Chapter 14 #2
“She was sent to work at Mount Kaiver. Oz has been taking it poorly.” Kadian sighed.
“It’s been strange, you know, not being together all the time now.
Him being in the Eternal Court, and me, somehow, in the Court of Shadows.
How did that happen?” Kadian turned to face me, “Do you think Brida paid Alvar to do it?”
“Paid a prince? In what? Sexual favors?” I raised an eyebrow at him, sarcasm dripping from each of my words. “Pretty sure she’s spoken for.”
“Money obviously. But you should never assume what Brida is capable of. Did she ever tell you about our visit to Asteros? I swear, she was luckier that night than I was…”
“Yes, Kadian.” I cut him off, “Brida offered money to one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Eldara to ensure you were offered a place in his court.” A giggle erupted from me, “You must be exhausted if this is what you’ve been thinking about.”
Kadian’s laugh boomed, undoing the unease that had coiled in my chest, unraveling some of the knots that had made a permanent home there.
“It sounds ridiculous now that I’ve said it out loud.” He keeled over with laughter. “Ah, Gods,” he wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes, “I can’t remember the last time I laughed like this.”
We settled into our laughter, taking the time to just look at each other. There was a stillness in the air, a knowledge that I was where I was supposed to be.
“The auburn in your hair suits you.” I mused, tempted to run my hand through it.
Would it feel different somehow? Would he feel different than the last time I’d touched him?
He’d been asleep when I’d arrived at his room in the infirmary.
I’d run my hand through his hair and along his cheek, whispering, begging him to come back to me. To us.
“I don’t think the red suits me.” His hand snaked toward mine, his smallest finger locking with my own. We had never touched like this, been like this. Even under the cover of darkness, in the nights in which he’d come to my room, we’d only spoken. Yearning for the company of a likeminded soul.
“Nothing has changed about you. But why would you change what is perfect?”
My heart threatened to burst from my chest. The way he looked at me, the way he looked through me. Assessing each part of me, the corners I had sought to keep hidden.
I cleared my throat, shaking myself free from his stare. “You are such a flirt, Kadian Taldot.”
“From the moment I saw you, I knew you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. And ever would.” His thumb rubbed circles over my hand, my breath catching with each slow and sensuous movement.
“But you’re married now, and what’s a lowly pleb like me to do?”
Married. In the eyes of Eldara, I was spoken for. Marriage is for life, Lilianna. No matter how much we wish it not to be so. My mother’s words drifted in and out of my mind as evenly as the tide.
I wanted to tell him that none of it was true, that all of it had been a nightmare. But it would have been a lie. And we didn’t lie to each other.
“I don’t think anyone has ever referred to you as such. Boisterous, charming, handsome, an earthquake, all yes. A pleb? No.”
“Handsome?” His smirk returned while he threw a wink my way.
I inched closer to him, desperate to feel the warmth radiating from him. But unlike Dainan, Kadian wasn’t as warm.
“Can I ask you something?” I returned my gaze to the water, the tide was coming in.
“Of course.” His hands fiddled with the sand.
“What drew you to Brida?”
“Drew me to her? What do you mean?” His brow furrowed.
“I mean,” I turned to face him once more, “was there something about Brida that was irresistible? Not in a romantic way…” I tripped over my words.
For fuck’s sake, get it together, Lil. You know there’s nothing romantic going on between them.
Brida had nearly gagged at the mention of it.
Kadian had looked so revolted he’d almost turned green. “What made you want to be her friend?”
His face was pensive. Perhaps reliving one of the many memories he and Brida shared.
“I’m not sure anything drew me to her. She was always just there.
” His smile tore through me, like wings beating just beneath my skin.
“I never questioned it. It felt like fate. Like we were meant to be in each other’s lives.
The same way I felt the day we met you.”
Warmth rushed to my cheeks as we looked out on the horizon, the sun was trying to break through. “What a strange place,” I murmured, gazing up at the star-littered sky, the deep purple hues beginning to fade to orange. “I don’t think I’ve had a dream like this before.”
He said nothing for a few moments, offering me stillness. Something that with anyone other than him would have my pulse racing, my mind unable to stop. But with him, there was familiarity. An acceptance of everything that was and everything that would be. Knowing that we would face it together.
“This is not the first time you have been in one of my dreams, Lil,” Kadian said, his voice reverent.
My eyes found him and their golden hues radiated warmth, pulling me closer to him.
I nestled in closer as Kadian wrapped his arm around me.
The first touch to not make me jump in months.
“Nor will it be the last. Just promise me one day you’ll come back to us. To me.”
“I’ll find my way back to you. I promise.” Reaching for Kadian’s hand, the callouses rubbed against the smooth skin of my own. He was a fighter. I placed it against my cheek, laying my hand atop his own. “I never break a promise.”
My eyes fluttered closed, lost in the contentment of the moment. Feeling the peace and calm permeate my senses, it was bliss. Until the earth shook, shells jumping upward on the beach, the grains of sand scattering to the sides. A door emerged from the depths separating Kadian and me.
“Lil?” Worry tinged his voice.
“It’s time.” The door whispered.
We stood on each side, and as I placed my hand and cheek to the door, I whispered. “I will come back to you.”
“Lil…Lil…I…I…” Kadian pounded the door as I turned the handle. This was a dream. I knew it had been a dream.
Out of desperation, will, or searching for something to hold onto, I could have sworn that as I closed the door on the beach behind me, I heard faintly “you.”