Page 175 of Of Blood & Stone

“I’ll go check on him,” she said, standing.

Orym gave her a wary nod. She told Nyla to use her coin to buy herself another drink and she left. Walking up the small hill, Sylzenya smiled as the fog lightly wet her face. The sun welcomed her as she crested the hill, its light shining on the glittering sea.

The cliffside came into view, a person sitting on its ledge.

Her heart beat faster as she approached Elnok, his black hair tied at the nape of his neck, his black tunic exposing his strong arms as he leaned back, staring at the warm sky.

“Heard you had quite the tussle with an arachni today,” Sylzenya said, sitting next to him, the cold stone seeping through her linen pants.

“A pretty aggressive one,” he noted, his voice gravelly and low. “I know it might sound crazy, but I feel like it was one we might’ve fought back in Lhaal Forest.”

Stroking a finger along the two scars on his chest, he shivered.

“When we were attacked by that horde?”

He chuckled. “Now that you say it, I do sound crazy.”

“Well, most of the times you are,” she jested. “But not with this.”

A small silence sat between them.

“Sometimes I dream about it,” he said, leaning further back, the orange glow of the sun striking on his handsomely carved face. “Dying in that tree. The poison almost taking me. I even sometimes think about…” he trailed off, placing his hand over his stomach.

Sylzenya knew exactly what he was thinking about.

“When I killed you,” she said.

“I’m sorry?—”

“No, don’t be sorry. It wouldn’t make sense for you to simply forget that ever happened.” Sylzenya took a deep breath, leaning back with him. “His eyes still haunt me. Sometimes I’m talking to someone and I swear their eyes start glowing yellow, and I hear his voice, feel his cold touch.”

A sharp shiver ran up her arms, her skin pimpling. Elnok placed his hand over hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.

“He’s dead, but it still feels like he’s alive somehow,” she whispered.

“I wish we could forget it all.”

They stared at the sun as it slowly melted into the horizon, oranges and pinks blanketing the sky.

“Perhaps if we forgot it all, then it’d feel like something else would be missing,” Sylzenya said. “For all the destruction and damage Distrathrus caused everyone, he really seemed to be doing everything because he loved his sister.”

“Averytwisted love.”

“Well, yes,” Sylzenya agreed, “Still. It’s like you told me back in Lhaal, it’s those with power who have consequences that reach furthest. He had more power than anyone on thiscontinent, and so his mistakes cost everyone.” She tucked her knees into her chest. “As did mine.”

Elnok rubbed her back, careful to avoid her scar. “What’s it been like, helping communities thrive? Giving them food and water?”

She picked at a piece of lint on her pants, staring at how it glinted against the sun.

“It’s been satisfying in some ways, and yet unsettling in others.” She sighed, letting the lint float into the evening breeze. “To see their smiles when I create new vegetation, fill their ravines—there’s nothing like it. But knowing why they were absent in the first place… Knowing me and my people are the origin of their misfortunes… it feels like a dagger to my chest every time.”

Elnok wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “And yet you still do it.”

She draped her legs over his. “Just like you still kill arachnis.”

“They’re really scary, aren’t they?” he said, a small laugh in his throat.

“Terrifying. I’d hate your job.”

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