This chapter is long af guys
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Chapter Thirty-Eight
When Elijah awoke, it was the middle of the night. The lights were not on, but Avarice had lit candles. She was slipping on a black button-up shirt, since her other one had ended up getting torn. She was wearing pants as well, and he watched silently while she looked in the mirror and clasped her necklace around her throat.
"You still wear it," he said, a soft smile coming on his face.
She looked at him over her shoulder, her lips curving upwards. "Of course."
He beamed right back at her, watching her carefully before his attention was brought elsewhere. He glanced out to the balcony, and then his eyes were trained along the stars that dotted the cleared night sky.
"I don't think I have ever noticed how different the stars are here," he said.
"That is because we have entirely different constellations," she replied, standing up. "The stars here are unrecognizable to people from your world."
He continued to look at the few that he could see from the balcony doors before he realized she was smiling at him.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Get dressed," she said, and it seemed more like a playful order.
"Why?"
"It's a surprise," she replied with a grin.
When Elijah was finished, he looked over to see Avarice with her right side facing the fire. She had her hands clasped together at her chest, as if she were praying. She was whispering something. Her words were quiet, and yet harsh, as if anger was feeling the magic behind the phrases. She was speaking in a language he did not understand and had never heard before.
"Come here," she said.
He stood in front of her.
"I will be using a great deal of magic to take us where I want to go, and you will need to be connected to me," she explained.
He reached down to take her hands, but she merely smiled at him and pulled them away.
"It needs to be little more intimate than that, darling," she hummed.
Then she kissed him, and a shudder ran down his spine. He remembered the first time he kissed her. It had been needy and passionate, but this was gentle. Even so, it was full of fire that threatened to burn both his self control and his will down to ash. He had never been so enamoured by one person in his entire life, and one simple kiss was enough to remind him of that. It almost seemed juvenile to him, but he did not care. He had never felt something so strongly and have never been so thoroughly surprised by the actions and pure perfection of another person. Not the way he did with Avarice.
He felt heat form all around his body, and his hands were at her waist. The backs of his hands, outsides of his arms, and his spine began to feel as if they were right against a fire place.
When she pulled away, he saw black dust fade away from around both of them, and he was more than a little surprised to see where she had taken him.
"The Seven and I made a pact thousands of years ago to always stay near each other in case there was ever an attack, or another issue that needed to be dealt with. That way, we would always be together to deal with any problems if the need was there. We have stayed in the same area ever since, but below us is a city a few hours away from my home."
He was hearing her, but barely processing it. He did not believe he had ever been so high up before. They were standing at the top of a mountain, gazing out at the stars that seemed as if they were only an arm's-length away.
When he turned back to her, she was gone. He looked around, frantic for a mere moment before he spotted her going into a rather large cave that had been carved into the side of the mountain right behind them. He watched in silence when he saw her hand raise, her fingers out and flexed, before she crunched them into a fist. In response to this, candles throughout the cave lit with tiny flames. There were pillows lying everywhere to make couch-like structures as well as chairs. A table low to the ground was in front of a selection of the pillows. Avarice sat down on them, and Elijah took a seat by her. She laid down while he went back and leaned on one of his elbows, looking down at her.
"I came here often after the others died," she said, and the sentence was simple. She acted as if it didn't hurt her to say it, but it was clear to him that it did. "Kaige followed me the night that it... Happened. It did not end well."
"Is that how he got the scar?" he asked before he could stop himself. He was curious, unfortunately. Elijah wanted to know more about the man who had hurt her.
Perhaps he would hurt him too some day.
Avarice nodded. "Yes. It was an... Interesting time." She winced a little.
He didn't ask her to elaborate. Instead, she simply put a hand out, and he glanced it before looking back up at her.
"You've done this before, yes?" she asked.
Elijah blinked, then realized what she meant and nodded. His brow was furrowed because he did not want to make her uncomfortable, but also because he wasn't certain why she wanted to show him in the first place.
"Are you certain?"
"Of course," she replied.
He clasped his hand in hers, and just like that, he was inside of her mind. He was looking in on a scene, which was of the cave. It was dark, and it was middle of the night.
Suddenly, a wave of black dust came from the sky and entered the cave. He watched Avarice's body being shaped with the dust before she appeared. She was holding a staff in her left hand, and was clutching it so tightly that he was surprised the metal did not snap. She wore a grey dress that had been torn at the hem, with blood coating it. He could feel his heart being torn to pieces within his chest when he saw her true emotions.
Tears streamed down her face wildly, and her right hand was entangled in her hair. She was pulling at the roots and letting out sobs that wracked her entire body.
More of the black dust appeared behind her, and materialized to show Kaige. He looked horrified, and when he saw Avarice, he rushed towards her.
"Stop!" she hissed, her misery seeming to mix with anger.
He froze in his tracks.
Avarice turned to him slowly, her eyes filled with more tears that were unshed.
"I wish I could kill you," she said through clenched teeth. "I want to. I want to so very, very badly, Kaige."
"You do not," he replied, shaking his head. "No, Avarice. You do not."
"Yes, I do. I look at you and I want you to die at my own hand."
His eyes were wide at the thought of losing her, but they slowly lessened in intensity and he looked down at her with disappointment.
"Then do it."
"I cannot."
"Why?'
"Because I am not you, Kaige! I cannot kill someone that I love!" she shouted at him.
Avarice turned away, keeping a hand over her mouth to stop the sob that threatened to leave her lips. She removed it when she regained her composure.
"Get out."
Kaige stepped forwards, reaching to take Avarice's hand, when she suddenly spun around. She whipped the staff at him so quickly that Elijah almost didn't see her do it. The staff came down onto Kaige's right cheek, and his head snapped to the side.
"Get out!" she screamed.
Blood seeped out of the wound, and Kaige looked at her with regret before he vanished into black dust that drifted out of the cage entrance. Avarice stayed there for a long time, silent before the memory began to fade.
Elijah opened his eyes, and just like that, they were in that same cave. He was looking down at her now, and saw that her eyes were glistening in the candlelight. She was crying.
"I'm sorry, " she said, and went to sit up. "I brought you here to look at the stars and I-"
He stopped her, putting a hand on her cheek and kissing her softly. His thumb wiped the tears away, and after a moment, she leaned into his palm.
"Do not ever apologize for feeling something, Avarice," he told her, though he knew that he should follow his own advice. "Sadness is not a symptom for weakness."
She was silent for a long time before she took his hand from her face and held it in her own. "I want to show you one of the constellations. Come outside with me?"
He stood and followed behind her while she led him out to the edge of the cave, and she stood close to him while she pointed to one set of stars.
"Do you see how the stars make the shape of a diamond?"
"Yes."
"There is a story behind the constellation. It was made up a long time ago by Eric, one of the Seven. He was a complete and utter romantic," she said with a saddened laugh. "He told the children that the constellation represented a woman, and the diamond that her husband had given her. She was a woman of simple birth, her parents being Reapers low in the working chain. A King met her on the road while she was going to town and he was heading to his castle, and became enamoured with her. She was so beautiful, and had such a kind heart that he fell in love with her from the moment he saw her. She loved him too, and so they married. One day, a King from another kingdom saw her. He fell for her too, and wanted her badly. He was willing to wage war on the Queen's country to do so if it meant getting the other King out of the way. And so the King went off to war to fight for his wife. Before he did, he gave her one single diamond that he had been planning to set into a necklace for her. She kept it close to her for many months, until a messenger delivered the news that both Kings had been struck down. She mourned for a thousand years before she died, and her soul became the constellation representing the diamond that her lover had given her."
Elijah was quiet for a while, then gave her a soft smile. "A sad story, but a good one."
She nodded. "Indeed. They were star-crossed lovers... If only they could have uncrossed the stars in time."
They both looked at each other, and in their hearts, they knew they were doomed as well.
They just simply did not care.