It’s the night before the final confrontation. Tomorrow, they will set the plan in motion and attack Donati in his home. All week Jaylie has prepared for this moment, ensuring that every possible outcome has been planned for. She should be able to rest easy, knowing that she’s done everything she can. Not to mention, the bed Jaylie lies in is a thousand times more comfortable than the bedroll she’s grown used to. Yet still she cannot find sleep, her eyes pinned on the canopy of silk that cascades over the four-poster bed frame.
Loren cannot rest. He sits on his bed, plucking through the chords of the song he wrote about Donati’s crimes—not that it matters anymore. There’s no time left to spread the word any farther than he already has. Sighing irritably, he sets his lute to the side, shrugs on a loose nightshirt, and walks into the hallway. After peering both ways down the dimly lit corridor, he makes his way to the priestess’s door. Inhaling deeply, he knocks gently three times.
The knock echoes in the darkness of Jaylie’s room. She summons an orb of gentle gold light, and it follows in her wake as she pads to the door. As she peeks out, she smiles. “It’s you.” She widens the door. “Can’t sleep?”
Loren shakes his head. His features are drawn, and there’s a tightness around his green eyes, but seeing her makes him smile all the same. “Can I come in?”
Jaylie lingers in the doorframe for a moment before she steps aside. “Of course.”
Loren steps in and closes the door quietly behind him. He casts his gaze around her room—it’s twicethe size of his. “Shira must like you more than she likes me,” he murmurs. And then, before he has time to think about it, the words he’s been pondering for weeks now come out in a rush. “Why did you kiss me, Jay?”
Jaylie blinks. Her lips part in surprise, and a few moments pass before she responds. “What do you mean?”
“After I brought you back. In the cave. Why did you kiss me?”
Jaylie thinks back to when her eyes cracked open after she took that painful first breath. Loren was the first thing she saw, and the emotion she had felt in that moment was so strong she’d thought she would burst into thousands of pieces all over again. “I don’t know,” she says softly.
His face falls.
“No—I mean, I didn’t even think it through, Loren. You were the first thing I wanted to see when I opened my eyes. Kissing you felt like the most obvious thing in the world. I couldn’t help myself.” She laughs a little and smooths her palms down her nightgown, fiddling with a loose thread on the lace. “I was just so happy to see you.”
Gently, Loren reaches forward and takes her hands between both of his. His thumb runs across the backs of her fingers, catching on each of her golden rings. “And what about now?”
Jaylie lets her head fall forward until her forehead meets his. “I’m always happy to see you, Loren.”
Loren lifts her hand and presses his lips to her skin. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
“That depends. Is your secret resurrection spell one that you can repeat?”
He snorts once, and his gaze skates away from hers. “Unlikely.”
“Then, yes. Of course I’m afraid.”
He tucks a stray golden curl behind her ear. “You’ll be fine, Jay. You’ve learned so much since then. We all have. You’ll keep us all together.”
She tries to smile, but her expression is shaky. It’s difficult to see through the tears that gather on her eyelashes. She clears her throat and tries for levity, to distract her from the battle on the horizon. “I’ll bet it’s going to be difficult for you to top this one.”
“This what?”
“Thisstory.” Jaylie glances toward her window. Even now she can see the glow of dozens of campfires burning in the shadow of the tower. “After we’ve defeated Donati and saved the day, you’ll finish your song.” She gestures outward. “And then you’ll be off on your next big adventure.” Her tone was meant to sound wistful, but there’s a note of regret that she can’t mask.
Loren follows her gaze, staring off into the night. The campfires mirror the brilliance of the stars scattered across the sky. “No, I don’t think I will,” he murmurs.
Slowly, Jaylie turns until she’s facing him again. “No?” A ghost of a smile passes over her features. “That’s what you told me last time—that you wantedto write the next great adventure. You wanted people to miss you.”
Loren shakes his head hard enough that strands of his hair escape from his braid. “I don’t wantyouto miss me.” He grips her hand hard enough to hurt. “Jaylie…I want to be the first thing you see when you open your eyes. Every time. I want to be the one to rescue you when you fall—just like you do for me, after every battle. I want to be the last sound you hear before you fall asleep at night. I don’t just want my songs to get stuck in your head, Jay. I want you to be the reason I write them.” His throat is so tight he has to clear it a few times before he continues. He tilts his head down until his gaze bores into her warm brown eyes. “I don’t want to miss those moments. I don’t want to missyou,” he insists. “I won’t go anywhere without you by my side.”
Jaylie’s lip trembles. “I want that, too. I could not bear to see you go.” She presses a kiss…
No. No, that’s not quite right. I delete my drafted post. My foot bounces restlessly as I try to think of another.
Jaylie gasps. “Take me, then. Take me with you. I want to see the world you’re always talking about. I want you to show it to me.” She throws herself into…
But that’s not it, either. I scowl at my laptop as I delete my words and read through Loren’s declaration again. I imagine that I’m staring at Loren through the screen, my hands clutched in his as he stares earnestly into my eyes. The pointed ears fade until Noahsits in his place, thick fingers drumming against his keyboard as he whips up a string of flowery words that he surely knows will cut straight to my heart.
I won’t go anywhere without you by my side.
The filter of our in-game romance had been a welcome amusement from the beginning, an opportunity to flirt and explore our interest in each other without having to wade in too deep. But now it’s like I’m back at the stream Noah showed me, thinking it was shallow before I jumped—only to find that the water stretches far deeper than I could have known.
