Alliance Forged

by Kylie Griffin

  Varian handed Kalan the lantern. “Kymora’s scent is strongest here.”

  He dropped into the catacomb. His boots hit the hard-packed floor with a sharp thud. A millennia of dust puffed out from underneath them. The place smelled of the dead, dry and musty. Despite the dimness of light, he counted just over a dozen holes in the walls. Wrapped bodies filled eight of them.

  Inhaling again, he traced Kymora’s scent to the only shroud-covered body on the bottom row. There was no odor of death.

  His gut clenched. Blessed Mother, had they buried her alive? The cold logic of the rebel who’d planned this ripped through him. Had their plan succeeded, they’d have freed Davyn. If it’d failed, Kymora might never have been found. A growl rumbled in his chest.

  He reached into the hole. Hooking his fingers into the canvas, he pulled. A muffled scream stopped his heart.

  “Kymora!” He gritted his teeth, and with one final yank, she was free of the grave.

  He tore open the head covering. Her dust-coated face appeared. Her emerald eyes were wide open, terror haunting their depths. He placed trembling fingers to her cheek. Her body convulsed, then arched. Tears welled in her eyes. He pried the rags from her mouth, then tore them from her head.

  Gagged, bound, and shrouded.

  The horror of what she must have endured ripped into him. Just how close he’d come to losing her sank in. He wanted to yell and howl, but the terror shaking her body kept his fury contained.

  “You’re safe, Kymora,” he whispered, and peeled more of the shroud away from her head, freeing it so she could feel the air on her hot cheeks.

  Her lips were stretched wide in a silent scream, her voice so hoarse he could barely hear her. He stroked her sweat-soaked hair back off her face.

  “You’re safe.” He threw back his head. “Zaune get down here. I need your help.”

  In minutes she was free. Her legs wouldn’t hold her, so he gathered her against him, supporting all of her weight as he cradled her against his chest.

  His heart ached as she ran her hands over him, tears pouring down her cheeks. Her fingers shook so badly he had to help her place them on the side of his face. Her touch never felt so good.

  “Varian!” The whisper of sound came from a tortured throat. “Thank the Lady…”

  “Shh, don’t speak.” He smoothed a finger over her lips. “I’m here. Kalan’s here. You’re safe.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I love you. Let’s get you home.”

  Chapter 40

  “YOU said you loved me, Na’Chi.”

  The soft, lilting voice came from behind Varian and alerted him to another visitor on the wall walkway running behind the Light Blade compound. Not that he hadn’t heard the gentle tap-tap-tap of her staff as she made her way up the flight of stairs or caught her honey and spices scent on the late afternoon breeze.

  The glacial lake made a stunning backdrop to the activities going on along the shoreline, but he turned away from it and took in another of nature’s beautiful creations as she made her way toward him.

  “I did.” The gut-freezing vulnerability was easing the more he admitted to loving Kymora. To himself. To her and to those dearest to them. Denying or hiding his love for her was no longer an option, not after coming so close to losing her. Nothing could be worse than that.

  After getting her out of the catacomb and to the hospice, he’d spent a long night sitting vigil over her as she recovered from her ordeal. Not even Candra’s halfhearted threat of infecting him with pox could move him from her side. He’d wanted to be there when she woke from a nightmare, to comfort her, to wipe the tears from her face and then hold her and whisper how much he loved her until she fell asleep again. Every time she needed him.

  The blessed times. The heartbreaks. The trials.

  From now on, he wanted to share everything with her.

  With unerring accuracy Kymora walked straight up to him and slid her arms around his waist to squeeze him tight. He shut his eyes and counted, a grin pulling at his lips.

  “Well?” she asked. “Will you tell me again?”

  The wind chose then to eddy around them. The gust caught the long strands of Kymora’s hair and whipped them around her face. He caught them and curled them around his fist until his hand cupped the back of her head.

  Varian placed his forehead against hers. He inhaled her scent and let it wrap around his heart, more than willing to be tied to her in such a unique way. Even his other half craved that connection now. Melding would take time but it was working. Kymora had helped him see that his other half wasn’t something to be feared.

  “I love you, Kymora Tayn,” he murmured. She’d taught him that it was all right to care and that to let someone into your heart was one of life’s most precious gifts. “Your love is worth every year of my life. They’re yours if you want them.”

  He heard her breath hitch, then her hand slid to the center of his chest, her fingers spreading flat to claim him. “Yes, I’ll take them, Varian, every single one of them and consider myself blessed.”

  “I’m the one blessed, Kymora.” He took a moment to appreciate the feel of her against him, to savor the peace her love had brought him.

  Shouts and giggles carried on the breeze. Kymora shifted in his arms and turned toward the lake.

  “I can hear Kalan’s voice.” Her smile stretched wide; her eyes sparkled. “What’s going on down there?”

  “Rissa conned Kalan and half the adults into a game of flutter-tag,” he explained, tone dry. “Even Councilor Elamm’s joined in.”

  Her delighted laughter made him grin. “See?” She prodded his chest. “The Lady does perform miracles. There’s hope for you yet.”

  He grunted. “Her paths to achieving Her goals are… complex.” He took a cleansing breath. “I never would have expected such an outpouring of support from so many different people as I’ve seen in the last few days. For the Na’Chi, or us, or Kalan and Annika.”

  “The alliance is working, Varian.” Her arms tightened around him. “There’s still more to achieve, but now, with so many walking the journey with us, it’ll be easier.”

  As much as Lisella’s ordeal and Kymora’s kidnapping still pained him, the incidents had thrown the rebel movement into disfavor with many humans. Kalan still had a job winnowing out Davyn’s supporters, but they were no longer such a threat with their own people turning against them.

  Progress of a sort, and it gave him hope.

  Kymora’s fingertips found the amulet that used to be hers around his neck. “So, Na’Chi Light Blade, what’s it like being in the service of the Lady?”

  “It might take some getting used to,” he admitted, his laugh rusty sounding.

  The Chosen and Sartor, the Lady’s newly approved Temple Elect, had inducted all the Na’Chi scouts in a ceremony just that morning on the training grounds.

  “We’ll work on your faith. Who knows, that might be your Fourth Journey,” she teased.

  Varian thought back to the day when Hesia told him it was time to seek sanctuary with the humans. He’d left Na’Reish territory with a heavy heart, anxious about the future ahead, uncertain that an alliance could work.

  He looked out over the wall at the people gathered below, Na’Chi and human, then glanced over his shoulder at the sprawling city behind them. Much had changed since that day. The timeline of events, and the faces of friends lost flickered through his mind.

  The price of freedom and sanctuary.

  “It’s come at a cost,” he murmured.

  Kymora tilted her head toward him, puzzled amusement creasing her brow. “What has?”

  “The Na’Chi’s new home.” He cradled her face. “But it was worth it because I found you.”

  She gifted him with her smile, and the warmth of it outstripped the sun. Varian placed his mouth over hers and kissed her with all of his heart, mind, and soul, both halves, dark and light.

  He’d found a new home, at last.

  And love… Her name was Kym
ora.