Page 17 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Yes. Yes, that was who he was. No, more than that. He was my mate.
My chest tightened, my breath sealing in my throat for a heartbeat.
My mate.
Yes, that was the word I'd been searching for.
I mouthed the word, unable to even speak it aloud yet.
Elias nodded. "Yes, before your death, he was your husband."
My death? My eyes widened. Wait. I died?
"He could be her husband," Hord said.
"Isher husband," Kine corrected sharply. He gestured toward the hill Hord had indicated. "But if Buttercup's here, let's prove it, and then get Stella to safety. We really don't have time to waste."
I shook my head, protesting. "No, don't make me leave him. Please. I know I sound like a fool, but please, don't make me leave him!"
Some of the guards looked at us again. The raised eyebrows and whispers continued. Candy continued to lure and bait Brandt in their exhausting dance. His snout had bloodied and healed several times at this point.
Kine stepped closer to me, lowering his voice. His golden eyes were soft with concern. "Bug, trust me, please. This is for your own good as well as his. I promise that I'll explain everything I can. I believe in you and Brandt both. I support you both, and I swore to you then what I am swearing to you now—I'm going to help you two find a way to be together again."
Tears rose to my eyes as I ducked my head. I didn't even know what to feel in this moment. The twinge in my heart told me I'd trusted Kine before. He wasn't lying to me.
He gently took my hand as Elias kept his arm firmly around my shoulders, and we started to walk away. My feet were leaden. It took all my strength not to turn around and run back to Brandt. The distance made the siren's call of returning to him more and more potent despite the risk. Kine, Elias, and Hord continued to speak, but their voices jumbled in my ears. Nothingmattered right now. As much as I hated it, nothing mattered at all.
As we reached the top of the hill, I glanced back one more time. Brandt was still a monstrous black and red serpent. His jaws snapped at Candy's scales, his teeth slicing through the air, and all I wanted in that moment was for him to look at me and know me, even if that meant he would kill me.
STELLA
Kine kept his grip on me firm as we continued over the crest of the hill. He then gave me a side hug. The smell of blueberries, charcoal, and lemongrass grew stronger. "It's all right."
It didn't feel all right. My whole being was numb, detached, as if I left part of myself behind with Brandt. A dull ache had already formed in my chest. It was hard to walk, even though we were now moving downhill over short grass, and the incline wasn't even all that steep.
And there was one small problem.
"So…I died?" I asked quietly.
Kine managed a faint smile. He brushed the hair out of my face. "Yeah, Bug. You and seven other royal women laid down their lives to save this world from a great threat. You were all reborn on Earth. When the veil was thin enough here and we knew the truth about where you were, we came to get you and bring you home."
Elias shook his head as Hord walked with us in silence. "It should have been sooner. It took too long. We should have found some other way."
Kine gave me another encouraging hug, his touch and warmth familial and surprisingly comforting. "It'll all make sense in time. You'll keep getting back your memories in bits and surges. I know it's probably shocking—"
"No, actually. I… Life never felt right for me. It was like I was always missing something."
His words settled over me, pressing against my consciousness. It wasn't nearly so hard to accept as I would have expected. I'd died here and been reincarnated on Earth where I had lived. Now I was back. Bizarre. And yet…with all I'd seen this night, I could believe it.
The hill continued down into another relatively flat valley. Oaks and maples were scattered about, most standing sentinel around the river until the forest that rose on the foothills around us. Dark-green bushes heavy with blue and red berries clustered in thick batches along the steeper riverbanks. The earth was softer down here in this valley, rich and dark, smelling more like warm black mulch than turned topsoil.
Hord glanced back at us. His steps slowed. "What went wrong exactly? Was it just the timing of the attack? Or was there more?"
The silver and teal moons cast enough light on the grass dotted with clumps of wildflowers that it was almost as bright as if we carried torches. His stride was heavy and firm, leaving behind deep prints on the soft springy grass.
"Don't know," Elias said flatly. He gave me a worried look, and several thin lines appeared on his brow. He moved with quiet purpose, a somberness clinging to him. "But it's been odd since we brought her back. Very odd. It worries me."
"Seems to me the magic in general has become even more unstable," Kine offered with a broad sweep of his arm. "Maybe it's just because of how much the Gola Resh and the Babadon stole before the curse's progress stopped, or maybe it's changed.I don't know, but I struggled to shift, and my ring was fully prepared. It isn’t as if I would have been using it in the dungeon."
