’t deny it. He took a step towards me–
I shoved him. Hard.
He stumbled back, and the lack of surprise on his face was infuriating. He had probably Seen that, too – which meant that he was choosing to let my anger play out.
Gods, why had I fallen in love with an Artisan ?
Severin moved closer, undeterred by the glare I levelled on him. My traitorous heart lurched at his proximity.
‘I hate you,’ I told him, but there was no heat in the words.
‘No,’ Severin whispered against my lips. ‘You love me.’
‘Sometimes it feels like the same thing.’
He chuckled. ‘I know.’
I might have kissed him, or he might have kissed me, but suddenly our lips were intertwined and we were falling to the ground, our bodies tangling together.
My hands threaded through his soft, ebony hair, and he tore away the layers of clothing separating us, until all I could feel was his bare skin against mine.
Until I couldn’t tell where his body ended and mine began.
All I knew was that he was somehow here with me. Real, tangible, alive . A miracle, except I had never believed in miracles until now.
Until him .
He kissed away the tears streaking my cheeks with heart-wrenching tenderness. But I wasn’t in the mood for slow, languorous kisses and sensuous lovemaking. I needed him like I needed air, and I knew he needed me in exactly the same way.
There had never been anyone else for either of us. I had always known that, but now . . . now I felt the truth of it in my entire being. The others had only touched my body.
Severin touched my soul .
Our eyes never shifted from each other’s, every kiss and caress and exquisite spark of pleasure a choice. A promise.
There would be no going back after this.
You’re mine , I thought to Severin. And I’m yours.
Always . His voice was warm and familiar and somehow inside my mind. Always, Scarlett .
A joining – that was what this was. Powerful and sensual and deliberate, and as I felt Selussa stir within me, the necklace I wore beginning to glow, I knew that Severin could feel her too. Knew that when he looked into my eyes, he was also looking into hers.
And she was looking into his.
The three of us connected by a shared history – or perhaps something far greater. Fate.
Passion crackled between us like lightning, and as Severin moved inside me–
I knew I was home.
Afterwards, we lay sprawled out amongst the greenery, listening to the songbirds and the soft trickle of water.
It was all achingly familiar, and with him here, it felt like something out of a dream. One I never wanted to wake up from.
‘You . . .’ I paused as something occurred to me. ‘You tricked me into making you a king .’
‘A Provincial Governor,’ he corrected.
‘Oh no,’ I said, twisting to look at him. ‘You knew I would give Zigilia its independence. You made yourself a king . Benevolent King Severin of the Western Lands.’ I should have been furious, but somehow, I was smiling.
Amusement deepened Severin’s voice. ‘I thought you would appreciate the cleverness of it.’
I leant back against his chest. ‘Is this what you always wanted? To rule Zigilia?’
‘No,’ Severin said evenly. ‘All I wanted was to set Zigilia back on a more traditional path, restoring the rule of the seers. I hid some of them from Zandri when I was sent to hunt them down. Now that the Western Lands are more stable, and Ravalia is no longer a threat, it’s my intention to install one of them in my place. ’
‘Do you have someone in mind?’
I felt Severin’s lips curve against my neck. ‘Avril.’
‘Avril?’ That made no sense. ‘She’s a Mask , not a seer–’
‘Can’t she be both?’
Now that he’d said it, I remembered that Avril was Zigilian. But–
‘Will the people accept her?’
‘They will.’ No hesitation in his voice. ‘I’ve Seen it. Avril and I have already put the necessary steps in place.’
It smarted, somehow. Yet another plan that he had set into motion, this time with someone I had trusted. A Mask who had been concealing her true intentions from me for months –
Severin’s slight smile told me that he knew exactly what I was thinking.
He shifted so that his back was to the trickling fountain behind us.
‘Avril didn’t know any more than you at first. As you’re aware, Artisans – or seers – can’t See the future of others like them.
But after I took over Zigilia and began working with her, I told her everything. ’
I shivered as his fingers brushed my skin. An almost absent-minded gesture, except–
‘And this?’ I asked as Severin lifted the aquamarine necklace I wore. It wasn’t lost on me that it was the same shade of blue as my eyes. As the Sorceress’s power. ‘You didn’t buy it at a stall, did you?’
‘No.’ A reverent note entered his voice as he said, ‘This revealed itself to me in Kalure as pure light and energy. It materialised over an icy lake – directly above the young woman drowning beneath.’
I went very still.
‘Before then, I didn’t like you very much.
’ Severin’s mouth curved. ‘I didn’t see your struggles – only your privilege.
But when I felt the Sorceress’s spirit, and when her spirit became this necklace .
. . I knew she was giving me a message – that I had to help you.
And when I started to look out for you, to help you understand your magic and keep you safe from your mother and brothers .
. . I started to see who you truly were.
Who you had the potential to become.’ He shifted so that we were looking at each other.
‘It was impossible not to love you then.’
It’s not a ring , Severin had told me when he had given me this necklace. But perhaps you can think of it as a promise. Because I want to be with you, Scar. There’s nothing I want more .
‘When you gave this to me . . .’
‘I gave you my trust,’ Severin finished with aching gentleness.
‘I gave you the power to destroy the world – or to save it. And . . . I gave us a way to remain connected. Even when I couldn’t physically be with you, I knew I could use this necklace as a tether.
To appear to you if you ever truly needed me. ’
Like he had during the battle with Roran. When I had contemplated taking Fennec’s deal and Severin had appeared to warn me.
I closed my eyes, revelling in the warmth emanating from Severin and Selussa, banishing any trace of death magic and cold from my veins. And as I leant back against Severin’s chest, there was something so special about this moment that I wondered if it had always been meant to be.
If the three of us were always meant to find each other.
‘I suppose you already know what’s going to happen next?’ I asked, peering up at Severin.
‘You still have choices to make,’ he said, his fingers stroking my hair. ‘I can tell you what those choices are – but I think you already know.’
‘We could return to Ravalia and rule together.’
Severin nodded, his expression inscrutable. ‘We could.’
The thought seemed far more enticing with him by my side, but I still hesitated, unsure if that was what either of us truly wanted.
The moment Zandri had died, my thirst for power had died with her.
No longer did I feel the same desperate need to prove myself to my family or my subjects.
Nor did I need a crown in order to feel protected.
Between Severin and Selussa, I had everything I would ever need. Everything – and more.
Perhaps it was time to discover exactly who I was outside of my mother’s reach and that of the Court. To truly become my own person.
‘You once told me,’ I said softly, ‘that there’s a whole world beyond the Ravalian Empire. Civilisations and religions and magic just waiting to be discovered.’
I had the sense that Severin was holding his breath. ‘What are you saying?’
‘We’re finally free,’ I said, my hand tightening around his. ‘So let’s embrace that freedom. Together.’
‘I love you,’ Severin murmured to me, and for the first time, hearing those words filled me with happiness rather than fear.
‘I love you too,’ I replied, and I meant it completely. Wholeheartedly. Which was how I knew I was making the right choice. ‘I think the Ravalian Empire will thrive under Cassius’s guidance, at least for the next few decades. And we’ll have plenty of time to rule if we want to.’
I felt Severin smile against my ear. ‘We have eternity.’
That thought had terrified me once. It didn’t terrify me now.
‘Eternity,’ I whispered as I claimed Severin’s lips once more. ‘I like the sound of that.’