Page 82 of A Blightress of Wrath
Mylight burned brighter.Ilowered my head, closing my eyes again.Thefaint glow behind my lids gave me enough hope to focus on whatIneeded to leave this place.
Mydesire, my current, innermost want in this world would let me leave.
Myeyes too dry to cry,Ilet the memory of howIgot here slip back in, let it brighten asIheardLia’slast words to me in that cave.
Shewouldn’t leave her sister again.
TheBlightresswas alive.Ifelt her there, lingering in that space of my mind, still shoved in the dusty corner.Iknew what that meant for her sister.
Ibit down and focused on whatIneeded to do to leave the portal.
Mydesire.
WhatdidIwant most?
Rev.
Saelynwas well, better than well, it seemed.Shethrived, not missing a beat and kicking me from the inside yet again, pushing me to get us out of the place that was not a place.
Itook a deep breath, pulling that truth forward between myself and my love.
Youbreathe,Ibreathe.
Youlive,Ilive.
Rev.
IwantedRevsafe.Iwanted to go to him.Tobe in his arms again, holding me and telling me that everything was going to be alright.Irepeated my desire over and over again, and then,Iheard his voice.
“It’salright,Karus,” he whispered somewhere above me, cradling me in his arms, pushing my hair back from my face.
Iblinked.
Once.Twice.
Therewas my love, sitting on the other side of the portal, in a tunnel lined with dark roots on which brilliant blue blooms littered the walls.Hisface had changed, covered in rugged black hair over his jaw, and chin, and lips.Buthis eyes.Iknew those eyes.Thoseeyes of whichI’dnever spend enough time gazing into.Thesoft blue of a rolling ocean surface, wet and salty tears streaming down his cheeks.
Heshifted his hand into my hair, pulled me to his chest, and wept.
Chapter39
Rev
IwatchedKaruswith a smile across my face that must have been something to see, forIwould no longer weep.Iwould not worry, nor falter in my hope.Iwould not give into that pacing dark which waited for me to break.
Ihad shed enough tears to last a lifetime in the dank tunnel underground, awaiting her return.Waitingjust asIalways did.Patientlywaitingfor my love and our growing child to come back to me.
Karuslay asleep in our bed as she had since drifting out of that portal the day before.Therhyzolm had saved me again and again from falling to my wretched despair, proving that she lived, that our child lived, and had grown stronger in the four monthsI’dspent alone.
WhenPompeiihad last visited me in the tunnel, bringing more supplies, forcing me to the surface to breathe fresh air for only a moment,I’dhardly registered how long it had been.
Fourmonths was nothing.
Mysmile grew to see her belly rise and fall, so much bigger than before that tunnel.Beforewe learned that there was no destroying that heart without ending the lives of every magic wielder onArcaynenIsle.
Liahad not returned, nor would she.
Iknew it in my heart that she was gone from us, and there was still no sign of what had happened toMychaelandRell.Ihad portaledPhiliusandRennback to the grove of syphoner trees along theTectusTrail.They’dreported there was no sign of either missing channeler and that most of the trees had been burned away, though some remained in their spectral glow.
