Page 124 of Vasmora

Until I couldn’t hold it any longer.

I collapsed into his embrace, every horrible memory of that place ripping through my mind like barbed vines and I wept. For him. For me. For every soul that’d suffered at the hands of Loyce.

The endless outcries from that mimicrow reverberated through my skull in Zevander’s voice and I flinched against him. Hands clenched to fists at my ears, I tried to silence them, to tuck them back into whatever dark vault from which they’d escaped, but they seemed to grow louder.

Over and over again, his hoarse cries of agony breached my thoughts as though I’d slipped back into that hell.

Zevander didn’t speak a word as the ache tore out of me in choking sobs, but held me through every swell of pain, every hopeless moment. Until there was nothing left in me and the screams had faded, dissolving away like ash on the wind.

I opened my eyes.

He was still there. Alive. In my arms.

In spite of the concern swirling in his gaze, I would never tell him what happened. Would never speak a word of the torment I’d been subjected to, hearing the sounds of his suffering. Or that I had watched a precise replica of him whipped to shreds. Confessing to him would’ve destroyed him more than any wound I could’ve possibly inflicted on his body.

Instead, I silently vowed to keep them locked away, buried deep inside my head.

I exhaled a shaky breath, resting my cheek against the wet tears clinging to his shoulder, clutching him as if the ground would open any moment and swallow him again. The violet flicker of the fire distracted my thoughts, and in that stretch of silence, my mind wandered. “The Solassions will hunt both of us, won’t they?”

“I suspect they will, yes.”

“And the mages? They’ve not given up, either?”

“They managed to steal the stones from Dolion. And thanks to the bloodbinder, they’ve confirmed both of us are still alive. So, no. They’ve not given up.”

“Is there nowhere safe in this world? Hunted by monsters in the mortal lands. Mages and armies here.” I sat back and shook my head. “You should’ve left me in that cell.”

“Don’t say that.” He gathered my arms, jaw clenched as though I’d wounded him with the remark. “Don’t ever say that, moon witch. I will raze this world to ashes, if that’s what it takes to keep you safe. It means nothing to me without you.”

I winced at the thought, the mere suggestion that he would destroy everything he knew for me. “The bloodbinder, is he alive?” I asked, changing the subject.

He exhaled a huff and loosened his grip of my wrists. “As I understand, he’s in a fragile state. His binding magic is rejecting the wolf venom, making him susceptible to the blade’s poison.”

“I hope he lives,” I said boldly. “Not that I believe he’s deserving of it. But there’s remorse in living.”

“Assuming he’s capable of it.”

I mindlessly ran my fingers over the ridges in his chest, desperate to touch him. To push away the fear of that nightmare and remind myself of his presence. That he was real.

“Do you need anything?” he asked, drawing my wandering fingers to his lips for a kiss.

“Water.”

From beside us, he reached for a pitcher and poured it into a tin cup. When he passed it to me, my shaking hands splashed the fluids over the rim, onto his stomach that twitched on contact. The scorpion necklace woven between my fingers clanked against the tin as I tipped it back for a sip. No repulsive sulfur scent or drowned bugs.

The cool, crisp water nearly sizzled down my throat, and a quiet moan escaped. I gulped it back then wiped my lips across the back of my hand.

Zevander’s brows kicked up. “More?”

Nodding, I held out the cup, and he poured another round, which I cleared as quickly as the first.

Sighing, I set the cup on the floor beside us. “So, what happens now?”

“You’re my only priority at the moment. Once you’re safe, I intend to retrieve Dorjan.”

“The prince …. It was Melantha who helped kidnap him.” Frowning, I shook my head, recalling our conversation in the charnelyth pit. “She told me she traded him for some cure King Jeret possesses. For her brother.”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “Cadavros. She put all of Aethyria at risk.”