41. Chapter Forty-One #2
“I sent you to him, Evelia, to save us from him.” Zantara’s words are heavy on my heart.
She thought the little princess with dreams bigger than her royal chains could teach a monster how to love.
“That’s the only thing that will save our world from him.
If he learns to love more than he desires to destroy. ”
“That was a lot of weight to place on a little girl.”
“Yes, but you were so full of life and joy. Lazzus was a child himself, and he needed to understand the most important things. He needed to understand he was greater than becoming a god of misery and death. Only the purest human could truly teach him that."
I’d wiped my tears as I thought about my fire fairy. “It was never a difficult mission. I loved him from the moment I saw him standing in ash. At first, it was the fantasy of a little girl to be best friends with a fairy, but he made it so easy to love everything about him.”
“Yes, and because you truly saw him, Lazzus learned how to see you, and ultimately the most impossible thing for a Leqru happened. He learned to love.”
As he rides closer, I don’t know how to tell him how Zantara used us to save herself, or how, even though we should be angry, it’s the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.
He hops to the sand with the most graceful movements, which puts all the dancers I know to shame.
My beautiful monster whom my entire soul craves.
“Do you want to tell me why there is broken glass sitting out on your desk? I yelled at your maids for leaving it out where it could harm you. After they pleaded for their lives, they said you told them under no circumstances were they to discard it.”
I grin and burst into laughter, yanking him onto the blanket with me to kiss him. “You rode all the way out here to chide me about broken glass?”
“Yes, it could cut you.”
I climb onto his lap and fall onto his chest when he brings me down to the beach. “I am capable of not getting cut by glass, husband.”
“Yes, but it could happen. Why are you keeping it?”
“Because your jealousy made it that first night we made love. Well, the second, but the day our bond sealed.”
“You’re so sentimental.” He brushes my hair back and stares into my eyes. His eyes well up, but he never fully cries. “I love you. I love you with more fury than the ocean during its fiercest storm.”
“And I love you more than the ocean, no matter what state it’s in.”
“That’s a whole lot.”
“Indeed.” I kiss him, and we make love on the beach as my two favorite things create the greatest memories of my life.
Two weeks later, he slides a box to me over breakfast. It’s his favorite meal to eat together because he claims we need time together before the world ruins our days. It’s like watching me while I sleep and being inside me first thing isn’t enough.
I open the box and stare at the glass ring wrapped in black metal. An eternal flame burns underneath the orb that replaces where a gemstone would be. “It’s beautiful.”
“Now it won’t cut you.”
I laugh and put it on before finishing the strawberries we grew together in our garden.
I groan and hold my head as memories overwhelm my mind. Memories of lifetimes with Zyon and Lazzus. No, just Zyon Lazzus. The name I gave him, and the other we decided on together when he thought he needed a full name when he became king.
I’m on my side, sobbing on the damp cave floor, and my body hurts so much.
The stings, scratches, and venom make me not want to move at all, like maybe it’s best to just die again.
But then Florian, Yedda, Agatha, and my mother will die.
They will die without a reincarnation cycle to bring them back.
I have to keep going because I’m not just Evelia. I’m also Neera and so many other names.
Ivelle nudges my hand for a pet. “Neera?”
“What happens when I break the curse?”
“The magic in the castle will leave, and you’ll live out a normal human lifespan, hopefully to old age.
The queen also bound the souls of the castle inhabitants to animal skulls and secretly encouraged Lazzus to use the skulls to resurrect them.
She has said that they will get their lives back when you do. ”
“What about Lazzus and Zyon?”
She turns away from me, like she doesn’t want to tell me. “Let’s break the curse. Before it’s too late.”
“What happens to Lazzus and Zyon when the curse breaks?”
“His two halves will leave with the magic. It was the queen's final cruelty. He can only survive split in two with the magic of the curse keeping him alive. She made it so you’d never be able to have a full lifetime together.”
“What if he were whole again when the curse broke?”
“With what I know about magic, my guess would be that it would restore him. He’d be returned to his old self. He’d probably survive.”
“It can send things back to their source,” I whisper.
“What do you mean?”
I pull out the vial of water that I desperately need to survive the venom, but then I’ll lose him.
I’ve lost him so many times that I can’t bear it a single time more.
As a human, I’m only meant to live a hundred years at best. He has eons to influence and make a better realm.
I hope my time with him will strengthen kindness in him.
That he will build the gardens and supply free medicine as he promised me.
I hope our love, and all his promises will allow him to be merciful in defiance of those who created him.
“As my mentor on remedies, do you think this will put him back together?”
“Yes, I think it would.” A smile seems to grow on her feline face. “I think it would.”
I get up and look into the box, pulling out the heart necklace that I secure in the inner pocket of my bag. Lazzus is still on the rock, staring at the cave. He's staring toward the ocean far below, like it's all he wants to see as he ends.
He jumps into the air. “Why haven’t you left to break the curse?”
“Give me your hand?”
He holds out his hand with no questions. “You need to break the curse.”
“Oh, I will.” I open the vial and pour it onto his hand.
The liquid isn’t absorbed into him, but it ripples and expands into his cloak.
“What have you done?” He vanishes before I can answer.
My body is so tired my eyes are pleading to close. “How do I get home, Ivelle?”
“Go to the mirror of your choice, and when you’re ready, wish to be where you want. I've altered the mirrors, so that's possible now.”
There’s little strength left to take steps, but I do for my family, both old and new.
I choose the mirror with seashells and coral around the frame.
The ocean is so beautiful. My feet long to dance in the tide, but all I can muster is stepping into the waves for a moment.
I close my eyes to bask in the gentle chill wrapping around my ankles.
My chest burns, and more time must have passed than I realized because the venom is very close to my heart.
I wish to go to the well, and there it stands in front of me.
Each step is like still being trapped in the mud.
I fight for each one and drop the necklace into the well.
I tumble down the four steps and onto the stone of the village square.
“Neera!” Zyon takes me in his arms and is saying something.
His lips move so fast, and he’s crying. I raise my hand to wipe his tears away, and my arm falls back to my side.
The frigid darkness of death is something I know almost as well as I do Lazzus.
It surrounds me, and I stare at flame eyes until I can see no more.