They sat there in silence for another few moments, neither wanting to disturb the other. Teryn looked deep into Valeria’s eyes. He wanted to say something to her. To profess how he felt for her. To tell her that he wanted her to stay, or that if she left he’d figure out a way to go after her. That no matter what happened, she’d never be alone again. And so many other things.
Then came the ringing of the giant bell tower signaling the end of their time together. They would have to head back to their respective dorms or risk being caught out after curfew. Neither wanted that.
“So, um, see you later?” Teryn stammered. He silently cursed himself again. What, no ‘I love you?’ No, ‘I can’t wait to see you again?’ Nothing? You’re pathetic, you know that?
Valeria let out a small laugh. “Sure,” she replied. She reached forward slightly, grabbed Teryn’s hand, and squeezed it tight.
His heart started to beat quickly and he felt a rush of heat. In all their time together, they had touched hands several times, but somehow tonight it felt different. Better. Almost . . . magical.
“Maybe I can come over after the meeting and, you know, tell you how it went?”
Teryn gave her a weak smile. He knew the chance of that was low at best.
“But what about curfew?”
Her eyes glinted in the moonlight and she smiled back at him. “Oh, I’m not worried about that. I can get around the guards.”
Teryn gave her a curt nod. He didn’t believe her, but he would let the fantasy stand. “Sounds great.”
“Don’t worry, Teryn, everything will be fine,” Valeria assured him.
A small tear formed in the corner of Teryn’s eye and he turned his head away from her, memories filling his head. Of his tattered childhood. Of his mother.
She pulled on his shirt to make him face her again. “Did I say something wrong?”
Teryn shook his head vigorously. “No, no. Not at all. It’s just . . . my mom used to tell me that all the time, too.”
A smile broke across her face. “And was she right?”
Teryn thought about the last time he’d heard his mom say those words. It was right before he had been sold off to the Guild. He’d learned later that she was terminally ill and had died a few months after that. The grief of her passing had torn apart his father’s mental health, and he’d passed soon after. The Guild had been pretty good to him since, giving him special counseling sessions not available to other Guild members and giving him some of the cushier assignments. But the memory was still all too real and fresh in his mind, even though it had happened years ago.
“Not really, no,” he admitted. “Usually, she was flat wrong.”
Valeria took his chin in her other hand and pulled his face until they were looking into each other’s eyes again. “Hey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to upset you,” she insisted.
“Oh, I know.” He wiped away the tear in his eye with one of his shirt sleeves. He was determined not to end this night on a low note. “It’s nothing. Promise.”
“I can tell it’s not nothing, Teryn.”
He smiled in spite of himself at the sound of his own name. Somehow when she said it, it sounded so much better than when other people did. “Well . . . it’s nothing for you to worry yourself about. Not tonight, at least. Tonight should be about you.”
Valeria laughed again. “If you insist. I tell you what. When I get back from meeting with the Guild, we can talk about it, yeah? Or not, if you’d prefer. Besides, I’m not your parents, right?” Teryn nodded at that. “So it doesn’t matter. Only my word does, here and now. And I hereby pinky swear that things shall be different from now on for you, Teryn, and when I say everything will be fine, it shall be!”
Teryn looked at her incredulously. She was holding out one hand with her pinky extended. It looked downright goofy. Still, he placed his pinky on hers and she curled her finger around it, then shook it vigorously. “There. Now you know I mean business.”
“Okay, I believe you.”
The giant bell rang out one more time. Teryn groaned, but he knew he’d have to rush to get home as it was. “I . . . I have to get going,” he told her as he got up off the ground.
“I know. I should get going, too.”
He offered her a hand and helped her get off the ground. Then the two stared at each other for another moment in silence as if it was the last time it would ever happen. Who knew? Maybe it was.
“Here,” she said, pressing something small into his hands. He accepted the token and looked at it. It was a small ring made of brass. It had an inscription on it he couldn’t read in the fading light, and no other adornments. “That’s my promise to you. I will see you again. I have to, to get my ring back, see?”
Teryn looked up at her again and could see the seriousness of it in her eyes.
“Promise,” she added. With that, she gave him a slight kiss on his cheek, let go of his hand, turned, and left.
He placed one hand gingerly on his cheek where she had kissed him. He stayed like that for a while, then he noticed how late it was and he hurried off home. When he got there, he sat down on his couch and daydreamed about Valeria for several minutes, unable to sleep. He stayed there for several hours, hoping that she would indeed come to him as promised. As his tired body started to drift in and out of consciousness, he started to think maybe she was right. Maybe everything
