Page 137 of Graevale
So she sat there, staring across the river, numb to the hard ground beneath her, numb to the cool air, numb to her feelings. She just sat and tried to find the strength she needed for whatever was coming next.
“I thought I might find you here.”
Alex didn’t move her cheek from her knee, nor did she turn her unfocused eyes from the other side of the cavern as Kaiden dropped to the ground beside her.
“How did you get here?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper of raw sound as he reached across her body to give a quick pat to Soraya when she offered a soft woof of greeting.
“The Library was in a cooperative mood,” Kaiden said. His voice lowered. “I heard about what happened at Graevale. I’m sorry about Bear’s dad. And I’m sorry about Aes Daega.” His tone became a whisper as he finished, “But I’m more sorry about Niyx.”
At the mention of William, tears welled in Alex’s eyes. But when Kaiden spoke of Lady Mystique and Niyx, two people he shouldn’t know about, Alex felt like she was suffocating for air.
“Jeera told me,” Kaiden continued quietly. “She didn’t know who they were, but she was in the square at Graevale and close enough to witness your reactions to… what happened. When she offered descriptions, I knew who she meant.” He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Alex.”
She turned watery eyes to him then, and in a voice that sounded fragile to her own ears, she said, “H-how do you know who they are?” She winced against the slash of pain and corrected, “Who they w-were?”
“Aes Daega I’ve met a few times through Athora. But that’s his story to share, not mine. And as for Niyx…” Kaiden trailed off and pulled something from his jacket, a piece of scrolled parchment from a Silverwood tree, handing it over.
Soraya shifted slightly as Alex slowly uncurled from her position. With a shaking hand, she took Kaiden’s offering, feeling apprehension trickle through her numbness.
“He approached me right after I returned to the academy from having those medical tests,” Kaiden said quietly. “He told me who he was to you. Your friend. Your spy. Your protector.”
Alex exhaled a shuddering breath, having been unaware that they’d ever met.
“You know that vision you had when you were in the past? The one I dreamed glimpses of?” Kaiden asked. “Niyx said he saw the whole thing, and apparently that included me being in it with you, guiding you through it all.”
Alex didn’t have it in her to feel embarrassed by Kaiden knowing the truth. They were beyond that now.
“He heard you say my name and saw that you felt safe with me,” Kaiden continued. “That was good enough for him to decide to track me down.”
Sudden realisation hit Alex from the night Niyx had said he was rooting for Kaiden when she’d never shared Kaiden’s name. He’d known about him all along—for thousands of years.
“He gave me that scroll to give to you in case anything ever happened to him.”
Another ragged breath, painful to her lungs, and her fingers tightened on the parchment.
Quietly, oh so quietly, Kaiden said, “I’ll give you a few minutes.”
And then his hand was gone from her shoulder and he was up and moving, the Library continuing to be cooperative by providing a doorway for him, leaving Alex alone with her wolf.
She didn’t want to read what was in her hand. If she read it, it might make it more real. But she also knew that if Niyx had gone to the effort of remembering Kaiden from a vision she’d had thousands of years ago and hunted him down to play messenger in the present, then she needed to at least see what was so important that he’d decided to write it down.
With shaking hands, she unrolled the delicate silvery paper.
Kitten,
One word was all Alex could manage before she had to shut her eyes, the letters burning behind her lids as she heard his voice in her mind.Kitten. Kitten. Kitten.
She choked back a sob and blocked out Soraya’s concerned whine at the realisation that she would never again hear him call her that. That she would never again hear him call her anything.
Fighting back the tears that wanted to pour forth yet again, Alex traced her fingers over the letters of his handwriting, something she had never seen before. By the time she’d followed the ‘K’ to the ‘i’ and all the way to the ‘n’ three times over, she was calm enough to try again.
Kitten,
If you’re reading this, then it’s probably because you’ve done something stupid and I’ve had to step in to save your ass. If that’s the case and I gave my life to save yours, then I need you to know I have no regrets, and I don’t want you to, either.
Protecting you has been a full-time job, one that I undertook willingly. I always knew I would die for you-
Alex had to stop again, hearing the memory of him whisper those words to her atop the mountain. She was only able to continue reading when the stabbing of her heart numbed enough that she could breathe again.
