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But the price that was paid to restore it was too high. No matter how much Railan wants to assure me it had to be this way or Kaia wants to pretend Elora may some day return to me. It should never have come to this.
I wave my hand over the parchment, and it disappears from my lap. Rubbing my temple, I close my eyes against the pain blooming behind my right eye. I haven’t slept in days, and while I can push my body to do many things, operating without sleep will only take me so far.
A noise from the bed startles me, and my eyes shoot open. Elora hasn’t moved, but I could swear her breathing is faster, deeper. My eyes narrow on her chest. Is it rising and falling quicker than it was before?
I rub a hand over my heart. I haven’t been able to feel her heartbeat next to mine since she gave herself to the veil. I find I miss it desperately.
She sucks in a sudden deep breath, and I shove out of my chair, crossing to the bed and perching on the edge of it. Reaching up to brush a stray hair off her forehead, I tuck it behind her ear.
She feels warmer; her cheeks look pinker. But I can’t decide if that’s a trick of my imagination. Is she better? Or am I seeing what I want to see?
Her eyes flit behind her lids, her lashes dancing against her cheeks. Tracing my fingertip down the edge of her jaw to her chin, I sigh. But all the air is ripped out of my lungs when her eyes slowly open.
She blinks up at me, and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest.
“Thieran?”
I’ve never heard a sweeter sound than my name on her lips.
“Elora.”
Her gaze darts beyond me, and I see recognition there. She knows who I am and where she is. That seems like a good sign.
“Am I dead?”
I drop my lips to her forehead and press a long, lingering kiss there, centering myself before speaking.
“It would appear you are not.”
She opens her mouth, but no words come out. Clearing her throat, she tries again.
“Am I supposed to be?”
I chuckle in spite of myself. “I’m not entirely sure. How do you feel?”
“Like the Shadow Realm swallowed me whole and spit me out again. What happened?”
“You did something incredibly stupid and reckless. That’s what happened.”
Fire flashes in her eyes, and the wall I’ve been building around my heart while she lay sleeping fractures and crumbles. She’s back with me. I don’t know how or why, but my Elora is here, and I will never let her go again.
“I seem to recall I saved your life.” She tries to reposition herself, shrugging me off to rearrange the pillows on her own. “And the souls in the Shadow Realm. And all of Acaria, for that matter.”
“Fine, then,” I concede. “You’re a hero. Feel better?”
She gives me a wry grin. “I’ve never wanted to be a hero. Heroes are boring.”
I lean down to capture her lips with mine, sinking into the kiss by degrees when she immediately responds. She’s soft and giving, and when her hand finds mine on top of the coverlet, she laces our fingers together.
“I love you too,” I whisper against her lips.
She smiles softly, leaning her forehead against mine. “Did it work, at least?”
“It did. The realm is the strongest it’s been since its inception.”
“Then how am I not dead?”
“I have no idea.” I give her fingers a squeeze. “But I thought I’d lost you just the same. You’ve been asleep for three days,” I add in response to her questioning frown.
