Page 227 of The Lands Defying
“Are you dying?” I ask, emotion clogging my throat.
“I don’t know,” she answers honestly as Cazier growls menacingly and she smiles softly at it. “Having a Vihnarn is a powerful thing, don’t you think?” She glances at where Cazier is. “Do you know where it starts?” she asks us.
“No,” I say slowly. “I just know what Vihnarn means.”
“It starts with the eyes.”
As if on cue, Darius and I look at each other, only to be trapped in each other’s gaze. He tilts his head, gaze roaming my face before he runs a finger down the bridge of my nose.
“I can believe it,” he murmurs. “Those fucking eyes ended me,” he sighs, but its full of affection.
I grin.
“A Vihnarn. It is more than a feeling, more than a connection. You are each other’s other halves, in mind, body and soul. You are the air you both breathe, the heat of the summer sun, water from rushing waterfalls. It’s… Everything. You two are what embodies a Vihnarn down to your souls.”
“How can you tell?” Mine and Darius’s life has been difficult since our first meeting, how does she know that this is the way it was meant to be?
“It’s the way you look at one another, it’s hard to not be captured, and hard to look away from. That’s when I know, but also, you have seen each other at one’s worst, and yet here you stand, united, not afraid of the other, not afraid to go to warforone another.”
I can’t deny her words. At being captured by Darius’s eyes or that we have seen our worst.
“When you are Canaric, an Heir, your soul is shown within the other’s eyes of your Vihnarn, did you know that?” I shake my head. “It is only shown to the other half of you, no other can see it, even if they are looking, and that is why you are both captivated with the other.” I look over at Darius, and he gives me a boyish smirk. Butterflies explode in my stomach and I move instinctively closer to him.
I think back to all the times when I would feel like Darius was looking too closely at me, when I would feel like he was looking at my soul.
Because he was, wasn’t he?
Every time I felt that, every look and glance, that was what we were looking at each time.
His arms come around me when I’m before him and he drops his head and rubs his nose with mine.
Zahariss’s affectionate chuckle reaches my ears and we both look at her. She nods at us.
“Your path has been hard, for both of you. I’m sure you both questioned our choices at times.” We nod. “But we were never wrong in this.” Darius moves a hand to the back of my neck, rubbing gently. “We knew as soon as your soul grew, that you were each other’s. We knew what pulled you two together, but it is both of you that kept that bond. Do not mistake our input for solidifying. You both chose that.” We did? “A Vihnarn is more than a chosen mate, more than a claiming and or life choice. It is soul tied, and both of you have been slowly intertwining since you met, nurturing the bond. I think you both knew that.” I did.
I remember thinking about a thread twining with his, connecting us in a way I have never felt. I remember telling Darius I would tear it out and he said he would put it back.
I knew a Vihnarn was more than a simple mate, I have felt it toward Darius, but I never knew it could feel like this.
Be like this.
She stands, brushing off dirt on her dress, her face turning serious. “There is too much darkness in the lands, the balance is wrong. You must put it back,” she says again before her eyes move to Darius. “You cannot let it continue.” She looks over her shoulder to the hole where Cazier is. “What we are, what you both are, are more than yourselves. When we chose you both, we did not do that on a whim." A huff comes out of her as she looks back towards us. “If you cannot send the rogures back to where they belong, if you cannot rid the darkness, all will be lost.”
She walks toward us, her feet seemingly glide over the ground.
When she’s in front of me, her hand raises and she cups my cheek. “You are the last, both of you are.” Darius and I tense at that, the weight of those words landing. “We have no more to give, nothing to part with.” She shakes her head and grabs both of our hands, placing Darius on top of mine and squeezing us together. “We believe in you, both of you. Unite in how you should have always done. Stop hesitating because of the past, over the wrongs you had done to one another, when the situation and circumstances were not in your favor. Do not waste any more time when you do not know how long of that you have left.”
Darius drops his head, but Zahariss lifts it with a finger under his chin. A growl slips out without me even knowing, and she lets go, side-eyeing me with a small smile.
“She is yours for more than life.” She is talking to Darius, but her eyes are on me. “No matter where you both are, it is for eternity.” Her gaze goes to Darius. “She has already let the past go, you have to do so too to move on, to be strong enough for her.”
Darius grinds his teeth, but when he looks at me, eyes roaming my face, he seems to settle on some sort of decision.
“Good,” Zahariss whispers and steps back. She drops our hands but Darius keeps hold of mine. “I cannot keep you here any longer.” She gives us a sad smile. “We will be watching, and waiting, Heirs.” Drax and Runa come running to us, and they instantly vanish into our bodies. “Be brave. Even in the face of fear, you can find courage.”
I blink, and then we are outside Tyeetha, looking at the ruins.
“We are the last,” I whisper to Darius after a long period of silence, both of us left with our thoughts.
