and he felt those words in the very pit of his soul. “All we can do is get her to Averne, and to her father. The healers there may yet be able to help.”
Irian’s visage soured even further, then broad shoulders sagged. “She is weary, she tells Aryn. Too weary and inside she is riddled with cracks and broken edges. And she tells him not to ask her to fight. How do we handle that?”
Jaren looked back at Aryn, understanding how the man’s pain had somehow pierced the psychic plain as it had moment ago.
“We find a way to fight for her. Or…” He felt his own heart crack and knew if she died, there would forever be broken edges inside him, for failing her. “We let her go, so she can find peace.”
Irian’s eyes blazed with denial and yards away, though he shouldn’t have been able to hear, Aryn’s shoulders jerked.
* * * * *
As the others slept, Irian drifted.
He let memories pull him back, centuries and centuries, until he was once more staring into dark sloe-eyes as he thrust deep within a woman’s body, loving the hot, wet clasp of her around his cock, but loving her smile, her laughter, her even more.
Her name had been Fael. They’d grown up together. He had loved her with all his heart and soul.
He’d never told her, though. They had both been Jiupsu but while he’d been born to a family whose line had been rich with magic, Fael had been mortal through and through.
Like his stubborn brother-in-soul, Aryn, Irian, too, had refused to bind himself to a woman. But while aryn had refused because he’d sensed how Tyriel’s power would keep her alive far after he had left the earth, Irian had refused to give his heart to a woman he’d felt was less than his equal.
She would have died and Irian had been the one who would linger in his prime for decades after she faded, perhaps even for a century or two before his strength started to wane.
She’d live a mortal’s normal lifespan and then be gone from the world. The thought of it had stricken him his very soul and he never told her of his love.
When she offered him her heart, he brushed away her love, offering suerta instead of a binding. They’d have a year together, he’d told her and then he’d give her a bridal package and help her secure a husband.
She’d smiled but refused.
A season after he turned her away, she’d died while traveling to accept the marriage offer of another warrior who lived on the far side of Jiupsu lands, several weeks travel from their home clan…where he’d likely never seen her again.
He’d been both relieved and enraged when he’d heard the news she’d left.
But only a day after they’d set off, one of the escort guards had sent his hawk back to the clan’s heart, clutching a red sash, a signal all recognized.
They were under attack.
The raiders had been cunning and sly, killing the guards from afar, planning to take the four would-be brides outland to barter off. But they’d been ignorant of the Jiupsu as many were, thinking only the men could weld magic. One of the women had been a firestarter and the other caused the earth to shudder and shake.
They held their attackers off for a time.
But they were only four and even trained with weapons as most Jiupsu were, they were young. One of the raiders took Mele, the firestarter, out. Then it was a matter of overwhelming the last three women.
By the time Irian found her, her spirit had been broken, her body bruised, torn and bleeding inside, death slowly laying its hold over her.
He had robbed them of decades together and he hadn’t realized it until they were left with mere moments, her spirit was drifting further and further away.
But she’d still smiled up at him as he lifted her gently into his arms.
“My warrior. My Irian. Did you fight well?”
“Fael, I’m sorry.”
“Shh, you did not do this to me.” A hoarse cough racked her, blood flecking her lips. “The men who did…are they gone?”
“Even now they are being run to the ground.” If any escaped the plains, Irian would track them down, one by one, and feed them their own livers before he ended their lives. “None will live long enough to dare harm another woman ever again.”
“Then it is good. And I get to see you again. One more time. I love you,