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Haven Ellery stood at the edge of the fire tree’s light, staring into the darkness. He was sure he could still see Nara running towards him, the desperation and fear etched deep in her features that all too quickly turned to horror. It had distracted him, in a way, from the searing pain that had wracked his body. How many times had he been sure he was dying while holding her as she left this world?
It hurt. Like something had ripped his very heart from his body. The Mer had done just that, he thought, putting his hand to his perfectly intact chest. Then he moved it to his side, where the mark Nara’s sword had left on him had long disappeared.
A sword he’d seen lighting up in those last moments before he disappeared. He had felt the buzz of the power within it, knowing she would destroy the beast behind him, but it was too late for him. Ellery had dropped to his knees. It was too late for them.
As the light of the fire tree had come into focus, he had hoped it would give him some comfort, but there was none to be found this time. There were too many questions. Too many new questions had arisen in this life and, just as in the previous lives, he feared they would never be answered.
How many lives had they lived wondering at why they were there, living as they were? A short and dangerous existence, with no choice in where they went or how they lived. He was tired. It had been a long life, and Ellery should cherish that fact, but he had spent so little of it with his Sunshine.
Their lives were simple in that they found each other, hunted out what needed hunting, and defeated it, usually. Although then one of them was lost. Too often, one of them was lost. This life had been different—the searching for Nara, the separation, the soldier hunting her out.
No matter how much Ellery thought of Manning, what he might have been and where he might have come from, he could not understand the link to their past lives or how anyone might have learnt who they were. Or how Nara knew better than he did what Manning was.
He would never be separated from her again. No matter what was to come in their next life, he would not leave her. If nothing else, he was certain of that.