Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Keera

W e both slept under the stars that night. With Erix’s help, I coaxed a fire from the dry scrub we found in the area with my magic. It shielded us from the chill that swept over the sands in the absence of the sun as we laid on our mats with it as a barrier between us.

Neither of us spoke of what had happened between us, but I didn’t get the sense that we were ignoring it either. It was simply that words would not suffice to say anything more than our actions already had. Out here in the wilderness, the lines between us blurred as if they had been traced in the sand only to be scoured away by the wind. When we returned to civilization, we would have to redraw them once more, but for now, we were more similar than we were enemies.

The next morning dawned bright and clear, and we set out immediately after practicing our morning forms together. We flowed in unison the same as before, yet differently, as if the magic that flowed between us had been heightened by our intimacy. I wondered at it out loud as we rode.

“You say that you can feel my magic across the whole desert when I lose control. Now that we’ve ridden together for a while, I can feel yours too. Why do you think that is? ”

Erix shrugged. He wore his mask again as we rode, but he had left it off during our morning exercise. “I had never met anybody nearly as powerful as me before you. Only Lord Alasdar came close, although his power has a different nature. Perhaps being the two most magical people in the desert makes us more aware of each other.”

I hummed in thought for a moment, sensing something beneath the surface of his statement. “It’s more than that isn’t it though?”

Erix looked over at me from Alza’s back, remaining quiet for a moment—so long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer me.

“I don’t understand it,” he admitted quietly.

I swallowed thickly. “When I started training with the Kelvadan riders, and Aderyn taught me the saber forms, it was as if my body already knew them. I improved as a saber fighter far faster than I had any right to.”

I watched Erix carefully as I spoke, but his only visible reaction was the tightening of his fists where they rested on Alza’s shoulders. My face momentarily heated at the memory of how he had licked every trace of me off the fingers of his gloves after touching me. I shook that off in favor of continuing to prod him.

“I think you awoke more than magic in me when you touched me for the first time.”

“Let’s hope for the sake of the desert that I didn’t.”

Before I could ask what he meant, a sharp whinny that didn’t come from either Alza or Daiti split the air. My head snapped toward the horizon where a lone rider stood, waving both arms in the air to get our attention.

Erix and I both urged our mounts into a canter toward the figure. While my hand inched toward the hilt of the dagger in my belt, it seemed unlikely that we would be greeted in such a way by an enemy. After all, the stranger drew no weapon as we approached. Erix seemed to have similar thoughts, his posture alert but not combative.

“Are you of Clan Otush?” Erix asked once we were within earshot.

The man hesitated upon seeing Erix, shying back a bit at the sight of the metal mask. He had clearly heard the tales of the Viper, but the desperation in his gaze was clear as he asked, “Have you come to help us? ”

“Your rider told us of the lava wyrm. We have come to face it,” I responded.

The man looked dismayed. “Only two of you?”

“It will be enough,” Erix stated, and his tone brooked no argument.

The rider’s expression revealed that he was still unsure, but he nodded anyway. “I’ll take you to our encampment, and we can tell you what we know of the creature.”

We followed him over the next rise, after which the close drawn tents of Clan Otush came into view.

“I thought Clan Otush had joined with Clans Padra, Tibel, Vecturna, and Jal to camp together,” Erix asked. I glanced at him sidelong as we rode.

“We had united to resist…” The man shot a glance at Erix and reconsidered. “We had banded together for a time, but game became too scarce in any one area to feed all the clans. We split up to cover more territory, hoping to ward off famine but not overhunting any one stretch.”

My mouth grew dry at the mention of famine. While the desert was harsh, it teemed with life if one knew where to look. Now, it seemed to be withering if even clans with capable hunters struggled to feed their own. I thought of what Erix had said about the missing Heart and frowned. Even more, most of the texts in the private collection of the Royal Library—texts collected by Kelvar—had focused on the first crossing of the desert and how it won the Lord the Heart of the Desert.

The rider of Clan Otush led us toward his encampment. As we crossed the dry and cracked earth, our mounts picked their way around strange formations of black rock. They looked bubbled and warped, unlike any stone I had seen shaped by the relentless forces of nature. I frowned as Daiti skirted a large patch almost as big as he was. The clansman said nothing, but his expression was grim.

Drawing closer to the encampment, the root of his desperation was clear. Where encampments normally teemed with life—the laughter of children and the barking of hunting dogs—this one frayed at the seams. Tents bore signs of fire and violence, some with obviously patched rips and others sporting blackened char marks on their canvas. The few children in sight were held tightly by their parents so they couldn’t run off, and there didn’t seem to be enough horses in the enclosures for the number of people.

We headed for the center of the encampment, faces appearing from behind tent flaps to look at us as we passed, expressions equal parts hopeful and apprehensive.

When we reached the grandest tent, our escort dismounted, shouting, “Lord Dhara!”

In a matter of moments, the tent flap opened, revealing a woman armed to the teeth with a hard glint in her eye. A bow and full quiver of arrows were thrown over her shoulder while a row of curved daggers lined her belt. A gold ring glittered in one nostril, almost as brightly as her keen eyes as she took us in.

“They’ve come to face the lava wyrm,” our escort declared, tapping his knuckles to his forehead as he bowed to his clan’s lord. I echoed the gesture from where I still sat astride Daiti, but Erix made no such movement.

“Does Lord Alasdar’s pet snake come to save us or to threaten us?” The lord crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. “We told you, our clan would not be threatened into bowing to Clan Katal.”

“You struck a deal that you would join our cause if I was victorious in the Trials, and I have returned to you as Champion of the Desert,” Erix announced, loud enough that all those in the small crowd that had gathered around the clearing could hear.

“You do not wear the Champion’s circlet,” Lord Dhara pointed out.

“Your rider reached us with news of your plight before he could be crowned,” I found myself volunteering before I could think better of it. I bit my tongue hard enough to taste copper in my mouth. Erix looked at me sharply.

“Is this true?”

“It should not matter if I wear the Champion’s circlet or not,” Erix countered. “If lava wyrms rise again, you must see the wisdom in uniting the tribes to restore the desert. She tears herself apart at the seams because of the sins of Kelvadan. We must fight together to save our home.”

The assembled clansmen broke into scattered whispers, and I caught snippets of agreement .

“Something has to be done.”

“Lord Alasdar should have been crowned Champion at the last Trials.”

“Clan Katal will save the desert.”

I saw the truth of Clan Otush’s struggles in the too-thin faces of their women and children and the absence of so many young riders. They struggled to survive in the desert as it was now—a struggle I knew all too intimately. That desperation drove them toward what they saw as a common enemy, and I couldn’t say I blamed them.

A voice in my mind argued that Kelvadan wasn’t the right enemy. How could it be when it was home to Aderyn and Neven, who had become like family before I could even realize it? It couldn’t be the source of this turmoil when the spires were a beacon of hope and peace for so many—when the queen was fair and kind and had offered a lost exile a home and her husband had such a gentle way with horses.

I pictured the tapestry over the locked doors to Alyx’s tomb and held my tongue. I couldn’t be sure of much right now, but I was certain that these people needed our help.

“My companion and I will distract the lava wyrm while the clan escapes,” Erix instructed. The lord obviously chafed at being given orders but could see the wisdom of his words and nodded in agreement. “While we fight the beast, you can ride for Clan Katal where you will be safe among the united clans.”

“We will prepare to move while giving you a place to rest and recover for tonight. Then we can strike out in the morning,” Lord Dhara agreed.

At the decision that we would not be riding out today, Erix and I both dismounted. Clansmen moved forward as if to help us with our packs and horses, but I shook my head. Daiti didn’t take kindly to strangers, and I wouldn’t risk these clansmen earning a hoof-shaped bruise for their kindness.

Erix waved off those who approached him as well. “I prefer to tend to my own horse.”

We were shown to the enclosure where we could leave Daiti and Alza with the rest of the clan’s horses. It seemed almost wrong to have them mingle, our mounts’ shining coats and proud posture a sharp juxtaposition to the patchy coats and worn-out gait of the other horses. It threw into painful relief just how much these people suffered.

“We’ll set up a spare tent for you to use tonight,” explained the man who had shown us around.

With that, we found ourselves at loose ends for the afternoon—an odd sensation after days of hard riding. Not accustomed to sitting idle, I looked around the camp. There certainly wasn’t a lack of work to be done to get the fraying tribe ready to depart the next day.

I turned to Erix, mouth already open to say we should offer to help, when I found him gone. Looking around, I spotted him drifting toward the far side of the horse enclosure. There, a man and woman were fussing over a horse, the mare appearing to be in distress.

I trailed after him curiously.

Erix stopped a few paces away, but his stance was tense, as if he wanted to approach but didn’t know how. I stopped beside him, eyeing his fists clenching and unclenching out of the corner of my eye.

Meanwhile, the mare paced restlessly, tail swishing in irritation. She pulled her upper lip back, kicking her rear legs as the pair tried to calm her.

“What’s going on?” I asked, stepping a little closer. Erix hovered just off my shoulder.

The woman looked up, blinking a few times before recognition dawned.

“Keera, right?”

It was my turn to stare in confusion before I realized where I had seen her before. Then, I recalled her clapping me on the shoulder in congratulations after besting her in the Trials. Still, I didn’t remember her name. “Yes…”

“Badha,” she offered without judgement. “I’m sure you bested too many competitors that day to remember every name.”

“I should still do better to remember anybody as good with a blade as you,” I said.

She offered her hand to me. I took it, and we clasped each other’s forearms.

“What’s going on with this mare?” I asked again.

Badha’s smile faded. “She’s my brother, Koa’s, horse, and it’s about time for her to foal. He swears something doesn’t feel right, but our horse master—the lava wyrm has cost our clan many lives.”

Now that I looked closer, I could see the mare’s rounded belly, teats already straining, showing her delivery was just around the corner. She paced away from us, swinging her head side to side before turning back.

“I can help,” Erix cut in.

I glanced over my shoulder at him, and he stepped forward, reaching a hand out to the mare. She blew a breath at him for a moment, but then nudged forward and let him pat her nose. I remembered that Erix was not just Ginevra’s son, but Kaius’s too.

“Are you sure?” the man hovering nearby and wringing his hands asked—Badha’s brother, Koa, I assumed. “This isn’t just tending to a warhorse.”

Erix nodded, continuing to pat the horse soothingly, muttering nonsensically under his breath before answering. “I’ve… worked closely with the best horse master there is. I’ve helped with many difficult foalings.”

Koa glanced at his sister, who looked at me, as if waiting for my judgement on the matter. It felt odd for her to look to me for guidance, but I nodded encouragingly.

“Erix is good with horses.” If he had learned even half as much as Kaius knew, then I had confidence in him. Even in the short months I spent in Kelvadan, I had seen everybody in the city seek out his help for all sorts of equine ailments, and he handled them all with patience and expertise. Based on how well Erix treated Alza, I had a feeling he followed his father’s teachings.

“Then I would appreciate any help you can give us,” Koa said. “I just—something’s wrong. I can tell.”

“Your magic serves you well,” Erix responded.

I blinked. Reaching out with the barest lick of magic, I reached past the beacon of power that was Erix, nearly drowning out all else in the desert, to find a delicate bond between Koa and his horse.

Koa snorted. “It does very little but cause me to spoil my horse rotten.”

“It shows,” I chimed in. “She’s a beautiful animal.”

It was true. As much as all the mounts of Clan Otush looked like they had seen better days, as did its people, her thick, if dusty, coat and strong muscles spoke to years of good care.

“I’ll need bandages to get her tail out of the way, and some fresh water.”

“I’ll go,” Badha volunteered.

I followed her, planning to help carry water and supplies. She led me to a well dug in the center of the encampment, and I began turning the crank to bring up the bucket. I sensed her eyes on me as I worked. I itched to shrink away, uncomfortable with the scrutiny.

She eventually broke the silence. “I didn’t expect to find you riding in such company.”

I glanced over, finding her expression open, not holding the judgement I would have expected.

“To be honest, neither did I. But Erix…”

“You call the Viper by his name? I thought nobody knew it. I wasn’t sure he even had one.”

I chewed my lip, not wanting to unintentionally give away more of Erix’s secrets. It felt like a violation of trust, although I had made him no promises.

Badha shook her head at my silence. “I will not tell anybody if you don’t wish me to. I suppose his name doesn’t really matter. I just didn’t expect you to join him after the way the Trials ended.”

I winced at the memory of my loss of control. “I wish you hadn’t seen that.”

“I will admit, I was cheering for you in that fight. I knew that Clan Otush would have to join Clan Katal, and like our lord, I don’t relish bowing to others. I rode out right after that fight to tell my lord what had happened. But I did see your power, and you were certainly fearsome to face in a fight… I guess I can see why the two of you might have something in common after all.”

“Erix is… complicated.”

Badha shrugged as I pulled the bucket from the well. It was heavy with water that I was careful not to slosh over the sides. “If he can help Koa’s horse and save us from the lava wyrm, I don’t think I would mind following him after all.”

At that, I nodded. It was my sentiment too. Out here in the desert, where survival was the ultimate law, the barriers that had been erected between the clans and Kelvadan seemed both less important and looming more imposing than ever. After all, the clans blamed Kelvadan for the suffering they endured.

“Let’s get this back to Erix and Koa,” I said.

I lugged the heavy bucket back to the enclosure while Badha hurried to grab some cloth from one of the tents. When we arrived back at the horse enclosure, Erix took the bandages and neatly bundled up the mare’s tail out of the way of her hind quarters. Then he shucked off his gloves and pushed up his sleeves and used the water to cleanse his hands and arms up to the elbow.

“Try to keep her still, I need to see what position the foal is in,” Erix ordered us, voice full of all the calm seriousness of a war-hardened veteran. As all three of us jumped to obey without a second thought, I understood why Lord Alasdar put him in command of the combined clan’s riders.

Koa took the mare’s head, comforting her and whispering reassurances while Badha and I stood at her sides, keeping her from shuffling away as Erix stood at her rear. Between the three of us, we managed to keep her in place as Erix examined her, but I couldn’t help but frown at the sweat coating her sides.

“The good news is that the foal appears to be coming front legs first, so we don’t have to worry about it suffocating before its face comes out. The bad news is that it is upside down, with its legs up toward her back,” Erix said as he pulled away.

The creases of worry across Koa’s brow deepened, and he stroked the mare’s nose even as she panted. “What can we do?”

“If we get her to lay down and stand up several times, it should correct itself. If not—well, we’ll just have to do our best to help her deliver as is.”

Koa’s expression took on a determined set. “Tell me what to do.”

For the next half hour, Koa and Erix gently coaxed the mare around the enclosure, patiently encouraging her to lay down before prodding her back up again. Badha and I did our best to help, mostly getting Erix whatever he asked for.

By the time the mare lay down on her side, refusing to get back up again, sides rippling with contractions, a small audience had formed around the enclosure. While clansmen hurried around, getting the encampment ready to move at first light, many paused as they walked by. Just like myself, they couldn’t seem to take their eyes off the masked man, supposedly the fearsome Viper, with his sleeves rolled up, helping to gently coax a new life into the world.

Badha and I joined Erix and Koa at the mare’s side as she showed signs of beginning to strain. Carefully, Erix reached up the birth canal to check the foal. We collectively held our breath, and all those hurrying by outside the enclosure paused to hear the verdict as well.

“It’s turned. She should be able to deliver nearly on her own from here.”

Koa let out a shuddering breath, and I felt myself echoing the sentiment.

In a matter of minutes, delicate front hooves came into view, followed by a pink nose. Erix carefully removed blood and humor from the foal’s nostrils so it could breathe, and the mare continued to push, Koa continually murmuring encouragement.

As the foal’s shoulders began to emerge, Erix nodded me over.

“Help me pull gently as the mother pushes. She’s beginning to tire.”

I laid my hands over his on the foal’s front legs, doing as he asked. Together, we applied gentle traction as the mare’s sides shuddered and heaved. In moments, the front half of the foal appeared already started to squirm.

“Stop,” Erix instructed me. “If we keep pulling now, we might fracture its ribs.”

With one final heave, the mare birthed the foal, a bright new colt coming into the desert in the middle of the downtrodden encampment. Koa exclaimed in joy, and murmurs of excitement ran through those who paused by the enclosure’s edge.

Incredulously, I reached out my magic, feeling the spark that lived in every horse in the Ballan Desert, small but steady in the foal. He was already proving to be a feisty one, trying and failing to push to his feet only minutes after birth.

An hour later, I sat on the makeshift fence at the edge of the enclosure next to Erix, his arms scrubbed clean and gloves firmly in place. Together, we watched the foal nurse, already walking around on thin legs that were less wobbly by the minute. Our silence was companionable, and when I reached out a tendril of magic toward Erix, I imagined I could feel a sort of contentment rolling off him that I hadn’t felt before.

“I didn’t know you knew so much about horses,” I said.

Erix shrugged, but the way his face turned to follow the foal wherever it roamed belied his indifference. “Growing up, riding was one of the few times I felt peace. It still is.”

I remembered the way Farren felt beneath me—how we would gallop under the stars in a pell-mell race to nowhere when my thoughts became too much. It was yet another sentiment we shared.

“Kai—Kaius tried to help me in his own way.” The horse master’s name seemed to catch in his throat, but I didn’t press Erix. It was the first time I had heard him speak of his parents in a way that was less than hostile, and I feared shattering the moment. “Seeing how much I liked to spend time around the horses, he would bring me to the stables to help him when he could. It was never enough but…it did help.”

We fell into silence again. A figure strode up next to us, resting their forearms on the fence next to us. I looked over to find Lord Dhara surveying the foal as well.

“I’m glad we won’t have to worry about Koa’s mare giving birth as we travel. We hope to make it to the safety of the encampment as quickly as possible,” she said.

“The foal will still be slow,” Erix pointed out.

Lord Dhara shook her head. “It will already be slow going. Many have lost their horses to the lava wyrm already and will have to take turns riding and walking. Still, with your help we might just make it.”

While the lord’s voice still held the hardness of a commander, it was laced with a little more gratitude than it had been when we first arrived.

“Come to my fire and get some food tonight. You have more than earned your keep today,” she said before striding off toward the center of the encampment.

That evening, we found ourselves sitting around one of the larger fire pits with Lord Dhara and several of the riders. We were each passed a meager portion of cooked oryx meat, but Erix wordlessly tipped his onto my plate. Apparently, the mask still stayed on around others besides me.

“What can you tell us of the lava wyrm?” he asked as I was busy licking hot grease off my fingers. I didn’t miss the way his mask darted to me as I made sure not a single dripple escaped me, running my tongue over where the juices dripped down my wrist.

“It first attacked three weeks ago, although we didn’t know it at the time,” Lord Dhara explained. “One of our hunting parties never returned, and we thought the desert had led them astray or they had been caught in a sandstorm.

“Then a few horses disappeared, only for their charred bones to be found among the sands a few days later. We didn’t see it until two weeks ago, when it grew bold enough to attack our encampment at night. We tried to fight back, but it is difficult to get close enough to land a blow when it spits molten rock, turning the ground around it into a burning death trap. We’ve tried arrows, but they just bounce off its hide. Its underbelly seems unprotected, but the moats of lava it creates around itself when we try to engage it have swallowed any riders that were brave enough to approach.

“We started sending out messengers over a week ago, but the lava wyrm is deceptively fast and sees them as easy prey. I’m afraid that the rider you encountered after the Trials was the only one to get past it alive.”

I grimaced even as my stomach sank. If the lava wyrm was really such a formidable opponent, it seemed unlikely that Erix and I would be able to best it. If Erix had any of the same thoughts though, he didn’t let them show.

“Do you know where it nests?” he asked.

One of the other riders pointed out in the direction opposite of where we had approached the encampment from. “It normally attacks from that direction, although we haven’t ventured out far enough to find where it rests. We’ve been keeping our riders close, focusing on protecting the encampment while waiting for aid. ”

“Some aid it’s turning out to be,” his companion muttered under his breath, but I could still make it out over the crackle of the fire.

I opened my mouth to defend Erix—to tell them he had volunteered to come alone even when all those assembled for the Trials shied away, but Lord Dhara beat me to the punch.

“Are you volunteering to face the beast then?” she asked, her tone icy.

His eyes bellied his cockiness, but the rider raised his chin. “Why should we trust help from one who just months ago threatened to raze our clan if we didn’t follow his demands? Or some random girl we know nothing of?”

“Do you need to know anything other than she comes to your aid?” Erix asked in return, his voice controlled, but I sensed the tenuous thread of anger at the base of his tone. To my embarrassment, it sent a thrill up my spine.

The fire crackled violently in the middle of the circle, but to his credit, the rider didn’t back down in the face of Erix’s expressionless stare.

“Where do you come from, rider?” Lord Dhara asked me.

I swallowed thickly as all eyes turned to me.

“I’m Keera,” I responded, letting the silence after my name stretch. While I had been proud of being declared a citizen of Kelvadan just a week ago, I questioned the wisdom of claiming as much in present company. When they joined with Clan Katal, I would be an enemy.

“And what clan do you ride with?”

“Keera needs no clan.” Erix’s tone was a threat. The rider either didn’t notice or was in the mood for a fight.

“I’m supposed to accept being rescued by a filthy exile?”

I had barely processed the insult in his words when a horrible choking noise filled the air. The rider scrabbled at his throat as if strangled but an invisible noose. Erix held out a hand lazily in his direction, head tilted in a predatory manner.

“Perhaps we don’t need Clan Otush’s help to march on Kelvadan, if your riders are such cowards,” he observed, his voice a low growl that might not have been audible if the whole encampment hadn’t gone silent except for the desperate gasping of the man held in the grip of Erix’s power.

The anger of his magic simmered under my own skin as he pulled at the threads connecting the desert, the tension palpable in the air and pulling at my own well of darkness in the pit of my belly.

I reached out and laid a hand on his outstretched forearm. The tension in the air severed, and the rider collapsed forward onto his hands, gulping down air. I didn’t look at him though, watching as Erix’s face snapped toward the point of contact between the two of us, all attention on where my hand rested on his long leather glove.

It occurred to me that our explorations of touch, something both of us seemed to need so desperately, might not be welcome now that we no longer had the privacy of the wilderness. Just as I was about to pull back, Erix’s other hand came to rest over mine, pinning me in place. A deep breath hissed in and out of the holes in his mask.

Abruptly, he pulled away and stood. “We will ride for the wyrm at dawn. Be ready to ride for the united clans.” Then he stalked off into the night.

Silence fell over the group, a far cry from the comforting quiet of the wilderness. All those assembled looked at me as if I had an explanation for what had happened—as if I fully understood it myself.

I stood and wiped my hands on my pants, inclining my head toward Lord Dhara. “Thank you for sharing your fire.”

Then I walked off in the direction Erix had gone. The tightly wound knot of his magic was centered around the tent we had been given for the night. I hesitated outside the flap, thinking of how much I preferred the prior night’s sleep without shelter, but I knew Erix would not take off his mask where the rest of the clan could see him. I supposed I could set up my own sleeping mat outside and leave him to his privacy, but that didn’t seem appealing either.

Inside was dark, only lit by a single lantern. The flame waxed and waned in the rhythm of the measured breaths echoing in the silence. Erix knelt in the middle of the small space, fists clenched on his legs. He didn’t respond as I stepped into his space and echoed his posture, knees barely brushing his, just as I had when he had offered to teach me how to meditate .

I thought back to that lesson and the well of magic within me. Closing my eyes, I focused on the swell of power around me, following it back to its source, not inside me, but from the man before me. Where my anger had been a dark thing, hidden at the base of my power, his was cultivated, carefully grown and tended to until it wove through every fiber of his being. I pushed my way into the tangled knot that was the base of his power. He flinched but did not push me away, physically or otherwise.

Deep within him, behind the web of darkness, I found something familiar. Something wild. Something bright.

My eyes snapped open with a gasp. I couldn’t see Erix’s face, but I knew he stared back at me.

“The darkness makes me strong,” he murmured.

“I know.” It was the same darkness that pooled within me, buried at the root of all the power I couldn’t yet control. It exploded out of me to keep me alive in the face of danger—when Clan Katal had tried to execute me. “Will it be enough to defeat the lava wyrm?”

“It will have to be.” He sighed, beginning to move around the small space, our tense moment shattered. The sand swished softly as he unrolled his sleeping mat against it. I moved to do the same. “I’m committed to healing the desert, and I won’t let its inhabitants die before we have a chance to set things right.”

I started at his use of the word ‘we’ before realizing he meant himself and Lord Alasdar. For a moment, I wished he didn’t. I just nodded, setting up my own sleeping mat. With a thump, I laid down, staring up at the stained canvas above me with a frown.

“I hate not being able to see the sky,” I admitted.

A shuffling next to me indicated that Erix mirrored my position. Just out of the corner of my vision, I spotted him setting his mask beside him, but I didn’t turn to look. I didn’t want to draw attention to how easily he showed his face around me.

“I have trouble sleeping indoors too,” Erix admitted.

“Why?” We both stared up at the tent, not looking at each other. Somehow, it felt as if words came more easily when I didn’t have to meet those clear eyes that held so much while remaining so closed off.

Erix shifted his weight, and for a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer.

“I have nightmares about being trapped in the rock,” he admitted softly. “Sometimes when I wake up and can’t see the stars, I think I’m still a boy stuck in the room beneath the palace in Kelvadan.”

It was only the third time we’d directly talked about his life in Kelvadan, and I held my breath, not wanting to scare him from saying more. When he didn’t continue, I chanced prompting him.

“The meditation room?”

He let out a humorless snort. “If only it was just for meditation. It also makes a pretty good cell. Sometimes, when I was barely a teenager, I couldn’t keep my power in check. My emotions were just too big. Always too much. It would break things or cause lightning storms like yours. When that happened, my parents would shut me in that room to try to cut me off from the desert and calm me down. It would work sometimes, but the mountain around me…”

He trailed off, but he didn’t need to continue. I had felt it for myself, that oppressive silence. For one as powerful as him, so in tune with the currents of magic running through every inch of the desert, it must have been devastating.

As overwhelming as the feel of the desert in and around me could be, the complete absence of it was akin to losing an arm. It was a sense of loneliness even deeper and more aching than the isolation of my old oasis. I suspected the experience was similar for Erix.

Words came up short when it came to giving him my empathy, but touch was a language he and I were learning to speak together. I inched my hand across the space between us to find his. Warm, callused skin met mine, telling me he’d already taken his gloves off for the night. He jumped, but then interwove his fingers with mine.

“I have a trick for falling asleep inside though,” he admitted.

“Really?”

“Close your eyes and focus on the feel of my magic.”

I did as he asked, finding the threads of his magic with relative ease, some of them still caught up in the currents of my power after meditating together. Gently, he tugged on them, drawing me out of myself until I was floating. I knew I hadn’t completely escaped myself though from the solid warmth of his fingers in the spaces between mine.

Slightly detached from myself as I was, I could feel the phantom of the rapidly cooling night breeze across my face and the vibrations of life that ran through the clansman preparing the encampment around us.

“Like the sun, it’s still out there, even when we can’t see it.”

I squeezed his hand in silent thank you, and after a beat, he squeezed back. I don’t know how long we floated together like that, but when I opened my eyes, the pale light of early dawn filtered in through the tent flap, and his hand still gently clasped mine.