She looked at me with an overexaggerated pout, her cheeks flushed. “You’re the worst, you know that?”
“That wasn’t the impression I just got,” I said, motioning down to our imprints in the snow.
It looked as though she were going to respond with another wry comment, but she instead just laughed and shook her head. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I echoed. “Now go on, back to camp with you. I promise I’ll come back at an opportune moment if you look like you’re in trouble.”
“You’d better!” she called out as she moved to the edge of the clearing. She hesitated at the treeline, glancing back at me one last time before disappearing from view.
I’m going to marry that girl. The thought brought a wide smile to my face as I strolled to a nearby tree to lean and wait for Lia’s apology to be over.
You shouldn’t lie to the poor girl like that, Elden. The cold, brutal voice of Amaya echoed through my head and sent a chill down my spine. Now you’ve gone and gotten her hopes up.I stood frozen in place, clenching my jaw in a furious silence. The world was quiet for a long moment before her voice cut through my mind again. Ignoring me doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
What the fuck do you think you know? I didn’t lie to her. It was infuriating that, of all possible times, the presence would show up when I had a rare moment of joy. You don’t know a thing about me, so you can fuck off with your advice. Preferably forever.
A cacophonous laugh made up of hundreds of voices thundered through my head, all bitter and cruel. I know you better than anybody, Elden. You’re not the kind of person who gets to be satisfied with a happy ending, and you know it.
No. You’re wrong. It’s going to be different this time, and I’ll kill anybody who tries to get in my way. Even you.
The voice changed again, and I heard the familiar sound of Kel sighing at me. Three lives lived, and still so naive. You’ll figure it out soon enough, though, and when you’re begging me to come back and help you...well, maybe I’ll consider it. You’ve been rather rude today.
As quickly as it had arrived, the presence vanished. I let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding over the course of the conversation and gasped for fresh air. It’s not true. I can do it. I can live a normal life. I can be happy. The next few minutes passed slowly as I took deep, measured breaths in an effort to settle my shaken mind and tense body. I can do it. I can do it. I can be happy.
Off at camp, I saw Lia stand from her seat by the fire and hug Marten, and I took it as my cue to return. The smiles were wide around the camp as I approached, and Hana waved me over. “Thank you,” she said quietly, as to not be heard on the opposite side of the fire. “Whatever you said to Marlia certainly had an effect.”
“Oh, no thanks necessary,” I answered. “She was already determined to apologize before I found her.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Was she, now?” Her head tilted to one side as she watched her daughter with loving eyes. “She’s certainly grown into a lovely young woman lately, hasn’t she? So confident and mature.”
“Yeah, about that,” I chuckled. “You may not want to bring that up to her. I can tell you from experience that a comment about her maturity has a funny way of bringing out her immaturity.”
“Duly noted,” Hana laughed. “I suppose I should thank you for that as well. She’s never been as full of life as she has been after meeting you. You changed her life in a way nobody else could have.”
“I’m not so sure,” I admitted. “Don’t get me wrong, I love her, but…” Hana’s ears perked up at the mention of love, but she remained quiet and allowed me to continue. “...I have to wonder if she would have been better off without me. If I hadn’t made so many promises, or if I had left after she was home safe, you all could have lived your lives without all of this. No matter what I do, death and hardships seem to follow me.”
“Whatever we face tomorrow, or the next day, or the next hundred days, will have been worth it to see that smile,” she said with a nod to Lia, who was laughing loudly with her father. “There was nothing in Tolamar for Lia. Her potential was wasted on us; as much as we loved to have her home, we knew it wasn’t enough for her. After all of the rejected proposals, it was clear she was waiting for something, so we let her wait.” She turned to me and gave me a thorough look up and down. “I’m glad we did.”
My cheeks burned as I looked away. “Thank you, Hana. I needed to hear that.” A sudden thought took hold of me, and I turned to her excitedly and lowered my voice even further. “I just remembered that I wanted to ask you about Kaldanic marriage customs! I’m not sure what I should—”
“Lux!” Marin chirped loudly from her seat beside Lia. “I just finished dinner; come get it while it’s hot!”
I staved off a grimace and instead gave her a thankful smile. “We can discuss that later,” Hana whispered in my ear, “once our lives have settled down.” I gave her a grateful nod, then walked across camp to accept my dinner.
In spite of the danger waiting for us at the Mountain Gate, the meal we shared together was full of carefree conversation and laughter.
