Page 116 of Godbound
“But it was too late. I went to Rust Hollow and learned that the night she visited me, after she left, she was caught.” My voice thins. “They whipped her to death. She must have been too distraught to be careful.” My hands are trembling. “No one knows what they did with her body. The Chastity Warden who did it, had a spider tattoo on his neck. That’s all I know.”
The words feel torn from some locked place inside me. I swallow again, unsettled by how much I’ve said. Of how exposed I suddenly feel.
“But I’ve never been able to find him.”
Kaelzar’s shoulders stiffen. Anger radiates off him. “None of them are worthy of you,” he says, his voice rough, like it’s been dragged from the darkest part of him. “Not your bastard of a father, not the king who left you to suffer, not this kingdom that failed you at every turn.”
His voice softens, almost pained. “And… I’m not worthy of you either.”
My heart clenches painfully as his voice wavers, and I watch thetension ripple through him. Is that what he thinks? Is that why he said what he said back in the cabin? Why he thinks nothing can ever happen between us?
“I am sorry for being thrust upon you, Raylane,” he continues, his voice rough and unsteady. “I truly am.”
Then, as if the confession costs him more than he can bear, he turns on his heel and strides toward the door.
“Kaelzar,” I call after him.
His hand pauses on the handle. “The man who lashed your mother,” he says without turning, “deserves to die by your whip. Never doubt that.”
The sun hangs low as I follow Kaelzar across the field. My steps falter as we crest the hill, the landscape unfolding before us.
I know this place.
Just a week ago, my magic had scoured it bare, reducing vibrant life to a wasteland. The memories claw at me: trees twisted into husks, grass crumbling to ash, animals screaming as decay swept through. My grip tightens on the whip and my gaze drops to my feet.
Kaelzar stops ahead, his back straight as he turns to face me. His expression is calm, almost expectant.
“Look around, Raylane,” he says.
Reluctantly, I lift my eyes.
The field is not as I left it.
What once was a lifeless expanse now shimmers with the tender green of new growth. Delicate flowers in shades of fiery-red, yellow, blue, and violet sway gently in the breeze, their petals catching the sunlight like tiny jewels.
Bees buzz among the blooms, small birds dart between patches of grass, and a rabbit hops cautiously near a cluster of ferns, its ears twitching.
I stare at the fragile wildflowers bending in the breeze. My fingers still clench around the whip.
It shouldn’t be this easy. It shouldn’t just…regrow. My magic killed this place. It should be a graveyard. And yet, green spills across the field, delicate and relentless.
“How?” I whisper, barely trusting my voice. “How can it just come back?”
Kaelzar watches me. “Because life always does.” He steps beside me, his hands resting loosely at his sides as he surveys the field with quiet satisfaction. “Your magic scorched this place, yes. But look at what came after.”
I frown, my fingers absently tracing the engraved handle of the whip. “But I destroyed so much. How can that be... good?”
Kaelzar gestures toward a patch of dense greenery reclaiming the land. “It was overrun with weeds,” he says. “Invasive species choking out anything smaller or weaker. Trees so large they blocked the sun, starving the ground beneath them.”
His voice softens, but it carries a weight that roots me in place. “Now, the smaller things, just as deserving, just as beautiful, have a chance to grow.”
The guilt I carry doesn’t vanish, but it shifts, tempered by a blooming hope.
“And you can do it again.” Kaelzar’s steady gaze meets mine. “You can burn away what’s corrupt, what’s harmful, so that others can thrive. Your magic doesn’t just destroy. It clears the way for life.” His eyes flicker to the whip in my hands. “And now, you’ll learn to control it. To use it for what you believe in.”
I nod, uncertain but willing. “How?”
Kaelzar motions to the ground. “Start by using what you already know. Strike that weed.”
