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FERRIN HEADED DOWNSTAIRS at a later hour than he’d been planning, having had trouble sleeping. Evynria never returned from her room, and it left his mind to come up with all sorts of terrible reasons as to why. He rubbed at his sore eyes, a yawn escaping him as he entered the kitchen.
Most of them had already come down it seemed. Arrius was stuffing all of the fried meats, eggs, and porridge into his gullet that he possibly could. Otsana bit into a luscious pale orange fruit, and Ylid sipped on a cup of tea, a plate empty save for crumbs before them. Arnes poured over some books, a mug in front of him looking very much untouched.
Evyn and Enloris remained missing.
“Good morning, or should I say good day?” Ylid asked from behind their cup.
He waved lazily. “Am I the last to rise?”
Ylid and Otsana looked at one another, before Ylid replied, “Yes. You are.”
A cold feeling swept through his limbs. “Oh? Where are the others?”
“Mooncaught fool,” Ylid mumbled into their cup.
Otsana leapt to answer over Ylid’s words, though Ferrin had heard them anyway. “Well, you see... Enloris left.”
His heart seized in his chest. “And Evynria?”
“She’s having food in her room, we’ve been told.”
He stood there for a moment, trying to understand what all was going on. He’d been hoping to help himself overcome his few hours of sleep with a hot cup of coffee, which he hadn’t had in ages, but at that moment his more urgent desire was to go check on Evyn.
“Go to her,” Otsana said. “I already tried... She said she wanted to be alone still, but maybe that will change for you.”
He frowned a little. “I doubt it, but I’ll give it a try.”
“Roan, if you would—try to boost her morale. We’re meant to see the Monarch again today to get prisoners for the amulet, and I meant for her to join. The stars are favorable for that endeavor,” Arnes mentioned as Ferrin turned to leave.
He nodded and said over his shoulder, “I’ll do my best.”
Ferrin took the moving stairs two at a time, making it to the top slightly out of breath, before heading to Evyn’s door. Hers was embossed with two roses crossed at the stems beneath a crescent moon. It fit her just as well as his wolf and crown did. He looked over at Enloris’ room, but found the design gone. He somewhat remembered seeing it the other day. A small house with a sword beneath it. The house had reminded him of Evynria’s cottage.
So what had made him leave? If he was sworn to protect the woman he left behind, what had happened?
He knocked on Evyn’s door. Silence. He sighed.
“Evyn,” Ferrin said, but then he changed course. “Evynria. It’s me, Roan. I just wanted to... speak with you. It’s a matter of importance.”
A few moments passed and just as he was about to give up, the door flew open. Evyn stood there, dressed fully for the day, freshly washed. Her hair had been pulled back into a braid, a few tendrils framing her face, and she wore a white tunic with tight black trousers and tall black boots. A belt at her waist had a bronze buckle in the shape of a fully bloomed rose, just like the ones on her door.
The only thing that gave her away were her red rimmed eyes and slightly swollen lids. Otherwise she was as dewy as a morning lawn.
“Good day, Roan,” she said, pulling the door back and swinging her arm out in a welcoming gesture. “Come in.”
He stepped inside, his attention finally noticing their surroundings, and his breath hitched. A memory of Evyn standing small and distraught in a black nightgown above a broken teacup crossed his mind as he saw the four poster bed and the window beyond, facing a garden and a forest that was truly miles away from here. The house had summoned her tastes, and her tastes were to be at home. Not here. His throat tightened a little, but he cleared it.
“What was it you wanted to speak with me about?” she asked, still trying to sound calm, but he noticed the slight hesitance to her words and the way she pretended to busy herself with papers that had been strewn across her bed.
He eyed the half eaten plates of food as well, though they looked to be picked at enough to satisfy his worry. Ferrin had never seen her like this before. He’d seen her completely break down. He’d seen her terrified. He’d seen her wounded and unconscious, and yet this... this frightened him as much as the rest.
“Sometime today we will be going to the Monarch—well, you will with Arnes, and probably Ylid. They’ll take you to put prisoners into the amulet,” he told her.
She stilled, holding one paper up in the air, while still pretending to read one of the others on the bed, and then she nodded. “Understood.”
He walked over to her and snatched the paper out of her hand. She whirled around to look at him, eyes flaring with surprise.
“Tell me what happened,” he said calmly. “You don’t have to hide it from me. I would hope you knew that by now.”
Her jaw moved from side to side and she blinked rapidly, staring up at the ceiling before leaning fully over the bed on her extended arms. Her body shook slightly.
“Roan,” she said, opening her mouth and then closing it.
He came closer, pity filling him. Was it something Celestine told her that had caused Enloris to leave? Did she cry for him, or for herself, or both?
She stood up straight again, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “I can’t afford to break anymore, Roan. I’m so tired.”
And even as she said that, the last of her words crackled like she would cry at any moment.
He sat on the edge of her bed and pushed the papers aside, patting the space beside him. “Tell me what happened. I’m here. We can be tired together.”
She hesitated, but then turned to sit beside him, slumping, before laying back entirely. He turned back to look at her right as Evyn sighed and began to sit back up. Ferrin only just barely moved out of the way to avoid cracking their heads together, but a part of him almost stopped, in case their lips met instead.
He looked away.
“Well, firstly, these papers,” she gestured to the mess. “I’ve been researching what Celestine told me.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “I...”
Evyn cursed colorfully under her breath and Ferrin’s brows rose, as did the corners of his mouth, unable to hold back the smile.
“I remembered something when I spoke with the Seraphim, and it sparked a... very dark side of me that I’d been feeling better about lately. You see, that memory... I guess it was the catalyst for everything to do with my powers.”
He nodded to show he was listening and she continued.
“I’ve always been a healer witch, and a gifted one. It’s how my brother got away with what he had for so long... I could always heal my body back together as if nothing had happened.”
Ferrin clenched the quilt beneath his right hand, where she couldn’t see, trying to hold back his anger at what she’d gone through, at a man who was already dead.
“But one night...”she whispered and then hesitated, looking around the room, blinking up at the ceiling again, before looking back down. “One night he went too far. I nearly died, but according to Celestine, that moment woke my true soul.”
She spoke the words quickly, calmly, but a sharp shock like being plunged into icy waters wrenched through him all the same. She nearly died?
He shook his head, trying to stay on course. “Your true soul?”
She nodded. “In my very first life, according to Celestine, I was a Celestial.”
His eyes widened. Celestials—he didn’t know much about them, but he vaguely remembered some things. They belonged to one of the older divinities. The Seraphim were one of them, he knew that, but none were of this earth. They predated even some of the younger divinities.
Mysterious beings, many without names. Some akin to the monsters in the tales you told children. Some akin to the heroes and miracle makers. Power beyond imagining was all that tied them together. Other than the Seraphim, he’d never met any others. Rumors had it that they’d left back to whence they came, leaving the Seraphim and the Drakor behind. But then here she was. A Celestial hiding in a human form.
Was this the answer he’d been looking for?
“I don’t know what it means to be a human this lifetime, only that my soul gave me these abilities to protect me... and I used them to heal my brother, which in turn led to his death.”
He frowned. “You know his death is not on your hands.”
“That’s what Celestine said too, but... well, it doesn’t matter. My powers are that of Celestial healing, not Aenil blessed. That’s the important part for our quest to stop the War Of All. I’m not sure yet how it’s meant to help, but I’m sure the Divine will show their hand soon enough.”
He nodded, holding back his arguments over her guilt. “And... Enloris?”
She pressed her lips together, pressing her hands into her thighs, unable to look at him.
“He’s left. For good this time.”
He waited to see if she would elaborate, but she seemed to leave it at that. Part of him wanted to press further, but instead he stood up.
“Well, you still have us,” he said, holding his hands out to help her up. She took them with a small smile and he lifted her to stand in front of him. The top of her head reached around where his mouth was. It wouldn’t be hard to lean forward and press a kiss to her brow, or lean down and meet his mouth with hers. His stomach flipped and instead, Ferrin rubbed his thumbs over the tops of her knuckles. “You’ll always have us.”
With every, “us,” what he’d really wanted to say was she had him. She would always have him.
For whatever reason, romantic or otherwise, she’d found a way into his heart and he’d be a fool to lie to himself about it anymore.
Tears sprung into her eyes and she fell into his arms to embrace him. Chills ran all over his body as he held her back. She’d never initiated physical touch like this with him before, and knowing how hard that was for her, humbled him.
“What do you say? Shall we go put prisoners into an amulet and then stop a prophecy together?”
She leaned back with a grin, grabbing his hands and squeezing them before letting go and walking toward her bedroom door. “Let’s!”