Page 68 of Shadows in Bloom

He heard them before he saw them. Two sets of footsteps and ragged, winded breathing. With Nairu still nestled against his chest, he shifted his body enough to turn and look. Kaz had an arm around Zorinna’s shoulder, helping her walk. Their bodies bore blood and bruises, but they seemed to be free of any major injuries. Alandris let out a sigh of relief so deep he nearly began to sob once more. He could not have mentally borne anotherdeath. His dearest friends, one old and one new. It would have broken him fully.

Their faces blanched when they saw Nairu, noting her wounds, the stillness of her chest. Realization hit and a strangled cry left Zorinna’s throat. “No. No. No. How—why?” She staggered away from Kaz, dropping to her knees in front of Alandris.

Kaz knelt beside her, silent.

Alandris struggled to find the proper words. Kallistra had dealt the killing blow, but he experienced the same sense of guilt regarding what had transpired. “Kallistra attacked us. She intended to kill me, accused me of corrupting Nairu. When Nairu did not follow her lead... she...” The words felt like lead in his mouth, and again, he was being torn apart, transported back to that horrible moment.

“It’s alright. You need not say more.” Kaz placed a hand on his shoulder, knowing.

Kaz had always been aware of and in tune with those around him. It’d been a hindrance when Alandris had been attempting to conceal his feelings for Nairu, but he appreciated Kaz’s intuition now. Kaz would not press him for further details. He could see how thin of thread Alandris was hanging on by. How one innocent question might snap that thread and send him tumbling down into an abyss he would never crawl his way out of. Kaz was intimately familiar with the sorrow of losing a lover. A grief that never truly subsided, no matter the years passed.

Zorinna reached out to brush a lock of hair away from Nairu’s face, and Alandris flinched. He understood that his friend had no malicious intentions, but his body reacted on impulse. He feared Nairu would crumble to dust if he wasn’t delicate enough with her body. It was irrational of him to linger. She was gone, after all, but the thought of losing this piece of her terrified him all the same. He wasn’t ready to let go of her.

Alandris managed to steady himself enough to explain to Kaz and Zorinna what had happened, and more than that, the truth of Nairu. Her immortality. The God who resided within her and granted her magic. Her curse. It wasn’t his story to tell, but he couldn’t exactly hide it from his companions. He needed them.

Then, a foolish idea crossed his mind—one that should have warranted him a scolding just for entertaining it. “I will ask Amorphael to save her,” he said, rising to his feet with Nairu cradled in his arms. “I will make another bargain.”

Zorinna pursed her lips as she stood, brows furrowing in what looked like pity. “Setting aside how dangerous a Fae bargain is, not even Fae magic can revive the dead. Besides, by the time we make it back to Nil’Faerith, her body will be—”

“You do not know that!” Alandris snapped. “There is not enough knowledge of Fae magic to make such a determination. I will not give up without making the attempt. My soul be damned. I do not care what I have to trade for her life—I will pay the price.” He forced himself to calm, not realizing how tight his grip had gotten, how much his body was shaking. “We found aportal I believe leads to the Fae realm. I can figure out the magic. It will be much quicker than returning on foot.”

There was no room to argue, or at least Kaz and Zorinna did not have the heart to dissuade him further. They followed him silently to the portal, silently as he leaned Nairu’s body against the rock wall, silently as he traced his hands along the runes, mumbling an incantation neither of them could understand. His earnest endeavor to awaken whatever ancient magic had once powered this portal was not one they could assist him with. They’d resigned themselves to keeping watch.

“I lost the woman I loved,” Kaz whispered to Zorinna, carefully out of earshot of Alandris. “I cannot fault him for trying anything he can when I once did the same. I know you worry about him, but we should not fight him on this, hopeless or not. He must come to terms with her death on his own.”

“Nairu will come back,” Zorinna said plainly. “He doesn’t need to struggle like this. We should be stopping him! Letting him entertain this absurd idea will only hurt him more.”

“In my view, he intends to spare her the pain of having to endure another life. She suffered alone for so long—she would be forced to repeat that same horrid fate over again until we could find her.”

“We? Do you intend to help Alandris after delivering the flower and completing the mission?”

“I do. Do you not?”

Zorinna paused. “I made a promise to my family. This was to be my last grand adventure before I fulfilled their wishes for meto engage the prince.” Her face shifted as she struggled to find the words and how to say them. “I am not like Alandris, nor like Nairu. I care for them deeply. Trust me, I do, but I cannot put my life on hold any longer. They have each other. I-I don’t have a reason to fight my fate.”

“I didn’t take you for a coward.” Kaz snorted. “Don’t discount their reason for rejecting their fates for something as simple as ‘having each other’. They’ve both been fighting against their fates for far longer than they could count on one another as a reason to do so. Don’t pretend and use that as an excuse, Zorinna. I see right through you.”

She crossed her arms in front of her. “I am not having this discussion. You may think you have a grasp on what is best for me, but you’re wrong. I am aware that you have love for both of them, and I will offer my assistance to the best of my abilities from within Val’Naeris, but I have made a commitment, Kaz. I intend on keeping it.”

“You misunderstand me. I am saying these things because I am worried about you. It is not for their benefit. You are not a princess meant to be caged behind castle walls. You are alive when you are out here—traveling, adventuring, fighting. Don’t you feel it in the way that I see it?”

Zorinna shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. I’ve made a vow.”

“You are stubborn.” A smile eased the tension growing between them. Kaz was aware he may have pushed her too far, too soon, but he had no intentions of giving up on her. Theyhad grown close in their months together, and he considered her one of his closest friends. He would not see her fiery spirit dimmed to a life of ballgowns and heirs. She had the heart of a mercenary—the vulgar mouth of one, too.

She laughed. “I am aware. For what it’s worth, thank you. In another life, we may have slayed all manner of monster and beast side by side.”

“A shame you won’t have the opportunity to best me. What was our count? Between the Visumena and the men who attack us, I believe I’m at ten and you’re at... oh! Right—seven.”

“The night is young. We may be required to fell more foes yet.” Zorinna blew out a breath. “And thank you… for distracting me.”

“I know she was important to you as well.”

“Yes. She was—she is.”

The sound of cursing, shouting, and explosive magic drew their attention back to Alandris. Flames burst forth from his hands in violent waves, singing everything in their path. His chest heaved with effort, but he would not stop. He kept draining himself of his magic in the hope that something would spark the portal to life.

And it had.

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