The Deathsinger: Book 2

Ch. 25: A Remnant

I stared at Remiel, certain he had to hear my heart pounding, and then he laughed.

"It's only a rumor. My father said the Shadow King would never confirm or deny it, but he suspected it was not true. It certainly made others think twice before provoking him, though."

His black cloak swirled around his lithe body as he turned back to the drawings. Half faint from the struggle it took to breathe again, I followed him, eyes narrowed into points as I glared at him. It would have taken no effort to lead with that bit of information when he told the story, but he wanted to get a rise out of me. If I wasn't worried about harming something in the temple, I might have thrown a snowball at his head.

For old time's sake.

The last drawing on the wall depicted a flame and shadow standing on either side of two young girls. I immediately recognized Mara, but if not for the dark hair and lavender eyes, I might not have seen myself in the youngest. Her face was too round, and her expression too unburdened. I had no memory of ever being her.

Tracing my finger over her chin, I asked, "But how did my father touch my mother and not die?"

"Likely a soul bond." My ears pricked at the return of the flat note to his voice.

"A soul bond?" Why did that sound familiar? Was it a memory of something from before, or perhaps something I'd heard in passing?

Remiel tensed. We walked alongside one another down a narrow corridor. Here there were no drawings or lights other than the glow in the walls, but ahead of us, I could see an open round space.

"Remy?" I prodded.

"Soul bonds or soul bound...It's a term we used in Araphel to describe the connection between two elves destined to be together. Not just in their present life, but in all the ones before and after. They'll find each other in every world. In the old tongue, it is called hyrat ti coleo.

"Two sides of the same coin..."

He nodded. "It's old and powerful magic, and to hurt your soul bound would be akin to hurting yourself."

The hair on my arms lifted, and a shiver went through me. What a marvelous thought that someone out in the world could be a perfect match for me. Then again, perhaps it wasn't such a good thing. Not long ago, I might have thought Tievel was my soul bound, but now that I saw the darkness lurking inside of him, I wondered what that would say about me if it were true.

"What are you thinking?" Remiel asked, almost hesitantly.

"Tievel–"

"Never mind. I don't want to know." He cut me off harshly.

"Is this... is this about the kiss?" Calling it a kiss was putting it mildly.

"The kiss?" He shrugged. "I haven't even thought about it."

Whatever reply I might have mustered in response to his blatant lie crumbled on the tip of my tongue as we stepped into the atrium at the end of the hall. Remiel stumbled and dropped to his knees, tears shining on his cheeks as he surveyed the space before us.

Where all of Araphel outside of the temple had been ash and destruction, this place was pristine. Trees of all types grew around the far edges of the atrium. A few had trunks so wide I did not think Remiel and I could stand on either side of it and touch our fingers to the other's. Their branches arched overhead, reaching all the way to the other side of the room, and in some places, it looked like they grew into another tree.

Interspersed among the giants were smaller varieties with slender trunks and branches and leaves that gleamed silver in the moonlight streaming in through the hole in the roof. A brook with turquoise water cut through the very center of the space, and I spied fish swimming along the white sandy bottom.