“Something tells me I need to know this, that something is coming.”
“We’ll face whatever comes,” Kulmak promises as he nuzzles her. “I promise you, my love.”
She turns in his arms, and her eyes are bright with so much love, it makes me feel as if I’m intruding. “I love you,” she murmurs.
“And I love you, more than all the magic in the realms,” he answers, and leans down for a kiss.
The vision disappears before their lips touch, and I blink back into reality, unsurprised to find tears in my eyes.
“They loved each other so much,” I whisper. “They didn’t deserve the fate they got.”
“No,” Razcorr agrees. “No, they did not.” He studies me for a moment before reaching forward and taking the rose quartz from my hand. The slide of his claws on my palms does strange things to me, despite it being such a simple touch. “Come with me, Cora. I’d like to show you something.”
* * *
Razcorr leadsme through the castle again. It seems he’s always leading me somewhere and showing me new things, so I’m not surprised when we climb a bunch of stairs and end up on top of the castle, overlooking the Dead Lands. From this angle, I can see far and wide. In the distance, too far for my human eyes to see, I know the wall sits, waiting for us to dismantle it and bring balance back to the realm, but something about seeing it all laid out before me draws moisture to my eyes. I made it across all that land. I fought my way through it and survived, and now here I am, finding love and preparing to take on the evil that plagues us.
If you’d asked me what I thought about this so long ago, I would have laughed.
No one survives the hunt.
No one returns.
Yet here I am.
“It’s hauntingly beautiful,” I murmur, staring at the scene before me. “I can’t imagine what it will be like when magic returns.”
Razcorr looks out with me, his eyes sad. “There will be so much green, you won’t know where to look. The trees will be lush with leaves. The marshes will be teeming with life. And the monsters? They’ll have control over their senses again, those who have already succumbed to the darkness.”
“What was it like? Before?”
He glances at me. “Just as dangerous, but there was peace. Kulmak thought he could keep that peace, not understanding humanity’s penchant for greed. He thought he could fix that, but instead, he found himself deep in the worst of that treachery.”
Carefully, I thread my fingers through his. “Thank you for showing me this.”
“Oh, this is not what I want to show you, Cora,” he says, and a hint of a smile tugs at his lips. “For this, I must ask you to trust me.”
Frowning, I stare between him and the scenery. “Trust you?”
He nods and moves over to the edge of the castle, his heels just kissing the ledge. “Trust is an important part of any protector’s duty. You trust your monsters explicitly, and you brought them together, and they trust you in return. You must trust me if we are going to be successful.”
I study his face and see the determination there. “I trust you.”
He gives me a real smile this time before he holds out his hand for me, giving me a choice. “Then come, Cora the Fearless, and take my hand.”
I hesitate, only because mischief dances in his eyes, but I want to know more about Razcorr and this world I’m trying to save. This gargoyle is a fount of knowledge, but also, I just want to spend time with him. Like the others, there’s a connection here I didn’t plan on feeling and don’t know how to handle, but instead of fighting it, I’ll allow it to develop on its own time. That’s what will form a bond. I meant it when I said I trust him. The magic inside me tells me that it’s okay to trust him, despite us not knowing each other very well.
The magic inside me also wants him.
Desperately.
I take a shaky step forward, not liking getting so close to the edge but trusting the gargoyle with whatever plans he has. When I’m just in front of him, I slide my fingers into his claws and clasp tightly before looking up at him expectantly.
“Now what?” I ask.
The corners of his eyes crinkle. “Now, we fly.”
I don’t have time to panic or insist that I shouldn’t be flying anywhere as a human. My feet belong solidly on the ground, but Razcorr seems to have other ideas. He pulls me against his chest and envelops me in his arms, tight enough that I know I won’t fall. Without another word, he tips backward off the edge of the castle.
