Chapter 37

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

GOVEK

F or four days, Govek did not eat. He barely slept. He sat at Miranda's bedside, watching, waiting. Willing her to stir.

But she didn't. She wouldn't. She remained in a deep sleep.

"Govek." Hovget hovered in the doorway of the bedroom Govek shared with her. The healer had just finished examining Miranda.

Who was completely fine but gone.

"Govek, you need to eat," the healer said quietly. "Eat while I clean up a little."

Govek's home was basically destroyed. He'd destroyed it. After Evythiken had awoken. After he had told Govek what he'd seen, while Miranda lay lifeless in his arms. Like she was dead.

Because she had died.

And now she was stuck there.

Fuck.

"Govek. Water at least."

"Get out," Govek snarled. He'd said those same words to Evythiken all those days ago. After he'd told him what the Fades had done.

They had used her to send the seer a message.

She'd died, and they'd resurrected her.

She had burned alive.

Burned alive.

Just like Tavggol.

His stomach rolled and he would have vomited if there was anything in it.

Footsteps sounded, growing nearer. "I told you to get out, Hovget."

"And he did. But I'm not so obedient."

Govek jerked toward the sound of Karthoc's voice. He scrambled to his feet.

His cousin looked around the room. "Fuck, Govek, what have you been doing?"

Govek's voice was thick and came without thought. "Mourning."

"Mourning?" Karthoc looked on his mate. Govek stepped forward to block him.

He hadn't even been able to touch Miranda since he'd moved her to their bed. Only watched longingly as Wellia cleaned her, dressed her, and kept her well. How dare Karthoc think he could just set his eyes on Miranda without thought?

"Govek, she's breathing . She's not dead."

"Get out, Karthoc."

The male skewered him with steely eyes, anger snapping so quick Govek had not seen it coming. "She is breathing ."

"Don't look at her!" Govek rushed him, but Karthoc side-stepped easily.

"Govek. She is not fucking dead ." Karthoc stormed to Miranda's bedside and grabbed her perfectly slender wrist in his vile fingers. "Touch her! She's?—"

"Get your hands off her." He grabbed Karthoc by the neckline of his shirt and threw him across the room.

"You touch her then." Karthoc staggered back but stayed on his feet.

Govek wanted to. Fuck, he longed to touch her.

But she was unconscious. She was gone. And his mind was in worthless tatters. The blinding light of the Fades rippled under his skin as his magic spiraled out of control. The conjuring he cast shattered parts of his home at random. His couch, his plates, the mantle on the fireplace. Even parts of his walls.

He couldn't control himself.

And Miranda looked so... he heaved. Her eyes were closed, her chest was barely moving. Even her scent seemed dim.

Fuck, fuck .

Govek stared at the wrist Karthoc had touched. Searching to make sure there were no marks. Desperate. It was half off the bed, hanging over the side. He wanted to move it back under the blanket. To make her comfortable.

"Easy, tough guy."

The memory of Miranda's sweet voice made him ache. His hand shook as he carefully nudged her fingers with his thumb.

She was so warm .

He collapsed to his knees beside the bed, unable to restrain himself. He took her hand in his. Turning it over, stroking her palm, her wrist.

She was warm. Not dead. So warm.

He pressed her hand to his wet cheek, the sight of her blurry as his eyes burned and dripped. He rocked, willing her to move.

But she didn't. She wouldn't.

But she also wasn't dead.

"Govek, what will Miranda say when she wakes up?"

Govek took a shaky breath, looked around the destroyed room. Almost everything was broken. His clothes, the furniture. He'd clutched the bed frame so hard the wood had cracked.

"She's going to be furious with you for not eating or drinking properly. And how will you care for her in this condition?" Karthoc continued, unyielding.

Fuck, his cousin was right. With a shaky hand, Govek reached up and gripped the cup on the nightstand, downing the water in a single gulp.

His mind grew clearer.

"Here."

Karthoc forced a strip of dried meat into his hand and Govek's mouth watered. It could water now that he'd had something to drink. He gobbled it down and Karthoc replaced it with another.

After a few moments, Govek was able to take the bowl from Karthoc, eating rapidly. Not tasting it, not even seeing it. Just shoveling food into his mouth.

His shaky limbs stilled. His mind cleared.

Fuck, he was a mess.

"You should bathe too." Karthoc took the empty plate. " You smell as sour as a carcass on a hot day. Worse than one of Savili's fish monstrosities."

Govek was torn between leaving Miranda's side and being clean for her.

Would she wake up?

Fades help him. She had to wake up.

"Go." Karthoc shoved Govek toward the bathroom. "I'll stay with her."

"Don't touch her."

"I won't."

Govek swallowed again and loped on shaky limbs to the tub, kept the door open as he washed as quickly as he could. Karthoc fetched him a change of clean clothes, and by the time Govek was dressed, his mind was clear. He downed another cup of water without hesitation, and gobbled up another bowl of mystery food.

"She has to wake," he said, finally having the energy to talk. "I don't know how to wake her."

"It just takes time , Govek. Evythiken said it would. Do you want me to bring him in?"

" No ," Govek seethed.

"Fine. I won't. But you're going to have to be patient then." Karthoc gestured around the room. "And fuck, clean up this mess. Do you want your mate to awaken and be distraught?"

Govek instantly began to clean, fixing and mending, folding things and putting them away. Karthoc aided him.

"Why didn't he fucking tell her?" Govek's question slipped out before his mind had even caught up with him.

"What are you on about?" Karthoc shut the lid of the trunk by the bathroom door. It sat askew from a broken hinge .

"Evythiken," Govek said, hardly able to get the name out without rage tainting it. "He should have fucking warned her about what she would see. He said he'd felt death. He had to know it was hers he felt."

"Would you have let her do it if he had?"

Govek clenched his jaw. "I never should have let her do it at all."

"Govek," Karthoc said low and slow. "Let me impart some wisdom that I have gained from deep loss. If you try to force your mate into anything , you will lose her. If you fight against her, she will have no choice but to flee. Evythiken did not tell you because he knew if you fought Miranda on this, you would lose her. Forever. She would never forgive you for stopping her from doing what she was meant to do."

"But I lost her anyway." Govek's voice broke. "At least if she was furious, I would still have her."

"You do have her, Govek. And one day, soon, I am certain she will wake. You will be stronger for it. And let me tell you that a mate who feels nothing but fury and hate toward you is not having her. It is only agony. Worse agony than you feel now ."

Govek turned to his cousin and finally looked at him. He found Karthoc gaunt and tense. His bloodshot eyes focused out the window. His jaw set tight.

His cousin was right. He was living firsthand what it was like to lose a mate from mistreatment. Govek could not fathom what it might be like to have Miranda alive, well, caring for his babe, and refusing to let him get near. Choosing to reject him.

Govek went to Miranda's side and took her hand again. He collapsed to his knees and nuzzled his cheek into her palm. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend she was caressing him on her own. "Viravia has not... relented?"

He heard Karthoc swallow. "No." His heavy sigh flooded the room. "I can only pray that the Fades will show me the way to earn her forgiveness. That they will light the path back to her heart."

Govek nodded, still cupping Miranda's hand to his face.

"I should go," Karthoc said, "Return to the healer's?—"

Stomping sounded as a male burst into the room, came to the bedroom door.

Brovdir stormed into the room, gasping. His panicked eyes landed on Karthoc. "She's gone!"

"What?" Karthoc's voice was a rough whisper.

"Ovinia— Viravia has gone!"

"Where?" Karthoc rushed to the door.

"We don't know! She masked her scent," Brovdir said as he followed his brother out.

Govek remained in the silence, still reeling from this. His exhausted mind could hardly keep up with what had transpired.

He looked down at Miranda's form. Her sleeping form. She was not dead.

He gave into the urge he had been resisting all this time and climbed into the bed with her, curling his body around hers.

Fuck, she was warm. Her heat soaked into him, and he squeezed his eyes shut tight. He imagined she wasn't limp. That her mind wasn't far away from him now.

He whispered, "I love you, Miranda. Please, wake up."

She didn't stir as he rubbed his cheek against the top of her head, her soft hair. "Please, wake. Come back to me."

He'd done this before, called her back from her nightmares. Her delusions. He used those words now. "You are here. With me. In the Rove Woods."

He felt a twitch.

His eyes burst open, and he examined her close. She was still limp. Still unmoving. But he was certain she'd just tensed. He was sure.

He curled around her again. "You are with me. In Rove Wood Clan. You are not on Earth. You are not in a vent."

Her eyes fluttered.

His heart pounded in his ears.

"Miranda." He cupped her face. "Miranda, come to me. Come back to me. Open your eyes, please ."

Her eyes fluttered open.

He exhaled so hard his lungs felt deflated.

Her body stretched. A smile worked onto her face as Govek collapsed.

"I was having the best dream," Miranda said, her voice husky, her face cuddling into his chest. "But this is so much better."

"You've—you've been—" She was awake . She was fucking awake. She'd come back to him.

Miranda jerked up then, looked at him, placed her palms on his cheeks so she could brush his tears away with her thumbs. Her brows were furrowed with concern. "Oh, Govek. What's going on? Are you sick?"

"You were gone for four days."

Her eyes widened, and he collapsed, sobbing into her chest, riding out the storm against her. He released every drop of tension and fear and doubt he'd held inside him for far too long.

"It's okay," she murmured against the top of his head. "I'm okay. "

He could not get control of himself. He needed to feel her. Absorb her. Be one with her. He leaned in and collided his lips with hers, drinking her down.

She met him eagerly, delving her tongue into his mouth first, humming with pleasure. She pushed her hands under his shirt and stroked her fingertips down his chest.

Fuck, it had been far too long, but now was not the time. He forced himself to push her hands away. He gently stroked her hair, looking deep into her eyes. Those gorgeous, hazelnut eyes. Finally seeing them.

" Fuck ," he managed as his throat closed again. He didn't want to even blink the tears away. "I thought I'd lost you."

"I'm sorry," Miranda said, her own eyes filling with tears. He brushed them away with his thumbs. She'd woken up smiling, and now he was making her cry. "I'm sorry. I remember now... the dredging and... and..."

"I know." He nuzzled her face, kissed her forehead, wrapped his arms around her so he could rock her. "I know. Evythiken told me all of it."

"Oh god," Miranda whispered. "That was... I didn't think it would be like that. "

"I know."

"I didn't think." She gulped, tightened her grip around him. "There... really was nothing I could have done."

His chest lightened, and he looked into her eyes again. He stroked her hair back from her face, her tears off her cheeks.

She trembled. "I... died with everyone. We all did. Together. I couldn't have saved them." Her voice cut off in a sob and Govek wrapped her up tight. "I couldn't have. And it was instant . No pain. Just gone. It was the healing they did that hurt..."

Fuck! They'd hurt her?

And they had used his mate badly.

How should he address them now?

"Fuck them to the depths," he seethed between clenched teeth and Miranda tensed, moving in closer. Held him until her sobs died away.

Miranda cupped his face. Her beautiful eyes soaked into his soul. He relished her. Cherished the feel of her body pressed to him.

"Govek, even though it hurt, I'm so glad they did it."

His breath caught in his throat.

She stroked his cheeks tenderly, down to his tusks. She eased his turmoil with memories of that first time she'd touched him. Examined him. That first taste of being caressed with tenderness.

"They brought me back, Govek. And it was unnatural. It went against the clockwork of time. It fractured my mind because of how unbelievable it was to me, but they didn't kill me," she whispered. "Humans did. We killed our own planet, Govek. We brought about our own destruction."

He shuddered, pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm so sorry, Miranda. I wish I could take away that pain. I wish you never had to endure that death."

"I don't."

He blinked and Miranda smiled into his face. Her gaze softened as she stroked him again. "Govek, I don't wish that for a second, because that death brought me here. To this world that needs saving."

Govek wetted his lips. "Evythiken... I forced the truths out of him and wrote them down for you. So that you don't have to see him to know what lies ahead for this world. For Faeda."

He didn't want her to see him. He didn't want that male anywhere near her.

But he would allow it if she wanted it.

"Thank you so much," Miranda said. "But that's not the most important thing now. That task is for him. My job for Faeda is done. And it was a horror, but it's brought me here"—she stroked down his face again—"to you."

She forced him to look at her. Take in the gravity of her words. The sincerity. "I would endure a thousand deaths like that if it meant getting to meet you again. Getting to call you my mate. Just as you said you would go through a thousand hardships."

She broke down, her eyes flooding with tears. "I'm so grateful to them, Govek. I'm so sad that Earth is gone, but so, so grateful I've been given a second chance. I swear I'm going to make the most of it. I won't take it for granted for even a second."

Govek crushed her to him. His lips found hers again. He couldn't bear to hear her cry for another moment. For the rest of her life, he would do everything in his power to keep the tears from her eyes. To ensure happiness was the only thing she ever felt again.

"I love you, Govek," she said, and he felt that love in every part of his being, soaking into his soul.

The Fades had given him this. This joy. This love. They'd saved this woman and brought her to him. He wasn't sure a lifetime of reverence would be enough to thank them.

But one thing he did know, he would cherish their gift—his mate, Miranda—with every fiber of his being .

And then Miranda made him the promise she couldn't so many days ago.

She looked into his eyes, soaking him with her love and light.

"I vow to you, Govek, I will be with you for the rest of our lives."