AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How old were you when your parents died?”
My eyes shoot open, but I keep them focused on the clear, cloudless blue sky.
“Can’t you look through my parent’s memories and find that answer?”
Unless they’re already reincarnated and my version of them no longer exists in the Shadow Realm. The idea sends an unexpected pang of grief and longing through me.
“I could,” he says, my heart thudding at the implication my parents' souls still reside on the other side of the veil. “But I’m asking you.”
I could refuse to answer him. But some unnamed force again has me answering his question with honesty.
“I was four. I don’t remember much about them,” I admit. “Mostly my mother’s smile and my father’s laugh.”
Sweet and kind and big and rich. The only things I remember clearly after spending so many years trying to forget them in order to survive.
“And who raised you after they died?”
I sit up at that, grateful he hasn’t asked me how my parents met their end but just as uninterested in talking to him about life with my aunt and uncle. What does it matter now, anyway? It was so long ago, and I’d rather leave it where it belongs.
Pushing to my feet, I reach for the laces of my corset and begin to undo it. I turn to face Thieran as I let it fall to the sand. I am at his mercy, but I can make him at mine just as easily.
Backing toward the water, I shimmy out of my breeches, kicking them off my feet and reaching for the hem of my tunic. His eyes travel over me from head to toe, locking on the edge of my tunic as I lift it higher up my thighs and over my hips.
The warm water laps at my calves as I back into the sea, and I strip my tunic off, balling it up and tossing it toward the shore. Untangling my braid, I let the wind carry it around my face and shoulders.
With a grin and Thieran’s eyes on me, I dive beneath the surface.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
She’s avoiding my questions, and I can’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to answer questions about my past either. But I’m doing my best to clean up this mess I’ve found myself in. And finding out more about Elora and why her blood might be the only way to fix my realm seems like the best place to start.
She’s right; I could seek out her parents. They live somewhere on Videva’s southern edge in a little cabin tending the fruit trees that supply the palace. The apples Elora loves to bring to Meera are picked by her mother’s hand.
I’m not sure why I’ve kept it from her. Perhaps because of that far away, soul-deep look of grief she gets in her eyes whenever I bring up her parents or she sees Corinne with her family.
I don’t know what it is to miss a parent or even grieve the idea of one. But Elora does. However much she tries not to remember them. If I could leave her past where she wants it, I would. But the realm is asking too much of her, and I’m trying everything I can to avoid it.
This whole thing was much easier when it was merely a matter of keeping her tucked away in the Shadow Realm. The longer she stays, the more comfortable she becomes. The more comfortable I become with seeing her there, as if she has never really belonged anywhere else.
Wishful thinking, maybe, but one that crosses my mind far more often than I want it to. The realm needs Elora’s blood, her sacrifice. It’s a twist I didn’t see coming.
Using her blood to fortify the realm would only work for a time before it would require more. As it does with mine. But I don’t know if the realm would continue to weaken over the years as I’ve witnessed.
My blood has only done so much, its effects lessening over time until it seems barely able to patch the holes these days. I can feed the veil and the realm my blood forever, but I fear I’m fighting a losing battle. And as much as I want to save my realm and Acaria from the fate that awaits it should my realm fall, I’m not sure I can bring myself to sacrifice Elora to do it.
And that’s what it would take. A sacrifice. Not just drops of her blood. All of it. Better if it’s freely given. As mine was so long ago to create the realm from nothing and bind it all together. But not required.
The idea of it turns my stomach. She should be nothing to me. I should have kept my distance from her. This would be an easy decision if I had. It would likely be done already. But I didn’t, and it isn’t, and thus my insistent questions about her past.
If I can learn more about who Elora was before she came here, perhaps I can find out why she is the one who can heal the veil. And if I can find out why, maybe I can find another mortal to replace her.
It’s a theory only, and one I’m keeping to myself for now. I know what Railan would expect me to do were he to find out. What Kaia would reluctantly agree was necessary. So I’m choosing not to tell them for the time being. Until I can learn more, find answers, and figure out a solution.
Elora emerges from the water, shooting me another teasing grin before bobbing up to float on her back. The waves roll under and around her, water sparkling on her bare skin in the bright sunlight.
Rising, I discard my robes and step out of my breeches. Dropping my tunic on the pile, I cross the short stretch of beach and join her in the water. She keeps her eyes closed against the sun, but her mouth ticks up at one corner when I swim out to her.
Despite the heat, goosebumps pebble her stomach, and I like the thought that my presence makes her shiver in anticipation. I paddle closer, reaching up to trace the underside of her breast with my fingertips.
