Page 138 of Of Blood & Stone

“Look,” Kharis interrupted, “I’m going to make sure we know where the entrance is to this tree. I suggest you two clear the air before I find it.” He turned around, a heavy sigh as he continued, “Don’t leave things left unsaid, trust me.”

He disappeared behind a thick grove of willows.

Despite being surrounded by unparalleled beauty, it felt like they were back at the inn, the draped sheet splitting them apart.

“You were right, Syl, I’m breaking my promise to you,” Elnok finally said, as if his words were trying to pull the sheet away, “You have no idea how much I wish I didn’t have to leave?—”

“You need to save Orym,” Sylzenya interrupted, not wanting the sheet to come down again. She couldn’t bear the idea of doing this without him, and yet she needed to. “I understand. He needs you more than I do.”

Elnok’s throat bobbed. “Just be careful.”

Sylzenya blinked away the tears threatening to form in her eyes. “We’ll do what we can.”

“That is… less than reassuring.”

“I’m not sure what else I can say. Aretta’s dead, and she’s left me with an impossible task. Yet, there’s no other course of action I can take.”

Elnok cursed as he left his new whip on the ground, taking a step towards her. She took a step back, not wanting to feel his touch, because if she did, she knew she’d beg him to stay.Any courage she could muster in this moment to go and defeat Distrathrus could be swallowed whole by this man’s gaze alone.

“Syl, promise me you’re going to make it out alive.”

She shook her head, tilting her head to the glowing sky, the tears threatening to fall.

“I’ll make it out alive, Elnok, I promise.”

His footsteps crunched in the grass. She slowly backed away, unable to look at him, at her hands, at the sword—only the sky was safe.

“Look at me,” Elnok pleaded.

“Elnok, I can’t?—”

“Please, Syl.”

“I can’t?—”

“Sylzenya,look at me.”

Turning her gaze to him, the tears spilled down her face. Elnok took her hand, his green eyes glassy and his half-smile gone. It was a face she wished she hadn’t seen, the kind that makes someone doing everything they can to hold themselves together only fall apart faster.

Sobs replaced her confidence as she threw her arms around his neck. Strong, tense arms wrapped around her, Elnok holding her so close she found it difficult to breathe. The tears wouldn’t stop falling, everything coming to a head, the task ahead of her far too great.

Elnok had become a cornerstone over the last five days. Her life had been ripped to shreds, and now, during the most trying moment of all, he was leaving.

And she’d more than likely never see him again.

Elnok whispered her name, soft and hushed, the same way her mother and father used to when she was frightened. But it only made her hold him tighter, cursing her inability to keep herself together. Her goddess had a vision that Sylzenya would be the one to kill Distrathrus with a sword, but how could shepossibly complete such a task when she could barely stand on her own two feet?

“Talk to me,” Elnok whispered, his breaths brushing along her ear.

Burying her face into his warm skin, she said, “I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can,” he said, his fingers digging into her back. “But just because you can doesn’t mean you have to.”

She took a deep, shaky breath. “What do you mean?”

He paused, trailing a hand down her hip, pulling her closer. “Come with me.”

“What?”

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