Page 16 of Ecliptic

Alvar’s scarred chin dipped in compliance. “We will be the first to know if anything slips through the cracks. The mare must dress and show us the way,” the war captain said, keeping with the nickname he’d granted me.

Rowen tensed beside me. “She’s not going anywhere tonight. She just got back.”

“I know the way,” Takoda interjected before Alvar or Nepta could refuse. “I shall show you. Let them rest.”

“Yes, get some rest, Keira. But your powers mustn’t go untamed for long,” Nepta said in an unspoken warning, and the air rang with the words she didn’t say,for if you don’t, who knows what’s to become of you.

8

Rowen and I made our way through the low-lit village to his dome. Our dome? Hell, I didn’t even know anymore. We hadn’t had a chance to discuss living arrangements since he’d claimed me, body and soul.

“What happened to your clothes?” Rowen asked with a strangled moan. “Did he touch you?”

“No,” I replied, and the tension in his shoulders released like a bowstring. “But he dressed me in his shadows.”

Rowen’s eyes darkened, rivaling the black cloth that had once adorned my skin, and a low, murderous growl rumbled through his chest. “He sought to mark you, that sick bastard. If you hadn’t imprisoned him, I would torture him slowly and with frightening efficacy, leaving him alive, but only just, in agonizing pain until he begged for death.”

“He’s done so much damage,” I murmured, recalling the lifeless forest, dead bodies, and extinct starwings. “Erovos destroys everything in his path. He deserves to pay for his crimes, but I have no idea how. My Light didn’t hurt him, Rowen. He doesn’t have any weaknesses.”

Rowen’s face paled, but he remained resolute, offering mestrength where I felt I had none. “We will find a way. Your brilliant mind found a way to trap him once. If he escapes, you will be able to do it again.”

“I don’t know how I managed it,” I said, grasping for handholds as I fell down the well of my mind. “And now that I’m back, I can’t make sense of anything. Everything feels so . . . dark.”

Rowen’s eyes flashed with empathy. “Keira, no matter how dark it gets, remember there is a way to find your Light again. Even if I have to make you find it myself.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” I smiled, keeping a far enough distance to prevent any accidental touches. It defied everything in my nature to pull away from Rowen physically. “How did you know I was back?”

“A bright light, similar to what I’ve seen you do before, filled the sky. It was the most intense I’d ever seen it. The flash of light was there and gone, like how you used to appear to me in the night.” His jaw clenched. “Iknewit was you, Keira. After not being able to breathe for months, seeing your flash of light in the sky lifted a weight from my chest. Sabra sensed you as well. She hasn’t left Ven’s side for anything. When she charged towards the light, I knew it had to be you.”

“I’ve never felt so powerful yet entirely useless,” I said, my bare feet padding along the dry pathways. “I knew something was wrong when Sabra wouldn’t let me touch her. I’m just glad she’s all right. I didn’t think she’d make it.”

“Thanks to the healing noxlilies you brought back to life. You are so much stronger than you are giving yourself credit for. Your power—I saw it. You were magnificent, Keira. You looked like a goddess raining down from the heavens in your dress of stars, but then I saw you descend into doubt, and you disappeared in a haze. You were a being of pure light, as if the moon rested just beneath your skin. I charged intoyour glow, and it was the last thing I saw before I passed out.”

“Passed out” was a nice way of saying knocked out.By me.

My abilities were out of control. I once had to beg for the Light in me to surface, but now it raged like an exposed wire above my skin. I was a live, walking, and talking electrical shock waiting to happen. I wasn't strong enough to contain it.

“Your hair. It’s longer,” he said, his fingers reaching to touch my lengthened tendrils, but he stopped midair. “I’m told it nearly covered all of you until Takoda placed the blanket over you. But your other changes, Keira. I think you’re a?—”

“Don’t,” I said, barely a whisper. “Not yet.”

The changes in my appearance troubled me, but as Rowen’s dome came into view, a lump of emotion formed in my throat. I wanted nothing more than to disappear within its wooden walls.

Rowen opened the circular door, grimacing as he led me through. The beautiful dome was in shambles. The canopy that once hung from the ceiling lay in a heap on the ground. Books, paper, and weapons were thrown and scattered on the floor. My gaze slid to his, knowing exactly what had happened.

Rowen appeared embarrassed and cleared his throat. “I was not doing well with your absence. Excuse the mess. I will take care of it while you rest.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m sure I would have done way worse.”

“I shouldn’t have done it, but your scent lingered on the sheets for weeks, slowly fading every day. I nearly brought the whole dome down the day it disappeared completely.”

“You don’t need to explain.” I gulped. It seemed so unfair that what only seemed like a few days for me had been months and months of agonizing torture for him. “What I would like to know is how you managed to get bigger. It seems like you’ve done nothing but work out. You’re huge! So is your beard.”

“Trimming my hair was not high on the list of things to do while you were missing. Pushing my body to the brink of death seemed like the preferable option.”

“I’m so sorry. I wish I could give you beard scratchies to make up for it,” I said, my nails begging to run through his thick hair.

“Beard scratchies, huh? So, you like it then?” he hummed.

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