Page 60 of Leviathan's Song
I noticed something odd as I was powering up one of my gems. Levi was telling me a story about the time he’d changed Grim’s auto-signature to “Prim-Reaper”, and his words caused a strange kind of reverb in the stone as I pushed my energy into it. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but later, as he was working on his composition, I had to ask him to pause a moment. He’d been humming his tune as he wrote the notes, and the enchantment was so strong that it was interfering with the magic I was infusing into the stone.
All in all, it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, working side by side on our projects and watching the forest drift by. It felt like we were able to exist in the moment for the first time together, ignoring outside pressures and what the future might hold. What else could be done? We were doing everything we could, and no amount of fretting was going to speed the trip along.
I loved having his company, just existing with each other and doing our own thing, and the way he absentmindedly touched me with the back of his hand, just because he could. I tried not to let my mind drift, because when it did, it inevitably wandered back to the night before and the way Levi had felt in my arms. The resulting ache and twinge in my body told me I needed some time to heal. I felt like my cheeks were permanently stained with pink, and to my surprise, his seemed to be too.
Instead, I studied him as he wrote, the way the wind tossed his dark blond hair and the way he crinkled his eyes against the sun. His mouth would purse just slightly when he pressed his pencil against the page, and his jaw would flex when he was frustrated. His dark eyebrows always came together when he had to erase.
It surprised me a little how comfortable I was with him, more than just enjoying his presence, but how completely natural our interactions and conversations felt. I’d never had this kind of ease outside of my friendships with Sidney or Rafe. I wanted to know everything about him—what made him tick, what wounds he carried, what brought him joy.
We ended our blissful day of chatting and working in a small glen where we could set up camp, instead of the inn I’d planned on, because we were still off course from our decision to follow the white stag. Tomorrow we would correct our course enough to make it to an inn the following night, and all would be back to plan.
* * *
I woke to a cold,dark morning and Levi’s arm curled around my waist. The fire pit was silent, which meant the coals had gone out, and I turned to burrow further into Levi for his warmth. He groaned and moved his arm to my shoulder, pulling me closer before I felt him stiffen.
“Elara,” he breathed my name into my hair. “It’s here.”
I looked over my shoulder and was startled to find the white stag standing on the edge of our glen, staring up at Domm who was still pulsing his creepy blue light. I tensed as the ghostly apparition strode closer to us, pausing to inspect Leothen, then made its way to our fire pit.
His movements roiled my stomach, flickering in and out of existence as he did, and the long, proud antlers bracketing his spectral flames flickered the most. I recognized his magic as being similar to what Domm was sending out in little bursts, but other than that, it was like nothing I’d ever felt before.
Levi was holding his breath, and when the stag took a few more steps toward us, he was already moving, dragging me backward a few inches, away from the deer. It stopped and eyed us warily before leaning down to sniff my head. It took a step back, leading Levi to loosen his grip slightly, then turned and ambled into the trees, where it stood watching us for several minutes before disappearing into the forest again.
“What wasthat?” My voice came out in a croak, and I sat up to clear my throat.
“He sniffed your hair.”
I shot him an incredulous look and opened my mouth to explain that I knew very well exactly what the enormous, flickering, transparent deer had done, considering I was right here when it happened—I just didn’tunderstandit. But before I could get a word out, another thought crossed my mind.
“Can spectrals even smell things on our plane?”
Levi shrugged. “We should follow it.”
I frowned at him, then looked back at where the stag had disappeared. “That isn’t the direction we’re going though. It’ll take us farther off course.”
Sure, nobody ever talked about a spectral stag outside of stories of it delivering messages or helping someone, but those were legends and who knew how much truth was in them. Maybe he just wandered around in the woods like a normal deer sometimes. I didn’t know his life.
“Elara, it showed up at our camp two mornings in a row. Or is that common for an empress of your standing?” His voice was as wry as his grin.
I rolled my eyes and huffed. “I don’t have any idea what that thing wants, but I do know that I have anentire citywaiting on these golems as theirfirstline of defense.” I tried to explain more seriously. “We can’t waste time on a wild goose chase on the off chance that a spectralmightwant us to follow it. We’re not lost, we’re not in danger, and we’re already a day behind thanks to me being slung into the pond of pain.”
Levi opened his mouth to argue, and then the gears got stuck. I probably should have kept a lid on the alliterative nonsense this early in the morning. He shook his head and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “I get that. I do. But that’s aspectral stag,” he groused.“When do those just show up and not have a reason?”
I started to interrupt, but he cut me off.
“Just—what if he knows something we don’t? You almost died two days ago, Elara. I thought I’d lost you.” His voice broke on the last sentence, and my eyes shot to his to find him imploring me with unshed tears that pierced my heart. “There could be anything in these woods,” he continued firmly. “Hidden mine shafts, wyverns, basilisks… anything. Two days ago proved we’re not invincible even with your golems. If he’s trying to lead us around danger, and we ignore him, it could delay us further or worse.”
I could tell by his expression and the stubborn set of his jaw how much of a battle he was prepared to wage if I fought him on this.
I sat for a moment, contemplating his words, feeling my guilt compound itself for scaring him with my injury. He was right about one thing, arriving with the golems a little late would be better than not arriving at all if something happened to us. I took a moment to weigh my options. “I guess we could start off in that direction and see what happens,” I hedged.
Just for a little while. I could always course-correct later in the day.
After another rushed packing job and cold breakfast on the go, we were loaded up and back on the move. The morning’s travel was relatively quiet, since most of it was across grassland, though there were still the occasional eruptions of birds from the high grass screaming their warning calls as they went.
Around midday, we found the stag standing on the edge of a clearing. He stood with his head held high, watching us approach until we were before him, then turned and headed into the trees. This direction was closer to my original plan, so though it was through hillier terrain than I’d originally aimed for, I directed Leothen to follow him. I flinched as we crashed through the overgrown wood, ripping limbs from trees and outright felling others, but the spectral stayed with us this time, waiting for us at the tops of rises when he got too far ahead.
Until he didn’t.
