Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

T he spider stabbing him through the chest didn't hurt Kormac as much as seeing Fionna possessed by the evil in the cave. And she'd done it to save him.

Sacrificed herself for him.

How could she ask him then to turn around and kill her?

He couldn't, but Lomar, without hesitation, did.

Seeing the knife enter her flesh caused Kormac to snap. He went after his friend, rage in his strikes that were also clumsy with grief. Fionna couldn't survive that deep of a chest wound. He'd seen too many to have any kind of hope.

Lomar tried to apologize as he kept dodging his swings. "I'm sorry. But you know it had to be done. The thing in this cave can't be allowed to escape. It was the only way."

He knew that. But just like he couldn't kill Lomar, he couldn't murder Fionna either.

Lomar finally stopped moving and knelt, bowing his head. "I'm sorry. For everything. At least I can die knowing I've saved our world."

Kormac lifted his sword, ready to deal the final blow, only to pause.

Lomar truly believed he'd done the right thing. And in a sense, he had. He'd had the strength to do what Kormac couldn't.

Killing him wouldn't bring back Fionna.

His sword tip dropped just as Lomar whispered, "What's that dark cloud?"

Kormac whirled to see Fionna barely standing, encased in a shimmering veil of red and pink against which battered a dark, undulating cloud.

"The spirit left her," he whispered. Left and now tried to get back in.

But Fionna, with that fierce determination he loved, wasn't allowing it. With her dying strength, she fought.

"What's happening to the cloud?" Lomar murmured. "Is it getting smaller?"

Kormac squinted and realized it did indeed diminish. As it reduced in size, Fionna stood taller, her pallor from blood loss reversed. Her flesh took on a healthy hue. The blood gushing from her chest didn't just slow, it stopped.

As the small cloud suddenly went to leave the cave, she followed, and so did Kormac, Lomar on his heels. They emerged and watched as Fionna appeared to grip and tear apart what remained of the spirit, rending it into tiny flecks that scattered until nothing was left.

And then she collapsed.

Kormac barely managed to catch her. He cradled her against him and pressed his face to the crown of her head. She breathed. She lived. The question was, when she woke, who would be looking out of her eyes?

Lomar cleared his throat. "We should get her to the fort. There are medical supplies there we can use."

He glared at his friend. "She wouldn't need any if you hadn't stabbed her."

"I was doing you a favor," Lomar retorted.

"By killing the woman I love?" It emerged and while it shocked, it was true. He loved Fionna. Loved his brave and incredibly stupid witch. Bargaining her life for his.

"Better than you having to do it and living with that guilt."

"I almost killed you for it," he snapped.

"You should have. What I did…" Lomar hung his head.

"Wasn't your fault." Kormac sighed. He stood with Fionna. "Help me get her over the rock fall."

Together they managed to get her over the blockage and to his waiting horse. The snow had stopped falling, leaving behind a pristine layer that glittered in the sun. Kormac mounted and Lomar handed Fionna's limp body over.

"Tomorrow, if she's recovered, we'll locate you a mount to return to the citadel."

"Where you'll execute me for my crimes." Lomar appeared resigned, even relieved of his perceived fate.

It stole Kormac's wits and words for a moment. His people would expect him to punish Lomar for his grievous acts. There was only one outcome that Kormac had been trying to avoid.

His voice emerged gruff as he said, "I hereby banish you, Lomar of Wexkord. You are not welcome in Srayth."

His friend's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you a chance."

"But why?"

"Because you could have fled when Fionna freed you but instead you came to my aid. I could not do what she asked, even as I knew it had to be done. For that, I and the world owe you our gratitude." While it was pure luck Fionna survived, it turned out Lomar had done the right thing.

"Banished…" Lomar mused the word aloud. "I've never been outside our borders."

"Now's your chance to travel. To see what the world offers."

"I know what's past the southern mountains." Lomar glanced at the rubble they'd just traversed. "But as a boy, I always wondered about the mist."

"It's a death sentence to enter there," was Kormac's harsh reminder.

"Is it that such a bad thing?" Lomar's lips twisted. "It would seem while you might be willing to forgive me, I can't."

"Try. You're a good man. Don't let what happened make you forget that."

"I'll try."

Lomar accompanied him on foot to the fort, but he didn't stay, instead insisting he start his journey of banishment. It hurt Kormac to say goodbye, but better knowing Lomar lived in exile than died by his hand.

He brought Fionna to the bed they'd lain in only hours ago. He wrapped her in the thickest blanket he could find and started a fire in the small iron stove.

He didn't leave her side for more than a few minutes, once to check on his horse which he'd once more stabled indoors and another to build another fire in the kitchen hearth to ensure no more giant spiders.

She woke up in the evening, her lashes fluttering slowly. He immediately held himself ready. He wanted to believe the malignant spirit was gone but had to be realistic. Something so powerful and tricky might have found a way to infect his beloved.

"I had the strangest dream," she murmured.

"Did it involve a spider kidnapping you, a cave, and you fighting the thing possessing people?" he drawled.

She blinked at him. "Yes. Did that all actually happen?"

He nodded.

She sat up and patted her chest, a chest he'd bathed while she rested. It still showed a red-lined scar. "How am I alive?" she murmured.

"You healed yourself."

"Which isn't usually possible," she replied. "I didn't even think it would work. I had to use Koschei's essence to do it." Upon saying that, she bounded out of bed and ran for a small mirror beside the dry wash basin.

She peered at herself so intently he asked, "What are you looking for?"

"I'm checking my eyes." She whirled. "Do they look the same as before?"

He stared and lost himself in them before he murmured, "Just as beautiful."

It didn't satisfy. She held out her arms and checked herself over, muttering, "My aura seems clear, no hint of darkness. No voice in my head." She glanced at him. "Is he really gone?"

He shrugged. "Seems to be? We saw a dark cloud disintegrate."

"We?"

"Lomar and me." He paused before adding, "I banished him."

He half expected her to chastise but she nodded. "The best possible solution to his situation."

"I couldn't kill him, although, he almost died after he stabbed you," he growled.

"His doing so saved me. Saved us all. When Koschei thought my body would perish, he tried to return to his box. But I ruined his tether to it and then wouldn't let him back in." Her lips curved into a satisfied grin. "And then I used him to fix myself which caused his hold on this world to unravel."

"Meaning he's gone for good."

"I hope so. Some of those tiny bits of threads left over from his spirit flitted off and might cause trouble but there's not enough of them I think to truly worry about."

"Then we will keep an eye open."

"If you want, I can have the queen send someone to your court to monitor visitors for traces of it."

"Why bother when I have the best witch already?"

She arched a brow. "You're assuming I'm staying."

"More like hoping. You do realize by the time we return from this journey rumors will have you pregnant with my child."

She glanced at her belly. "That might even be true."

"Wait, are you…"

She laughed. "It's too soon to tell, but I would imagine if you keep your promise about showing me pleasure, it will happen."

He dragged her into his arms. "Oh, I intend to keep that promise and more." His mouth met hers in a tender kiss.

A kiss that might have led to more, but she pushed away, grimacing. "First, I need to bathe the spider goo from my skin."

They both bathed in front of the blazing hearth in the kitchen, taking turns dragging a wet cloth across each other's skin and then following with their mouths. By the time he took her, seated on the counter, her legs wrapped around his waist, they were both flushed and panting.

She cried out when she came, nails digging into his flesh, her sex clenching even harder.

And while she'd yet to say yes, he knew in his heart he'd found his lady for life.