Page 140 of Of Serpents and Ruins
The water mirror’s connection broke.
I stood over it, my heart heavy. My fingers traced the edge of the basin again, trembling.
We were so close to the end. More than anything, I wanted some reassurance, some hope that Brandt and I would make it through, that Sepeazia would survive, that good would come out of this in some shape or form. Tears stung my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. A few dropped into the silver basin, but the magic did not stir.
What I craved was knowledge that was beyond me, a guarantee for something that might not exist.
But dwelling on that caused me to overlook what I had.
I wiped my eyes, combed my fingers through my hair, and then left. A heavy thudding drew my attention as soon as I reached the main deck.
STELLA
Isighed. I wasn’t in the water drawing the ship along, but I hadn’t given her attention.
Somehow, the ridiculousness of a tantrum-throwing triceratops comforted and amused me. I hurried down the narrow staircase, pressing my hand to the walls until I found my way to the left stable on the port hull.
The stable itself, like its match on the opposite side of the ship, smelled of hay and alfalfa. Three globed lamps provided added light even with the portholes open. Large and small leather straps hung from the walls, each one securely fastened into the wood. Someone had secured each of the dinosaurs to the wall with at least two bands each.
I had a vague recollection that the Keening Pass included fast currents which made sense, especially if it was going to take us less than a day to get through.
Buttercup bellowed and kicked at the walls until she saw me. Then she shook her head and lowed.
"Come on, baby. You just don’t like the Keening Pass?" I tilted my head as I stroked her jaw. She lowed again.
"I can guarantee she doesn't." Brandt stepped out from behind her. He no longer wore his tabard, just his black tunictucked into his trousers and his belt. The scar on the left side of his face gave him an especially dramatic look in this light. His hand rested on Buttercup's rounded amber-yellow side. "You know, she missed you almost as much as I did."
Buttercup snorted, her nostrils flaring.
Brandt shrugged as he met her gaze. "You didn’t miss her more than I did. I’ll fight you on that one."
She swatted her tail against the wall once more.
"Okay, let’s not fight." I crossed over and put my arms around her thick neck, though my gaze remained fixed on Brandt. Warmth and jitters mingled in my stomach. "Kine said you took her to meadows while I was gone. Basically you spoiled her."
"Yeah." Brandt crossed his arms over his broad chest. "She didn’t like staying in the aviaries or stables or with anyone else really. Well, except for when the tiny pterosaurs are nesting and sing. Then she tolerates it, but no one else wants her in there because she knocks too much over."
That pose always made his muscles look especially cut and those serpents so exceptionally powerful. Then I remembered the ones that curled along his side, and more heat coiled within me. Spicy strawberry margarita man, indeed.
Brandt nudged her with his folded arm. "We’d go out at least once a week, sometimes three times if I was around, and nightly during the rose clover blooms. After Kine and Elias tried to bring you back the first time, she got really…anxious. That’s why I had to have help when I took her out. She was always looking for you."
This brought a smile to my lips. "And so were you. Or, if not looking for me, pining for me and trying to find some way to bring me home."
His brow hitched. "Kine said Elias told you that I protested their seeking you out and imprisoned them for their defiance."
I nodded. "He did, and did he also tell you that I understand you had your reasons?"
"I imprisoned them so that they would not inadvertently make it worse. As for seeking you out, we didn't have answers. We weren't even a breath closer to ending the curse. I just couldn’t risk you." He traced his thumb along my cheek, his gaze soft despite its intensity. "Even though I wanted to see you again, more than anything… Besides, the portal would have opened again in another fifty years."
"Another fifty years? Do you understand how old I’d have been by then?" I smirked even as my stomach twisted with butterflies. "I’d have come through almost eighty years old. I was aging at a normal rate for humans there."
He chuckled at this. "You think I wouldn’t love you even if you came back wrinkled and old?"
"Would you?" My eyebrow arched.
He narrowed his eyes at me as he pressed his thumb to my chin and tilted my gaze up. "I would love you no matter how old and wrinkled you became. Especially if you had been able to carve out a life for yourself."
"My life on Earth…" I closed my eyes, tears brimming once more. "I was always missing something. Missing this. Kine. Buttercup." I hooked my fingers in his tunic and pulled him close. "Most of all you. Do you know how bland and colorless my world was without you?"
