Page 99 of A Legacy of Storms and Starlight

The door clicked shut, and Zylah knew they’d gone back out into the snow. Saphi knelt before her, her top dipping low and revealing the scar that ran up the centre of her chest.

“Who did that to you?” Zylah whispered. If there was ever a time she could ask, she figured it was now.

“I did. Here, put this in your mouth.” Saphi’s face gave nothing away about the scar, and Zylah couldn’t understand why anyone would need to do something like that to themself. She sniffed the besa leaf Saphi held in front of her lips and held her mouth open. Zylah doubted it would do much to calm her but took it anyway.

She felt Rose move closer, heard her intake of breath. “I’m so sorry, Liss. I never meant for this to happen.”

Zylah chewed on the leaf, wishing she could see Rose’s face, but she didn’t dare try to look over her shoulder again. She closed her eyes, willing herself to relax. She was safe. She wasn’t going to die. She said it to herself over and over. But it wouldn’t be without sacrifices. Raif’s mint and lemongrass scent lingered in her hair, and she sniffed back another tear. She would live, but she couldn’t stay. She couldn’t risk his life with her selfishness.

“Zylah,” she said at last, as she felt the besa leaf working, her muscles relaxing. “My name is Zylah.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Two days passed in the cabin. Saphi had moved Zylah to the lounger, where she’d spent an entire day sleeping. She pulled on her power every chance she got, testing it to see if she could evanesce from one end of the cabin to the other, but nothing happened. That meant she wasn’t healing fast enough.

Raif barely left her side. He didn’t speak much with the others around, none of them did, but he moved as if he was frightened she might disappear. Zylah wished he wasn’t right to think that but no matter how much she wanted the future he’d painted for them, she couldn’t put him at risk. Besides, Arnir was still out there, and that meant she’d always have a target on her back. She never should have stayed in Virian. Should have moved on the moment she had a few coins to her name.

“Copper for your thoughts?” Raif asked quietly beside her. Saphi was washing supplies in the bathroom, Holt and Rose were outside keeping watch—where they’d spent most of their time for the last few days.

Zylah ran her tongue over her lip where it had scabbed. “Just thinking about Zack.” Holt had been out to look for him, but each time there was no news, no sign of her brother.

Raif placed a hand on her arm, his elbow resting on the back of the lounger beside her. She’d been able to sit up that morning, and she’d taken to leaning her front against the back of the lounger, elbows on the top for support. His fingers twitched, and he traced the seam of her shirt to her wrist, uncurling her fingers with his and placing a kiss onto her palm.

“He’ll be fine, Zylah. He’s the King’s Blade for a reason.”

It was so strange to hear him say her name. But since she’d told Rose, none of them called her Liss anymore. Enough hiding, she’d decided. If she was going to leave Raif, leave all of them, they deserved to know who she was. Even Rose.

She pulled at a thread on the back of the lounger, listening to the crackle of the fire and the steady beat of Raif’s heart.

“None of this is your fault.” His fingers brushed her chin, and he gently moved her head to look at him. “Knowing you has been a gift. I’m sure your father felt the same. I’m sure Zack does, too.”

A tear threatened to fall, and Zylah blinked it away. She’d tried not to think of her father since arriving at the cabin. She didn’t want to face what those thoughts might do to her, not in front of the others. “I feel like a curse, not a gift,” she whispered.

Raif’s lips twitched. “Can I say something insufferable?”

Zylah smiled, resting her hand on his where his thumb stroked her cheek. If they could just stay like this, safe in the cabin, safe from the world, no harm could come to him, could it?

His eyes fell to her mouth, and gently, so very gently, he kissed her, resting his forehead against hers. “If this is what it feels like to be cursed… curse all of it… my mind, my body, my heart. It’s all yours.”

Zylah sat back on her haunches, ignoring the shudder of pain it sent through her back, and threaded her fingers into Raif’s hair, pulling him closer. “Insufferable,” she murmured against his lips, kissing him as much as her broken lip would allow.

She winced, a burst of pain snagging her breath and pulled away to lean on the lounger once more. “Rose’s visions… are they ever wrong?”

Raif looked away, shadows dancing across his face from the fire. He squared his jaw. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

Zylah had already known the answer. But she’d needed to hear it. Needed to know if there was any chance she could be wrong.

“What she saw could be years from now, Zylah. But I’m not walking away from you over the possibility that it isn’t. Nothing will keep me away from you.” He turned to look at her, more of his face cast in shadow, and Zylah could have sworn his eyes darkened for a moment like they did when she’d seen him use his magic.

The door to the bathroom clicked shut, and Saphi’s vanilla perfume seeped into the room. “Wound check.”

The Fae didn’t wait for Zylah’s response, just sat beside her on the lounger and rolled up her shirt. Raif had already stood and begun pacing. Zylah knew he was watching as Saphi rolled up Holt’s shirt—just like the one she’d worn when he’d first brought her there—and inspected the wounds.

“You’re starting to heal,” Saphi murmured as she replaced a bandage. “Even if you can’t evanesce by then, tomorrow you’ll be well enough to make the walk back to Virian.”

But that was the wrong direction. She had to go back to the mountains, had to search for her brother.

Raif stopped his pacing in front of the lounger. “I’ll carry her,” he said, as if there was no discussing it.

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