Page 210 of What Lies Within Masks & Shadows

As the darkness swiftly carried them from that terrible place, she caught a glimpse of Garrik’s eyes gleaming. Proud. Flashing in admiration and mixed with something else she couldn’t discern.

They returned to her tent. The lantern being the only source of light dancing its white glow and shadows across the canvas. Outside, the thunderstorm had died, drizzling hushed taps of rain above them, offering the pleasing aroma of soaked plants, flowers, and trees.

Her eyes were shut, replaying every breath, every word, every menacing drop of Kaine’s blood.

She was strong. Brave. More than he thought her to be. And this time, she left him behind wholly embracing that.

Never again would she cower at his face.

Never again would he take anything more from her.

Never again.

Alora tightened her arms around Garrik’s neck, feeling the shift in her body returning from being smoke and shadow and swirling ash. And as his boots disturbed the soft furs on the wooden floor, she knew something deep inside her had been forever changed. Something mercilessly abandoned.

Not only deep inside. But as her arms clung to her High Prince, the immense weight that had dragged her deeper and deeper and deeper down inside herself. The weight that crushed her shoulders and bent her back to its breaking point. The weight that pounded her chest, unable to breathe … it was gone.

Never again.Her mind repeated, and she felt Garrik grip her tighter as if he too knew.

Never again.

“Hey, clever girl,” Garrik’s soothing whisper broke through her roaring silence. “We are home.” A kiss so lovely and tender pressed into the top of her head. Calming. Reassuring. He was there, as he was in that dungeon. “Let’s get you to bed.”

But as he leaned his body over her bed, Alora pulled herself into him tighter.

Garrik’s pleasing hum reverberated through her exhausted body. He turned without a word and walked across the fur rugs to the far side of her tent. As he drifted, his eyes fell on the white lion trinket sitting on a small table. With a gentle bend, he reclined on the emerald reading chair and pulled her body close.

After they left the Dawnspace, their armor was traded for what they wore before.

She didn’t care to cover herself. Her legs possessed no strength to pull her knees under her crimson tunic. But Garrik’s calloused hand brushed down the fabric and gripped the hem enough to pull the bunched-up layer down her thigh, covering her lacey underthings.

Alora shivered at the feather-like touch of his hand. It had her mind teeming.

Two thuds disturbed their silent breathing.

Garrik’s legs spread long in front of him after he pushed his boots away from his feet. When she felt a tender brush against her cheek, her white hair tucked behind her ear, she leaned into his touch. Loving the way that gesture felt from his hand, Alora spoke in a soft return, “Thank you.”

His chest vibrated in a low hum. “I thought it might bother you.”

A smile crept up her face. “I don’t entirely mean my hair.”

Alora pivoted her head to look up at him. He was grinning, but not in that irritating smirk kind of way. It was nothing more than a smile, one she longed to see since after Alynthia’s wall. One that she was certain she’d never see again.

It made her heart leap in the way that falling would.

Her fingers brushed a button on his tunic. “I don’t understand how you can forgive me so easily. But I wanted you to know that I … thank you.”

Garrik’s thumb lazily grazed against her thigh, cradling her across his lap. That smile slowly faded. “How could I not forgive you? It is so easy because I, too, have visions of those who haunt me. You saw”—Garrik’s breath hitched—“the female at the wall. The illusion. She haunts me as Kaine haunts you. Your pain is raw. Just because you survived does not mean you stepped over a line of hurting and into being instantly healed.”

“But I thought I was better. I thought Iwashealing.”

“Progress is not linear, Alora. You can survive months without your pain, only to fall and shatter a moment later.

“My pain has haunted me for nearly fifty years. I have lived daily in the memories that touch my skin and keep me awake every night. I can be distracted for some time, thinking I have seen the last of them until one day, I smell something that reminds me of her, or see the sky’s hue in flames, and my feet sting like they are burning. I hear a whip crack, the clamor of metal in the arena, and one of them will be standing in front of me, preventing my breaths. Demanding my attention before I am taken back to my pain.”

He forced a hard swallow. “I feel the brush of fabric or wind against my skin … am forced lay on my back even if it is bleeding because anything touching my abdomen is too much to bear.” Garrik shuddered beneath her, closing his eyes to inhale a measured breath. “Healing takes time. You cannot expect yourself to be whole and mended in a day.”

Alora rolled her lip between her teeth and dropped her eyes low. She was healing. And though she was marching with his Dragons, death looming over their heads with every step, she felt safe. But Kaine had haunted her for so long. Could whathappened in the dungeon be enough to keep him away? How many more times would she need to return to that place until he was with her no more? After all, Garrik’s visions still haunted him, and it didn’t seem like what happened in the Dawnspace was anything new for him.

---