Page 315 of The Lands Defying
He leans his forehead to mine, his nose rubbing against me in greeting after a long time, and I clutch his shoulder, my nails digging into him.
“My Vihnarn,” he breathes against my lips, and then, he’s kissing me, breathing air back into my lungs.
Completing me.
Finally, bringing me home.
Eighty Six
Darius
I hold Rhea closer as she rests, watching Runa and Drax play. They haven’t stopped rubbing up against each other, always playing, nipping and licking, always touching one another in some way.
It must have been just as hard for her as it was for the female in my arms who I refuse to let go of.
I feel like she will disappear from my arms, much like she feels I will, taking her warmth with her after feeling so cold for so long.
She never once wavered when I was taken to the below, never once left my side where she last saw me.
She didn’t move for a long time at first, as I paced back and forth, looking up for any sign of movement, unable to do anything but watch her wither away.
My brothers tried to help her too, but still, she never left me.
So I raged in the dark of the below, growling and snarling like the beasts I was locking up down there, until eventually, I looked up again and she moved.
Slowly at first, like she didn’t know how, and I was right there with her.
I followed her, tracing her footsteps from the below, just like I said I would.
They looked like raindrops of light every time she took a step, and I was right beneath her watching through the darkness, reaching up with a hand because I wanted to be closer to her in any way I could.
I couldn’t feel her though, couldn’t sense her, but she was always that light above who stopped the dark from fully consuming me, who stopped me from going mad in my solitude surrounded by beasts.
Because I was close.
Being away from her, not being able to smell her, touch her, look into those eyes that own my heart, my fucking soul, had been a torture, one I now know that Cazier goes through every passing moment as he’s separated from Zahariss.
Cazier guided me in the below, teaching me to craft chains of my power to wrap around the beasts and keep them rooted to the ground in there, if you can call it that. It was darkness and what looked like water because when you stepped upon the ground, ripples formed, but you never got wet.
He told me that was also the place he brought Rhea to, to be able to give her enough power to reach back to me, under Zahariss’s orders, and I was thankful for that, but I wasn't thankful how long it would take me to get back to her, if I even could.
Cazier said I may not, that the chance was small, but I would move the lands for my Vihnarn and I managed to get the beasts under control enough that Cazier, even with his dwindled power, took over.
And then with his help, he got me to the surface and back to my Vihnarn, rising up to where she waited for me, surroundedby her favorite flowers just like we are laying in now, her on my chest.
And I will never let go of her again.
We are infinite.
And she is mine, just as I am hers, always.
She mumbles something against me, then lifts her head, looking down at me with sleepy eyes.
She blinks a few times likes she’s making sure I’m here, and I smile up at her, running a hand through her hair.
She sighs, her own smile forming as I rub her nose with mine.
“Sleep, Vihnarn,” I tell her. I feel the exhaustion pulling me down, but I don’t want to take my eyes off of her for one moment.
