Chapter 58
Lyv's hands shook as she tried to finish her braid, the strands falling from her fingers with every pass. Cursing, she started over again for the third time, having to take a deep, calming breath and close her eyes for a moment just so she could concentrate. By this point, Jai would have taken over for her.
She could still hear him laughing at her poor attempts.
Feel his hands smoothing over hers so he could take over.
Then his lips against her neck as he kissed her there once he tied the end of her braid off with a leather strap.
Her favorite part, though, would forever be when he ran his fingers through it at the end of the day.
Gods, she missed him terribly.
Finally, Lyv was able to finish it herself, though it looked messy as she gazed at herself in the mirror. Her face was pale and thinned, eyes still red with dark circles under them from her crying and lack of a proper night's sleep over those last few days. It hadn't helped that she'd stayed up practically all night once Gideon had left, searching through the grimoire for anything, everything. There were a few spells regarding the dead, including the one for creating oskurreia and khorzir and even one for allowing the darkness to reanimate the corpse for just a few minutes to reveal what happened in their final moments. Nothing on bringing someone fully back to life.
That tiny flicker of hope? Practically nonexistent now.
She'd been in tears again when morning came, and she slapped the cover of the grimoire closed.
Now, Lyv looked behind her in the mirror at where he laid, covered up to his chin in a white sheet that would then be placed over his head. Any time now, the guardsmen were due to come and move his body to where a covered wagon. There would be no funeral pyre. He was to be buried in Ayveri beside Destan and Bence.
It hadn't just been her own wish, but Emmeric's as well. Jai's father seemed as if he'd aged years in the span of those few days, having lost another son. He hadn't been in to see her or Jai, dealing with his own grief, not until that morning. As Lyv was slipping into her jacket, he announced himself by clearing his throat before stepping inside.
One look at Jai's frozen form and he seemed as if he was going to lose it.
Lyv rushed forward into his arms, hugging him tight. As soon as she did, his shoulders sagged beneath the invisible weight he was carrying. Neither of them could say anything for a few long moments.
"I...a white sheet covering him just didn't seem good enough when we move him," Emmeric told her then, voice breaking when they pulled apart. In his hands he held a tightly folded square of silk. "I always have this with me just as I always do during wartime...but this will be the first time I have used it. It was always supposed to be used one me should something happen, not for my children. Never my children."
The smooth silk of the fabric brushed against Lyv's fingers as he handed it to her. It was beautiful, emerald green with silver stitching creating a swirling pattern. When she unfolded it, the Dalcaine crest was in the center.
"How are you doing, my dear?" Emmeric asked her then as she clutched the shroud to her chest.
Horribly. Absolutely horribly. "I'm...doing as well as I can...which is not saying much."
He lifted his hand to her cheek. "I know exactly what you mean."
Both of them looked back at Jai before Emmeric squeezed Lyv's hand and slowly walked over to the side of the bed. Kneeling down beside him, he leaned forward to kiss the side of Jai's head. Lyv watched as Emmeric fussed over Jai's tunic, the way his hair was falling, the position of his hands as they rested on his stomach. Watching him with his son...it was like a knife was being stuck in Lyv's chest and twisting.
Emmeric looked at her over one shoulder. "Thank you for...taking away the lines and the dagger wound. I don't think I could have been able to even look at them."
"It's why I did it. I couldn't either. I'm just...I'm holding onto him for as long as I can."
"Well, he'll be with us until we're all back home in Ayveri, then he'll be laid to rest by Destan and Bence."
Laid to rest. That knife twisted again at the finality of it, then shifted to go straight through her heart.
He stayed with her just a little while longer, neither one of them knowing what to say. She didn't need words of comfort from him, though. His presence, the tight hold on her hand, the comforting kiss on the forehead before he left was more than enough.
Now, though, she had to make sure she had everything she needed, right down to both her and Jai's swords crossed over her back and dagger on her leg. Jai's own armor was tucked safely away in her bag along with all of his other things. He wouldn't be needing them now.
Breathing in a shuddering breath, knowing it was almost time, Lyv turned at the sound of the canvas rustling over the entryway to the room.
"He's ready to be..."
But it wasn't the guardsmen who peeked in on her.
It was Elys.
He looked as if he hadn't slept at all in those last few days, just as Lyv did. Bloodshot eyes, dark circles, utter tiredness dragging his shoulders downward. Those mismatched blue eyes looked distant before he really saw Lyv standing there, then they drifted behind her to Jai's form under the shroud.
"I just..." Elys gulped and took a shaky breath, meeting her gaze. "I just wanted to see him, wanted to see you."
He waited for a moment before rushing forward to her, jumping into her arms. She already had them open for him, ready and waiting.
Gods, she had been so consumed in her own grief, her own anger that she hadn't even gone to see Elys for herself. She hadn't even left this room. Even from what little Gideon had told her the night before, she hadn't thought about how this would affect him having seen it all happen. He had everyone else be with him over those last few days but holding him now...Lyv realized she was the one he really needed.
Lyv carried Elys over to the chair Gideon had pulled up to the side of the bed, sitting down with him in her lap. He didn't seem to want to let go of her, though, even as she pushed him back gently to take his face in her hands.
"I'm sorry I couldn't see what happened," he mumbled, unable to meet her gaze as tears sparkled against his cheeks. "What use are these Seer powers if I can't use them to save those I love most? But with the darkness, I couldn't. If I would have known..."
But he couldn't have. Not when he could barely see the both of them once the dark magic was there.
"I want Jai back," Elys whimpered, curling himself up against her chest, his head nestled under her chin. "I just want him back. It's my fault because he did it to save me. I had my sword and my dagger, I knew how to use them, but there were just too many. I couldn't..."
Lyv cut him off, her arms tightening around him as she kissed the top of his head. "None of this is your fault, Elys. Absolutely none of it."
"But it is! And now I can't see him anymore! Nothing but..."
But what?
Gods, that little flicker of hope...
Elys leaned back again, eyes meeting hers. "Everything I see that's centered around you is so completely hazy now. Even Dessa is. I don't understand any of it, Lyvi, but all I know is I don't want you to leave me, too. And in one version...you do. Even though all of us here would miss you, you're happy with Jai and Bence and all your friends you lost here. You even get to meet Lenora, my momma and daddy, and Kalla's wife Faraine. They'll be so happy to see you."
Besides, I heard our final battle will be legendary.
Corliss's final line to Lyv echoed through her.
Elys closed his eyes, leaning into her again. "I don't want you to leave me, Lyvi," he repeated, voice dropping to a whisper. "Please, don't leave me."
Tightening her hold on him, Lyv leaned her cheek against the top of his head and rocked him gently side to side. "What have I told you since the day we met, Elys? I will always be here to love and protect you, even when you grow up to be bigger than me...which I happen to know you will eventually be."
***
Lyv stared up at the gray skies above her through the tree limbs, watching as the three dragons flew ahead. Roshan, Erly, and Chesnan kept a lookout for what was ahead of them while still circling back around to make sure they were protected on every side.
The mood throughout their caravan was still heavy with the loss of so many. Guardsmen lost friends and family, along with their Crown Prince. Just a few hours before when Lyv managed to follow the four guardsmen who had come to move Jai's body out of the tent, every one of them stood at attention as they passed, bowing their heads to Lyv and Elys as they walked hand in hand behind them.
It had been a long day of riding through the dead and ash-covered land toward the capital before they managed to find a place to stop. And that place? The space where the cottage had been.
There was no questioning what Lyv was going to do as she jumped off her horse.
Her light and dark magic tingled in her palms, which began to glow with warmth and love. Kneeling down, Lyv dug her fingers into the ground, digging through ash and rot all the way down to the dark brown earth beneath it. One breath and her magic spread throughout, healing every inch of the space she could.
Except with the cottage...she used her magic to rebuild it exactly the way it was – a faded white home with a sitting area in front of a large hearth, cozy kitchen, and two bedrooms, then the stable and the forge and the small garden.
Still, she couldn't go inside. Too many memories. So, Lyv opted to sleep outside under the stars, right next to the wagon carrying Jai with Elys snuggled up beside her and Roshan curled around them both. The only one they were missing was the little pixie Posy and it would have been exactly like those happier times they had together.
The next morning as they broke through the tree line close to Kesyn Lake, Lyv had prepared herself for everything.
Including the view beyond the blackened, poisoned waters of the lake.
Shadows had descended across the land, but it didn't take much for them to realize who was hidden there. Lyv had spoken of the thousands upon thousands of dark creatures in Corliss's army ready and waiting for them all. She warned everyone about the numbers and yet they were all ready and willing to continue on.
Because they weren't just fighting for the restoration of Escarral or against the darkness anymore. No, they were fighting for revenge for the lost.
And now, those shadows were rolling and billowing before them before they gave way to a female still in her tattered lace dress, face even more hollowed out and body thin. As if the dark magic inside was almost finished eating away at her.
One look at Guinevere...and Lyv froze.
One look at Guinevere...and she gently pulled Elys from the saddle and whistled for Roshan. Her dragon landed with a thundering bomb beside them, immediately knowing what Lyv was going to ask him as she secured Elys in the saddle.
The boy knew, too. "Don't do this, Lyvi!" Elys screamed at her, trying his best to undo what she'd already fastened. But she held him there with not only those, but also magic. Magic he couldn't even touch.
"I love you, Elys, and I always will," Lyv told him in a whisper. "But right now...right now, I need to make sure you're safe. Roshan will keep you safe." She reached for his hand, kissing the back of it, and Roshan's brow as he pressed his nose against her stomach. "Now fly, Roshan, and keep him safe."
His screams and cries lessened the farther away they flew east, then disappeared with the growing light of the sun that tried breaking through the clouds.
Two more things to do.
Without taking her eyes from Guinevere in the distance, Lyv walked backward toward the wagon carrying Jai's body. She didn't have time to give him one last kiss as she placed her hand on the wooden side, but she did send an I love you down their knotted and frayed bond, down to wherever he was in the land of light and shadows.
And lastly, even though her little one was already well protected inside her, Lyv still put up yet another ward around Dessa.
And I love you, too, she silently told her as she withdrew her blades, humming with enchantments and the magic she sent into the metal.
Then walked forward onto the battlefield with her family in close step behind her.
***You guys have no idea how nervous and excited I am for these next few chapters! Just as before with those last few with Jai, I will be uploading them all together...and plan on writing all day to try and get them up as soon as I possibly can! Get ready, guys, because the end of this series is coming!
What did you think? Comment and vote!
Happy reading!
- Ansley***