Page 106 of Flame and Sparrow

He nodded. “And infused with a powerful dose of my magic. Whenever you’re ready to come back, it will show you the way to me and help you get here.”

Thoughts ofcoming backsent a myriad of confusing feelings twisting through me. Maybe we should have talked about those feelings—especially since he was being unusually forthcoming with his words this morning—but I only thanked him while slipping it onto the wrist opposite of the one that carried his flame mark.

He helped me secure the clasp. Once it was in place, his hand stayed against my wrist for a moment, little pools of warmth building under each of his fingertips. I found myself wanting to stay for just another moment, to soak up more of that warmth. I’d already been here for so many weeks…what would a few more minutes hurt?

I looked up into his eyes and found their usual storminess settled, their silver color softer, their depths swirling with emotions I couldn’t begin to name.

He brushed his knuckles across my cheek. I leaned into his touch. My heart fluttered to a stop and restarted at double its normal rate as he angled his face downward, bringing his mouth within a breath of my own. He paused just as our lips touched. Waiting for me to make the next move.

I nearly did.

Images of home flashed through my thoughts, followed by a single, sharp word—not in my own voice, but in the combined voices of all the ones I would be returning to.

Traitor, traitor, traitor.

I tilted my mouth away from Dravyn’s, stopping the kiss. I might not have been able to stop the fire from kindling inside me at his touch, but I could still step away from him. I would not go back to my home with the taste of a god upon my tongue.

I licked the dryness and the tingling want from my lips and said, “I should head out, I think.”

His gaze lingered on my mouth, but he let me go without protest. “You should,” he agreed, giving his head a little shake, as though he’d just woken from a daydream. “Here—come with me.”

He led me from his palace and into a small grove of trees just beyond the yard. A pool of silvery-blue water awaited us here, with five separate streams twisting out from it. We followed one of the streams for a few minutes, until it began to widen into a proper river. Its waters seemed to thicken, taking on the appearance of molten silver in some of the more shallow places, while all of the plants growing along the banks had a pale green, metallic sheen to them.

“Galim is the name for the pool we passed,” Dravyn told me as we walked. “Its waters flow in-between the realms, and this river we’re following now is only one branch of it. There are lots more, and through them, you can travel just about anywhere there’s water, in the mortal realm or otherwise—as long as you have a clear picture of your destination in mind.”

“How clear?”

“Just be sure you don’t hesitate or have any confusing feelings about where you want to go.”

“…Got it,” I said, trying to sound much braver than I felt, in spite of the fact thatConfusing Feelingscould have been the title of a book starring the two of us.

“You don’t need my magic to go back to the mortal realm,” Dravyn said, eyeing that magic-infused bracelet he’d given me, “but you will need it to make the mortal waters shift for you when you want to return.”

I twisted the bracelet around on my wrist, studying it again.

“Keep that close,” he told me. “And…safe.” His eyes flicked up to my face with the last word, concern—and maybe doubt—flashing in them before he quickly looked away. “Now, hurry up,” he said, nodding at the water, “before Valas and Mai realize you’re leaving and try to drag this out.”

My heart swelled with an unexpected surge of emotion. “Tell them…tell them I’ll see them soon, I hope.”

“I will.”

Not wanting to dwell on all of the confusing feelings humming in the air between us, I quickly turned and walked without hesitation into the river—just as I’d done nearly a month and a half ago when I first crossed into this divine world.

I didn’t know why the God of Fire had let me go. I didn’t know what would happen in my absence, or what I would have to face when I returned to his realm.

For the moment, I didn’t care.

The only thing that mattered was that I was going home.

Chapter30

Steppingout of the river was like walking into a dream.

I was in the Nightvale Forest, not far from Andrel’s mansion, and I knew this place as well as I knew anything…yet none of it felt real.

Funny, and a little alarming, how easily my perspective of what felt normal and what felt surreal had shifted over the past weeks.

I moved cautiously, at first—partly because of my lingering injuries, and partly because I still was not convinced this wasn’t some sort of trial or trick devised by the God of Fire—but by the time I reached the edge of the forest my doubts were disappearing, pushed aside by my growing excitement. I broke into a jog, no longer caring about the jarring pain each step caused me. The tears streaming down my face were from a mixture of aching injuries and relief.

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