Page 61 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
Nothing we’ve done has been enough.
“It’ll prepare you for receiving the last Oceanwrought piece as well,” Lucine shot over her shoulder as she turned to walk away.
“What does—” My voice cracked, weary and confused, eyes meeting the dripping blood and exposed flesh along my arm like a river carved within the appendage. I leaned sluggishly into Noctis.
I didn’t understand what she meant, but the words refused to form in my fuzzy mind. The council left in sync, leaving me falling limp into Noctis’s arms.
My eyes flitted uncontrollably. In a rush, wind whipped through my hair, but I could barely see anything beyond the daze that clouded my fading vision.
“I have you, darling. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Noctis whispered in my ear.
I couldn’t piece together the words to ask why he was sorry—or why his voice sounded so pained. Instead, I sunk deep into his embrace.
And welcomed the darkness that followed.
An herby blend of musk and dumpling soup drifted into my senses, sharp enough to tingle. I stirred and lifted my groggyhead, only for a warm hand to ease it back onto the soft pillow supporting my neck.
“She will still have full range?” Noctis asked, the words spilling out too fast and fraying at the edges as panic bled through every syllable.
An older woman’s hum drifted in from my right, and I jolted, eyes snapping open as I scrambled away. The cot lurched beneath me, tipping as I lost my balance, but a pair of arms steadied me just in time.
Frosted glass, like the kingdom’s castle walls, sealed us inside the small room as the setting sun bled through the panels, staining everything a dim, pale yellow.
Noctis’s breathy whisper caressed my ear. “Your fight response, love, is admirable, but we need you to rest.”
“If you were so worried about my safety, you wouldn’t have let me do those trials alone,” I snapped, drawing myself back upright.
Noctis reared back, his eyebrows arched toward his hairline. Red curls fell across his forehead, sheen as if soaked in sweat.
“Two things, darling.” He leaned back in. “One. I couldn’t interfere. It isn’t physically possible for me, even a god, to disconnect the thread in Finnegan’s magic. I could have killed him, yes, but my council are honorable people.”
I huffed. “Honorable people who force others into deadly trials to earn a relic that could save all of the realms? They’re cowards.”
“Not in the slightest. They’re cautious. I’ve broken their trust. Don’t forget that this said ‘relic’ could also be the key to destroying the entire realm if in the wrong hands.”
“And what is the second thing?”
Noctis swallowed before continuing, his nose nearly grazing mine. His breath slid across my chin, eyes roaming over my mouth. I pressed my lips together to stifle a reaction, mystomach twisting in knots that I tried to unravel and breathe through. His smirk proved I couldn’t mask the internal struggle well.
Damn.
“I’ve told you this before, darling, but you are far from being powerless. You did not need me. They wanted to see if you are worthy, because they now deemmeas unfit. It is the cost I’ll pay every day as long as I can stay by your side.”
My frustration didn’t fade, but neither did the growing sense that he was right.
“Will you show me your realm?”
A grin radiant with victory lifted Noctis’s mouth. His head cocked to the side. He was so close to me, I could count the multitude of copper freckles that kissed his skin in stunning patterns.
Noctis’s palm brushed my cheek, lingering as it slid across the warmth radiating through me—comforting, yet something about it unsettled me. “I will show you the entire world if it means I get to be the one to share it with you.”
The woman in the room cleared her throat.
“You will be sore, dear, but your travels can proceed,” she said, her voice soft with tenderness and warmth.
I shuffled to look at the woman, graying wavy hair flowing along the elder’s back and across her bronzed face. She was right. The dull pain in my arm pulsed through the appendage, but there were no marks, not even a scar that proved I was pierced by a blade.
Just like Jun’s healing.
