Page 47 of Bright Soul

A subtle shiver had Cress shifting on her feet. “You’re back,” she whispered.

I motioned for her to sit with me and looped my arm around her, tucking her into my side. “I am,” I confirmed, tracing my thumb down the curve of her shoulder.

Braza was in the process of reabsorbing into the powercore to give us some privacy when Cress asked, “Have you hugged your daughter yet?”

Both Braza and I stilled in surprise. Brows slanting lower, she pointed at the energy-formed dimensional. “Have youthanked her too? Do you realize how much she did to save you? The fact that she’shereand that she made me Guardian of Moongrove Library was all for you.”

“Picking a fight as soon as we understand each other.” I shook my head and stood, holding my arms out to Braza. The memory of her shadowborn form overlaying Cress’s body was hazy at best, but I had thought it was my protégé for half a second, ready to take me to paradise at last.

I hugged her jelly-like body, some of my regrets leaking to the forefront of my mind before I could hide them. In binding Braza’s soul to a ley line, I’d denied her access to paradise in the next life. I still wished I’d been strong enough to let her go that day.

She squeezed me harder. Sheknew. Of course she knew. Being able to read thoughts had revealed too many of the unpleasant truths that’d swirled through my mind over time.

But Cress didn’t realize all the baggage that came with the decision to save Braza while also condemning her to a half-life. All she saw was the distance and damage between us, and as they were now soul-tethered, she had firsthand knowledge of what we’d lost.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done. Though I wish you both had not endangered yourselves on my behalf,” I said.

“Into death.” Braza answered with an old oath of loyalty meant for Myuna and the royal family.How poorly that went for us.

I heaved an exhausted sigh and released her. I’ve buried too many of the women I’d loved across my long life. That they’d both risked themselves to drag me from Myuna’s talons was unbearable when I was supposed to be the noble shadowborn protector in this room, but to say that would only insult them.

“Into death,” I echoed, letting it become my new vow to them instead.

20

CRESS

Iasked what had been on my mind from the moment I woke alone with Phaeron in a dark room. “Are you safe from Myuna’s control now?”

He raised a brow toward Braza, deflecting the question. “In New Salem, I was able to mitigate the hole in your soul caused by Endaeron. You were only overcome when you left the radius of my power. While I am no rival for a goddess…it’s clear she has only surface-level control of you. I will be able to provide the buffer you need,” she said.

Phaeron made a noncommittal “hm.”

“She was able to compel me while I was in her presence. I am perhaps fortunate she did not force me into corruption,” he said. He shared that refusing a direct order from Myuna had been about as painful as driving an ice pick through his skull. The goddess had gleaned information from him about the library and what a powercore was when Braza had arrived.

“Yet you were able to resist her by a fraction. That’s remarkable,” she said.

“It is not when she still did as she willed while I was forced to watch.” He glanced toward me, a guilty look.

“Let us not split already fine hairs. You are welcome to remain here, and I will use my power to support you while we seek a more permanent solution,” she said. “Why don’t you go rest?”

Though purple-tinted half-moons darkened the skin under Phaeron’s eyes, he refused sleep.

“You won’t be taken over again, not while you’re here,” I said, brushing his arm in support.

He glanced toward me, saying, “I shall retire with Cress all the same.”

Braza smiled and waved farewell before absorbing her body back into the powercore. I stood on my tiptoes and looped my arms around Phaeron’s neck, not missing the coy slant to his lips. “Floor negative two, please,” I said.

I liked seeing him a little caught off guard. “Hmm?”

“Take me to floor negative two. I’ll show you a room you can use,” I clarified. We disappeared in a whirl of shadows, and I closed my eyes to keep from getting dizzy when we re-emerged in the second floor hallway, right before the elevator doors.

I laced my fingers in his, guiding him to the original room I’d claimed before I’d moved to sharing a different one with Geo and Ben. “Maybe you’d like to relax with a shower?” I suggested.

“Implying I smell, bright soul?” Though his tone was a little too flat, I could tell he was trying to tease. I respected that he was trying for some sense of normalcy despite everything.

“Good thing you wash,” I said, eyeing him askance. I’d done my best not to stare, but he was bare-chested, and I came about to pec height. He smelled more like stale hospital cleanliness than any kind of body odor, and it seemed he’d healed off the worst of his physical injuries. All that remained was the shadows in his otherworldly eyes.

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