It shattered him, all over again. Why couldn’t she be bitter, rage at him? But not his sweet, loving Fael.
“I’m so sorry, beloved.” Tears fell down his face. “I love you, my lovely lady, beautiful, strong woman.”
“My handsome warrior, I love you as well. I have always loved you and always will. We will meet again. Our souls are one, they belong together. I will…” But the final words never came. Her eyes went dark and she was gone.
And then he was on the cliff, as a massive fire raged higher and higher.
A season had passed, one season as he made sure not one raider had survived the attack that had stolen her from him.
He’d shed so much blood, it turned the earth into a viscous clay.
And not all of the blood he’d shed had come from those guilty of any crime.
It wasn’t until the heat of his rage passed that he’d come face to face with what he’d done. He’d slaughtered those who hadn’t deserve it, those who had only been guilty of knowing the men who had gone on the raiding parties.
To know a monster wasn’t a crime. Many of the people in the raider’s villages had been victims themselves.
But that hadn’t stopped him, had it?
He’d slaughtered his way through one body after another until he found answers and now that all the men were dead, he found he could no longer sleep without the blood on his hands binding him as if shackling him to the earth.
Screams woke him in the night and although he’d give anything to turn back time and undo some of his actions, he could not.
He’d planned to end his sorry existence once he’d found vengeance. But he couldn’t. His guilt, the choices he’d made, he couldn’t leave this world until the scales were balanced and it would take more than just his lifetime to make amends for the wrongs he’d done while chasing vengeance.
Asrel was primed for the ritual, the hilt wedged between two huge rocks, strong enough to take his weight.
Until the wrongs are righted… He lifted his eyes skyward, searching for the star that must hold Fael’s soul.
Our souls cannot be together, my love. My pride, my fear, it cost you your life. Then, in my rage, I took innocent lives. My actions will forever be a barrier between us, but I can’t leave this world without trying to balance the scales.
Be at peace, my love.
He’d hoped she would find peace. He would never know it. He didn’t deserve it.
Such a powerful enchantment, he’d never known its equal.
It had taken him well into the evening hours to make the preparations.
The circle of salt was as thick in width as his thigh, and the diameter was easily the span of a lodge tent. He slashed his wrist deeply with a spelled knife, one that would keep his own enchanted body from healing itself as he paced the blood circle thrice.
“Until the wrongs are righted, inside the sword I dwell.” He said the words three times as he made the circles.
Then, inside the circle of salt and blood, he rammed his body home on the blade.
As his body died, his soul was trapped inside the sword.
His final fleeting thought as the ties to his mortal coil fell away were about Fael. He’d missed out on a lifetime with her. How could he have been so foolish?
He drifted on, but this time to a place he had not traversed before. And to a face he had not seen in all the millennia that he traveled the earth—not since that night had he seen her outside of his memories.
“Fael…” he whispered hoarsely.
“Irian.” She lifted a hand. “Come…sit. It’s been ages since we shared a fire at night.”
Confused, he looked around and found they were in a lodge tent, one that bore a striking resemblance to the one he’d called home…eons ago.
Drawn to her, he crossed the thickly woven mat until he could kneel in front of her.
“So sad,” she whispered, studying him. Her husky, warm voice stroked over him like a satin caress and her inky-black curls fell over his body as she leaned down to kiss his stunned face. “You have become so sad. Love, why must you torment yourself? Have you not chained yourself to your own guilt long enough?”
“Fael? Are you really here?”
She smiled and lifted his hands to her face. “I am really here, love. Lover. My heart. This is madness, you know. Clinging to this guilt. Can you