Page 63 of The Immortal Covenant

“No.” Malorg’s pulse skyrocketed as Sarilian slipped closer still, his unseen hands brushing over Malorg’s sides and back before rising to cradle his neck. Hot breath gusted Malorg’s face, and in the blink of an eye, Sarilian’s dawnflame shroud fell away, revealing him standing a mere pinky’s length distant, his golden eyes molten with desire. “You’re the one who taught me to believe in the impossible.”

Their lips met. Sarilian’s familiar taste was ambrosia on Malorg’s tongue, melting away the remaining horror of his imprisonment.

Somehow, impossibly, Sarilian was here. He had come back for Malorg even when Malorg had done all he could to scare him away. With each tender kiss, each shared caress, Malorg sensed the silent promise that lay between them.

“I am yours,” Sarilian murmured, giving the promise voice.

“And I yours,” Malorg replied, sealing the oath with a kiss. “From now until the end of eternity.”

When they broke apart, Sarilian gave a lopsided grin. “Or the end ofus,which seems much more imminent given our present circumstances.”

A smile played over Malorg’s lips, but he shook his head, keeping his face serious as he grasped Sarilian’s hand. The touch sent warmth spreading up his arm. “Not even death will keep us apart.”

Sarilian stole one last, lingering kiss that managed to encompass everything Malorg had ever wanted even though it would never, ever be enough. “I’ll hold you to that, old man,” he teased. His expression sobered as he glanced at the door. “All right, let’s save the romance for later. Thoughts on getting out? I have my invisibility, but it barely got me here undetected, and I’m not sure I’m skilled enough to place one on you.”

Muffling the thrill Sarilian’s casual mention oflatersent through him, Malorg considered the dilemma. “My duskflame disguises won’t help much down here. Too much risk of being stopped and questioned regardless of what we look like.”

“What about duskwalking? That would make it harder to discern our true identities and enable us to move far more swiftly.”

Recalling the disgruntled looks he’d gotten last time he’d duskwalked in the Dusk Citadel, Malorg sighed. “Duskwalking anywhere in the Citadel is frowned upon. Down here, it’d be tantamount to sounding an alarm. We should save that for a last resort.”

Sarilian nodded. “Sounds like my illusory shroud wins. Hang on.”

Conjuring his dawnflame, Sarilian reapplied the enchantment to himself, once more becoming little more than a shimmer inthe air. When he tried to extend it to Malorg, however, the magic refused to take hold. Malorg’s stomach sank.

“It’s not working.” Frustration leaked from Sarilian’s voice. “I’m not skilled enough—not with the Dusklands sapping my power.”

Malorg smiled at his best approximation of where Sarilian stood, trying to project confidence. “You can do this, Sarilian. I believe in you.” Thinking back to when he’d first attempted to imbue Sarilian with a duskflame disguise, a light went off in his head. “My magic struggled to take hold in you at first, too, remember? You had to use your dawnflame to strengthen it. Maybe the same concept would work here in reverse.”

“Merciful Light, you’re right! Here, let me try again.”

Sarilian repeated his enchantment, dawnflame coursing over Malorg with an uncomfortable heat. This time, however, Malorg followed the weaves of the spell and attempted to trace them with his own duskflame.

It took a couple attempts, but eventually Malorg managed to force the competing magics into alignment. Dark tendrils snaked through Sarilian’s golden shroud, leaving a spiderweb of black cracks across it like broken glass. Yet, instead of shattering, Sarilian’s spell finally locked into place.

A relieved breath puffed out of Malorg when he raised a hand and found it as invisible as Sarilian’s. “Eternal Dark, it worked!”

“More than that,” Sarilian said from somewhere nearby, sounding awed.

Malorg turned in Sarilian’s general direction, raising an eyebrow in query before realizing that Sarilian wouldn’t be able to see it. “What do you mean?”

“My disguise gets the job done, butyourshas hardly any shimmer to it at all. It’s as if it was ready-made to blend into the darkness of the Dusklands.”

“That first disguise I gave you was the same,” Malorg realized, thinking back. “I remember marveling at how convincing it looked.” That give him an idea. “Here, let me.”

Stepping forward, he approached the faint play of light marking Sarilian’s presence until his hand gently pressed against Sarilian’s chest. He flexed his fingers, reveling in the sensation of Sarilian’s heartbeat as he conjured more duskflame to weave through Sarilian’s illusory shroud.

When he’d finished, he took a step back to admire his handiwork. Sarilian was right—the enhanced enchantmentwasnearly indistinguishable from the shadows.

“Light and Dark together,” Malorg murmured. “They really do strengthen and complement each other.” He glanced again toward where he sensed Sarilian’s faint heat, smiling even though he knew Sarilian couldn’t see it. “Or perhaps it’s simply us.”

“Aww,” Sarilian laughed, his tone playful. “Are you suggesting we’re soulmates?”

A shudder trembled through Malorg at the teasing. He could have easily brushed it off or ignored it, but neither reaction felt quite right. Instead, he settled on the truth.

“Was there ever any doubt?”

Sarilian’s laughter faded. When he next spoke, his tone was soft and laced with fear. “If anything happens, I want you to know that I love you, and that I have no regrets. For the first time since I became an Immortal, I know that I am exactly where I need to be.”

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