“Would Ero let me be an Eternal?”
She swiveled to face him, clearly surprised by the change in subject. “Why do you ask?”
“My whole life I’ve thought I was preparing to become Draeken. Now that future is obliterated. When I look forward there’s . . .,” he struggled for the right word and then shrugged helplessly, “. . . nothing.”
“You want to be an Eternal because of me?”
Her lips twitched and he smiled in turn. “I want something to look forward to.”
“Assuming we win this war.”
He chuckled at that. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about not becoming Draeken.”
“And now you worry that you still have a piece of him inside you.”
Unable to meet her gaze, he looked to the campfires of the alliance. “I see what he is doing, what he intends to do now, and I cannot help but wonder. I’m the only fragment left with a piece of Draeken. What does that mean?”
“It means you can stop him,” she said.
“Or it means I could turn on my brothers.”
It was painful to voice the fear he’d felt since the moment he’d learned that Draeken was alive. Lira approached and reached up to his cheek, turning his head. From inches away her eyes reflected the fires in the valley.
“You would never turn on your brothers,” she said.
“How can you be certain?” he asked. “Draeken was ready to kill the fragments to rise to power.”
“You and your brothers rejected Draeken,” Lira said. “You proved that you were stronger. He may be the fragment of Power, but you and your brothers are superior.”
Unable to withstand her conviction, he smiled and wrapped his arms around her back. “What would I do without you?”
“Be sad and miserable,” she said with an impish laugh.
“True,” he replied.
“And yes,” she said. “I believe Ero would permit you to join the Eternals.”
“Assuming we survive,” he replied.
“When we survive,” she said, and leaned up to kiss him.
There was an audible groan and both looked up to find Fire turning away. He had a bag of supplies in one hand, a jug of ale in the other, and a look of disgust on his features. He dropped the food and retreated.
“This is what I get for thinking you might be hungry.”
“Thanks, Fire!” Water called.
“I’ll be back when you’re done kissing,” Fire growled.
“That’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Lira said.
Fire groaned loudly as he strode away, and Water chuckled. Despite what they faced, he believed Lira’s words. They would survive, not because they had more power, but because they had something to live for. And now, Water had a future he desired. Draeken and Serak may have been powerful, but they lacked the very thing Elenyr had built. A family.
Chapter 15: The Melting
Shadow trudged through the dark tunnels, yearning for a bed. His feet hurt, his legs ached, and his stomach grumbled. Four days of walking through underground caverns and tunnels had left him annoyed and irritable.
Glowing vines covered the walls, illuminating the Deep caverns in iridescent blue, green, purple, and white. Mushrooms grew in neat stalks, and rivers flowed through channels cut by time. They passed small lakes, and narrow crevasses, the trail leading through a labyrinth of plunging ravines and rocky caves.
Shadow had always loved the Deep for the surge of magic, but after hiking for days, he wished for his bed at home. Of course, Serak had destroyed Cloudy Vale, so his bed was probably a pile of ash.
“Why can’t Rune just teleport us there?” he asked.
Rune sighed in irritation. “The Unnamed cannot go where she has not been.”
Shadow groaned at the response. “Are we there yet?”
“Ask that again and I might have to cut you,” Lorica said.
“It’s just around the corner,” Elenyr said.
“That’s what you said ten minutes ago,” Shadow said.
“That was a lie,” Elenyr replied.
