Land of Light and Shadows

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lyv woke with a start, gasping and clutching at her throat, trying to pull air into her lungs to keep herself from going into a panic. She could still feel the warmth of Dessa in her arms, the fear clawing at her as tears fell, the terror as their world collapsed around them. Gods above, she hoped it was just a nightmare. Please let it only be a nightmare.

Shifting as she ran her fingers through her tangled curls, Lyv looked over at Jai and Elys, who were still fast asleep with Posy and Jett curled up together on the pillow beside them. Elys had cocooned himself against Jai's chest, mouth opened just a bit as he snored softly. Jai was completely at ease, his dreams much more pleasant than hers had been.

She was careful not to wake them as she pushed herself out of bed, quietly going to the bathing room and closing the door behind her. She could feel herself breaking, clutched both hands over her mouth, and smothered the sob that was fighting to break free. It took everything she had to calm herself down enough to shakily make her way over to the wash basin. Looking up, she stared at herself as soon as she met her own eyes in the mirror.

And waited for onyx to appear as the darkness tried its damnedest to drag her under...but it never did.

Somehow, she managed to dress, brush her teeth and hair, and leave her and Jai's room without waking the boys or the pixies. She didn't even think about covering her arm with her tunic sleeve, but rather kept both pushed up to her elbows. What was hard was ignoring the looks of sympathy and – unfortunately – the flickers of fear in the palace staff's eyes when she met them. No doubt the rumors had already spread throughout the palace that the crown princess no longer had the obsidian stone in her anymore. There was no way it wouldn't with how...well, vocal...she was the night before.

Low voices greeted her through the closed kitchen door when Lyv stopped in front of it. Taking a deep breath, she pushed it open, only to be greeted by immediate silence as Gideon, Thia, Mik, Allel, Laurel, and Michel swiveled in their chairs to look at her. They were all still in their nightclothes, having looked like they'd been up for several hours, and had already eaten breakfast by the looks of the cleared plates on the table.

Lyv made her way over to the one open chair, sat down between Gideon and Laurel, and met every one of their eyes. "Don't stop the conversation on account of me."

Gideon reached over and grabbed her hand, kissing her knuckles. "Are you all right? Did you talk to Jai?"

Lyv squeezed his hand in answer as she nodded. "I'm fine. Promise. And Jai and I...well, of course, he worried for me. I know all of you are. But I'm fine," she repeated.

A long moment of silence passed before Thia spoke up after clearing her throat.

"When did it happen?" she asked in a whisper, knowing all of them wanted to know.

So, she told them what happened the morning before down in the crypt when she went to see Bence and Destan, how she knew she would be able to cut the stone from her arm, how she knew days before that the dark magic had fully integrated with her own. But she also told them how she felt just as much like herself as she always had...but decided to forgo mentioning Dark Lyv's appearance in her dreams more often than not now.

"I absolutely hate it," Laurel sniffled as she leaned her head against Michel's shoulder. "I hate that, after everything you've already been through, there's even more to worry about now."

"I'm not the one you should be worried about," Lyv sighed. "We have all of Dalcaine to watch out for and not let what happened to Escarral happen to it."