Page 71 of Omen of ice
Keltania
Despite my mistrust of Daroose, sleep claims me. It’s fitful and full of memories masquerading as nightmares, and when I wake, I get the feeling that they aren’t all mine.
The link between us is evolving. It grows stronger with each passing day. I’m more aware of Valen than I’ve ever been. His moods, his feelings, the sensations of his body.
The dynamic between us has shifted, and I’m both oddly comforted and unnerved by it. I can’t put my finger on it, but something has changed.
From somewhere close, a hawk shrieks and a crow cries out, followed by the howl of what sounds like a wolf. Definitely not Valen’s. His voice is deeper, more resonant.
I roll over and force my eyes open, noting that I’m far more comfortable than I was when I laid down in the early morning hours. Instead of jagged little rocks and bits of stick pinching through my clothing, it’s as though I’d nodded off in a lush field. Even the smell is different. From rotting forest floor to fragrant blossoms.
When my eyes adjust, I see that directly in front of me sits a large crow. It stares, tilting its head to the left, then the right. The bird hops forward, lets out a shrill scream, then pecks my nose once and flies off.
“Bastard…” I put my hand down and start to push myself up—and freeze. The surface my fingers brush really isn’t dirt or jagged rock.
I yelp and scramble to my feet. Valen, face down with his arm wedged beneath one shoulder, jolts awake. “What? Where is it?”
I don’t answer him. I can’t. What was decaying leaves and an assortment of pebbles and debris when I fell asleep is now a seven-or-so-foot section of healthy green grass thick with wildflowers.
More than that—we aren’t alone.
Valen shakes off the remnants of sleep and scrambles upward. He backs slowly to where I stand. An assortment of animals forms a circle around the newly green camp. From several wivryn, their wings stretched above them, to a group of mice huddled under a large blueish doe. That damned crow is there, too. “Did you— What are they doing?”
An emaciated black wolf on the edge of the crowd lifts its head and howls. The two wivryn follow suit, tilting their massive snouts to the sky and releasing mighty roars. Every animal surrounding us bellows a call to the wild. Then, as if they’re one, they all lower their heads to the ground.
Valen holds very still. “Are they—”
“Bowing,” I say, breathless. “They’rebowing.”
“I don’t understand.” The reverence in his voice makes my chest ache.
I scan the growing group of forest denizens, my gaze finally coming back to the small patch of grass I woke on. The ground is no longer lifeless and decaying. It’s alive—thriving, even. It doesn’t make sense. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Fae magic can’t—it can’t do this.”
Valen comes to stand beside me. “This isn’t Fae magic.” Something thrums through the link. It’s dark and broken, but it’s there and gone so fast that I can’t quite catch it. He kneels in the grass and runs his fingertips over the soft blades. The feel of them tickles his fingers—which tickles mine.
“It’s not possible,” I say. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“Neither was the rabbit.” Valen stands. He glances down at his hands, splaying his fingers. “I—I can feel it.”
“Feel what?” But even as the words leave my mouth, I know what he means. The land. The forest, the animals—it’s one big heartbeat thundering through my entire body, a second pulse beating with renewed vigor. I close my eyes and focus on it, chasing the sensation. It’s euphoric. “Oh, wow…”
“Amazing.” He turns in a slow circle. The animals are all still bent, chittering softly, their eyes following our every move. “I’ve never felt anything like it.” He meets my gaze and grins. “And that’s saying something.”
A small fawn, similar in color to the doe, wobbles forward, softly nudging Valen’s hand with her nose. She’s too thin, the bones of her ribs protruding prominently, and walks with a subtle limp. My chest aches with his sorrow, tinted by the desire to help her in some way. He stretches out his hand, and the small deer nuzzles it twice before hobbling back to her mother.
I pluck a small pink flower from the ground. Instantly, another springs to replace it. In that moment I feel lighter—freer—than I ever have. “I want to try something. To test a…theory.”
“You’re smiling.” He lifts a brow and flashes me a lopsided grin. “I feel like you’re about to suggest something ridiculous.”
“Do as I do.” I drop to the ground and pull him down with me. With one hand twined in his and the other pressed flat against the earth, I close my eyes. “Think about the forest as it should be. Lush grass, blossoming trees, fresh air…”
Valen’s hand tightens around mine, and a jolt races up my arm. It travels through my torso, then spreads to my other arm and down to the tips of each finger. Something raw tugs at my chest, and deeper. My soul. Completeness like I’ve never known washes over me. I exhale, and it’s like time stills. The second pulse beating inside my chest explodes outward, seeping into the land.
“Tania,” Valen whispers. His grip on my hand loosens but doesn’t disappear.
I open my eyes, and my heart thunders. The entire clearing, previously brown and decaying, now hums with life. The trees bear brightly colored leaves, their bark turned from dull gray to healthy brown. Birds swoop down from the sky, some settling on the newly invigorated branches, while others land on the ground, pecking for fresh food.
My hand still in his, Valen says, “We did this, Tania.Wedid this.”
