36. Chapter Thirty-Six #2
“I’ll get the box and plead with the woman at the well to open it for me. That’s not what I want to do, but I’m not giving up because you lack faith in me.” I move away from him and pick up his shirt from the ground to wear.
“We’ve been over this. There’s no lack in my faith of you. It’s everything else that will seek to hurt you. It’s all the proof that this curse is most likely unbreakable.”
“I’m going, and you can either give me a chance or make things much harder for me.”
“What if I order you to stay as your king?”
“Since when have I ever obeyed my king?”
“That’s for damn sure.” He scowls and climbs out of bed, putting his pants on, and though I’ve seen him fully naked, there is something about the way his pants sit so low on his hips that makes me want to take him back to bed.
“I can’t give you the key. If you die on that mountain, the curse will remain, and I won’t even be able to leave the border of my castle to comfort you as your life is stolen. ”
I take off the ring on my left finger and leave on the one of light, only because I might need it. “Goodbye, Zyon.”
“Neera.” He grits his teeth and takes several steps toward me.
I hold out my hand and shake my head. “No, don’t touch me! Do not follow me.”
He keeps a small space between us. “Come back to bed, and we’ll discuss this in the morning.”
“We won’t discuss anything in the morning. You’ll continue not to give me the key and make excuses about why being selfish is better. There was never a point I wasn’t ending up on that mountain, and you know it.”
“Please let me hold you until the morning sun lights your face from the window above, and then we will talk about it all. One night is all I ask.” He holds out his hand but doesn’t take another step toward me. “Please.”
The brokenness in his currently blue eyes has me taking his hand and accepting his invitation.
Only he doesn’t realize it’s to settle him again and not to wait for the sun.
The moment I’m sure he’s fallen back to sleep, I wait for him to sink deeper.
I slide out of his arms, return to my room, and gather everything I need but the ring.
I don’t dare go look at Zyon again, though my heart wants nothing more.
Lazzus stands right outside the main door of the castle. “Put the cloak on. It’s for you.”
“What will it do?”
“Hide you from anything in the sky or above in the trees. It wasn’t something I was allowed to give you directly, but if you found it on your own, that wasn’t on me. I couldn’t put an enchantment on it to make easier to find either, but a friend of mine could.”
“Sneaky, and the dagger?”
“It will stab with little effort, as though you are slicing through air, even on the toughest hide. It will cut a tree stump like butter. That will tire you less quickly.”
I put the cloak on and sniffle. “The king doesn’t think I can do this.”
“The king is a fool.”
“A fool whom I love.” My bottom lip quivers.
Lazzus comes over and pulls my hood around me, adjusting it much longer than he probably needs to.
“Keep this up at all times. You can do this, Neera. You can. All the years you trained with Ivelle and your guild to know potions and remedies will help take down great foes and heal any wounds you might gain. The fighting skills you gained traveling to the villages for years, and over these months with the king will help you need the potions less. All of it will help you survive.”
“Will it be enough?”
“For the woman who once beheaded a full grown typhon to save her brother, it will be. For you have always had the courage and strength you needed for this fate. That’s what I know above all things.”
It gives me a slight boost of confidence, but the distress of Zyon possibly being right over Lazzus worries me at a time I need confidence. Purple brightens the eastern sky while a sliver of orange rises above the hills.
“Where do I go?”
“I’ll carry you over the wall if you’re okay with it?”
“Yes, it’s much better than using a ladder.”
He scoops me up and takes me toward the mountain. The guards shout, but the wraith is much too quick for them to reach us.
He sets me on the ground and points to a dirt path at the base of the mountain.
“That is where you will start and follow the path. It will get you to the top. I can’t help you beyond this point.
The moment your foot hits the path, the end will begin.
As soon as you start the clock to the end, you will have until the sun disappears on the third day to get the necklace and throw it into the well. ”
“There’s a time limit? I’ll only have until sunset the day after tomorrow to get all the way up and all the way down?”
“Yes, it is doable. You mainly have to get up the mountain. Once at the top, the key will help you unlock something that will get you down quickly. This is within your capability, Neera. You’ve been training for this for a very long time.” He hovers a tiny bit off the ground.
“Wait! What about your story?”
“Get to the top, and I’ll finish it.”
“Won’t that take too much time?”
“No, if you haven’t noticed already, only minutes pass as I show you the story, no matter how long it feels in my vision.”
I run into his arms and hug what feels like I’m hugging a tarp over the ocean. “See you at the top.”
“I will keep the weather warm for you.” His head snaps up at the shouting that comes from the gate to our left. “If the king has changed his mind, get to the path, and he won’t be able to get to you.” He vanishes.
He doesn’t give me time to tell him I never got the key and plan to figure it out at the top. I let his assumption that I wouldn’t leave without it stay in his mind.
I take off running as soon as I catch Zyon speeding toward me on a black horse.
“Neera! Stop! Wait! Neera!”
I pick up speed, but he’ll reach me much quicker on the horse. The path gets closer and closer, and I ignore the pain in my side. I make it in front of the path and turn to see Zyon leaping off his horse.
“Stop!” He’s waving his arms around frantically.
My right foot hovers over the path, and it’s difficult to push forward like there’s a translucent barrier. I get my foot to the other side, but before I can really push myself through, Zyon grabs my hand.
“Let me go! You have to let me go.” I try to twist my wrist out of his grasp.
He holds so tightly to my hand, but it doesn’t hurt. “I know.” Tears slip from his eyes. “I know. I need to let go the way you need to make it back to me.” He slips something into my hand. “I love you, Neera.”
“I love you too, Zyon.”
He puts his forehead against mine. “Come back to me.”
I savor his touch against my cheek and give him one last kiss.
A sob escapes him as I push away and step onto the path.
His hand rests in the air, like it’s against a wall, and I place my hand there.
Something keeps us apart, but we stare at each other one more time until we both let the other go to break a curse no magic or person has weakened for centuries.