She grabbed a rock off the ground and held it up threateningly. To her shock, the man tilted his head and stooped down, then grabbed her wrist, forcing her to drop the rock. His hand was rough and cold. Panic welled inside her, and she realized what a mistake it had been to come alone. She opened her mouth to scream, but he clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Snow, calm down. It’s only me.”

She relaxed immediately, and he let go of her. She felt silly as she noted a thousand tiny details that revealed his identity. Her bracelet softly jingled against his wrist, and his uneven haircut formed an unmistakable silhouette. He helped her up before pressing a finger to his lips. When his back was not to the moons, she could clearly make out his caramel skin and lilac eyes.

“What are you doing up? You scared me half to death,” Elurra breathed, slightly cross.

“I couldn’t sleep with Kai snoring in my ear,” he grumbled. “And he stole all the blanket.” He shivered involuntarily, and she clicked her tongue judgmentally.

“You are going to freeze to death, you daft boy,” she groused quietly as she took his hand.

She’d held his hand numerous times during their brief childhood, but his grown-up hands were much larger than hers. She doubted she could drag him against his will anymore. Even though it had only been half a month since they’d last been together, everything felt different.

He no longer seemed like a child in a man’s body. He had a certain air about him she hadn’t sensed before. She knew what he went through at sea were things no thirteen-year-old should ever have to experience, and it’d noticeably aged him. She felt guilt forming a knot in her stomach. She couldn’t forget it was her fault.

She led Terrin to a fallen log and urged him to sit down before wrapping her blanket around him. He was still shivering, so Elurra hugged him to share her body heat. Even through the blanket, he felt unnaturally cool to the touch. His face appeared drawn in the dim moonlight, and he had a strange look in his eyes. She sensed he had other reasons for his sleeplessness.

“I am sorry for everything,” she breathed, cutting through the silence.

He simply leaned his head against hers comfortingly. “Nitiri is the one to blame, not you. I know nothing turned out the way you wanted it to, despite how hard we tried. We were too late to stop her—”

“And I was too late to save you. And I was too weak to stop that assassin from hurting your father. And I was too helpless to stop Nitiri from kidnapping Kai. And I was the one—” she choked on her tears and trailed off. “I am always one step behind her.”

“We’re one step ahead of her this time, and we have the advantage. She doesn’t know we’re a team again. We’ll fix this,” he promised.

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments before Elurra spoke up again. “Terrin, what is really bothering you? I know it is not simply Kai’s snoring.”

A weary smile crossed his face, proving she was right.

“How could you tell?” he asked, sounding defeated.

She rolled her eyes. “I know you.”

He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled softly. “I should have known.”

Elurra pulled away, letting his body heat take over. She waited for Terrin to speak, but he just stared up at the sky, as if it could solve all his problems.

“The stars look so clear in Lur Alava,” he mumbled softly, completely ignoring her question. She sighed audibly and stared at him.

“That’s because Lur Alava is at a higher altitude than Amora. The sky looks clearer, and it’s always colder. Stop trying to change the subject.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

He hung his head in defeat. “I’ve been thinking about my childhood. I’ve always wanted to travel, but I never imagined anything like this. Although it’s absolutely terrifying sometimes…I feel more confident and comfortable with myself now. I’ve learned and seen so much, but—” he stopped and looked down at his hands. “I wonder what Ramer would think if he saw me. Would he finally be proud of me? Would he be angry or disappointed? I miss him,” he admitted softly.

Elurra squeezed his arm, and he slumped down like a deflated balloon. She knew all too well how it felt to miss a father.

“You know he loved you, right? He might have been upset initially, but the choice to travel and use your gifts was yours. He sacrificed his life for you. No matter what, you’re still his son.”

He nodded and sniffled a bit. Elurra hugged him tightly.

“You’re right.” He tilted his head sideways and gave her a slim grin as he wiped his eyes.

She smiled as a surge of warmth flooded through her. The barrier between them was gone, and she was grateful to know they could still speak freely when they were alone. He sat up straight, and his face became serious.

“We have to get Kai back to Amora, or our favorite self-appointed queen will release whatever deadly plan she’s concocted. I bet it has something to do with those shadow monsters we encountered yesterday.” Elurra’s smile vanished, and she thought over the grim situation they were in. “What do you think she’s planning to do, exactly? What does she want? Power? Land? Riches?”

Elurra pondered the question, realizing she’d been wondering the same thing. To distract Terrin while she pondered Nitiri’s motives, she thought up a random question.

“Did Ramer ever tell you stories as a kid?” She was too deep in thought to notice Terrin’s strange expression before he answered.

“Not really. He would only tell me tales about Amorian history and the evils of magic and people who used it.”

It was pure chance she heard the last part of the sentence because she was engrossed in her analysis of everything Nitiri had done and said so far. She nodded absently at his response, then her head shot up when his words registered.

“What did you say?” she asked, forgetting her search for her aunt’s vendetta. Before Terrin could repeat his sentence, she held up her hand, signaling silence. “Why did he have that spell book if he hated magic so intensely?”

Terrin didn’t understand it was a rhetorical question and started to answer. “Well you said healers sometimes have—”

She cut him off again with a wave of her hand, confusing him further. “If he truly hated magic, he would not have had such an extensive spell book. I assumed he had gotten it from an experienced magician due to the complexity of some of the entries. If he hated magic, he would have thrown it out. The only explanation is Ramer was a magician or had been one at some point. How could I have been so naïve? It is all so obvious!”

Terrin stared at her incredulously. His mouth was hanging open, and it took him a good minute or so to compose himself enough to stutter, “R-Ramer? A magician? But he hated magic and magicians and…” He trailed off, noticing Elurra wasn’t paying attention. Her face was distant and contemplative. Anything he said would fall on deaf ears. He sighed heavily, remembering how annoying she could be.

“There are only two possible reasons Nitiri would want war with Amora,” she started, switching back to the original topic.

“Snow, don’t jump from subject to subject! It’s confusing.”

She smirked at him. “Do forgive me; you do not need any help getting confused. You do it so well on your own.”

Terrin rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Why on Incari did I miss you in the slightest? All you do is confuse me, insult me, and hypothesize that the man who raised me was a magician.”

She gave him an impish grin, making him smile.

“You know you would not have me any other way,” she told him as she yawned and laid her head on his shoulder. Terrin sighed in exasperation, although he secretly agreed with her.

“Are you going to tell me about Nitiri or not?”

“She could want control of Amora and all of its gold and riches, which makes the motive greed. However, I saw no sign of her trying to amass an army impressive enough to crush theirs when we were at the castle.”

“What’s the second option?”

“In Unérith she said something about not wanting the war, but the people and objects it brought. What if she wants a certain person to come to Lur Alava? Before she sent me away, she asked me about the Kutsal Stone, and she asked the same of my parents before she killed them. My parents also mentioned someone stole Sheni’s Kutsal Stone before she left. She is collecting them,” Elurra stated. “She wants the king to come to Lur Alava. I am not sure if she is expecting him to bring the stone with him or if she is going to send people to bring the stone to her, but either way, it makes sense. Targeting one of the royal family directly would guarantee the king would personally accompany the army.”

“Nitiri is after the Kutsal Stones? That does explain the Demons.”

“Originally, she was probably going to make a huge fuss and pretend to have someone find my body or some rubbish along those lines so the king would be forced to meet with her,” Elurra said, her voice growing slower and sleepier with every word.

She yawned and fell asleep moments later. Terrin rested his head on top of hers, content to fall asleep with his arms around her once again.