Chapter One: Sahora
A pain hit my chest, deep and unmoving, as if a sword had just punched straight through me.
The second thing I felt was cold, and Oliver’s arms locked around me like iron.
I jerked awake underwater. My lungs should have been burning. They weren’t. I opened my eyes to a blur of silver and dark hair as Oliver swam, dragging me toward the surface.
Something inside me flipped, a sensation separate from Kathera, distinct and entirely mine.
Kathera caught hold of strings I hadn’t known I had, and my mouth curved before I meant it to. I felt her wink at him through my face.
The water tore away. Wind punched down in a roaring tunnel, yanking us up and out until the air was all around us and the world dropped.
We hovered above the waterfall, above the others; spray glittering below like shattered glass, the taste of water was still in my mouth. The smell of damp clothes and the ache of what Oliver had just sacrificed kept me from wanting to leave the false safety of the storm.
“We can come down now, Sahora.” Oliver’s voice was hoarse, strained.
“Not yet.”
The words left my mouth, and the voice wasn’t only mine.
Then I surged back into myself like a snapped tether.
Mine.
The wind answered, spiraling harder until we were spinning inside the storm I’d made.
Enjoy this moment, Kathera murmured, somewhere behind my ribs.
Something settled into me then. A feeling of not being fully myself and definitely not alone in my own skin.
“I told you not to break your oath,” I said, trying to be serious.
He met my gaze. Joy was there, relief so sharp it hurt, and something like uncertainty underneath it.
“And I told you that you don’t get to choose.” He smiled.
I laughed, ragged, disbelieving, and tugged his arms tighter around me. He didn’t hesitate. He just pulled me close like he was afraid the wind would steal me again.
He leaned in slowly, closing the last breath of space between us.
I drew in a sharp breath, like the moment before a wave crashed, and I closed that space myself. My lips found his.
He held me like an anchor while my storm surged around us, and for one suspended heartbeat, we clung to each other on top of the wind that had brought me back from death.
“Are you two ever going to come down?” Castor yelled from below.
I laughed; a real laugh that punched up from somewhere deep in my stomach.
Oliver blinked at me, still holding on as if I might vanish. “I have never heard you laugh.” His voice was a little shocked. “Why are you laughing?” His grey eyes flickered with confusion.
My voice came out rough. “Just…” I swallowed, trying to find the shape of what I meant. “Oliver, I didn’t think I’d get to have a life with you.”
His expression shifted, all the confusion draining into something softer.
“But for the first time,” I whispered, “I think whatever comes next… we should face it together.”
“Together,” he said, and the word sounded like an oath all on its own.
I breathed out, letting the storm loosen. “We should go before Castor throws a rock at us.”
Oliver huffed a laugh. “Please. I’d like some solid ground.”
Slowly, I calmed the wind, and it lowered us onto the ledge I’d just walked off of.
As I stepped onto the ledge, I felt everyone’s eyes on me.
Briar walked up slowly, her hand shaking slightly as she reached for the left side of my face. I pulled back instinctively.
“Whoa, Briar, personal space?” I leaned back, Oliver’s hand hovering near my back.
Then.
A string yanked from inside me, and suddenly I was dragged to the back of my own mind as Kathera’s voice rose through my throat. My shoulders straightened in a way that I don’t stand. My body is moving as if it is making space for someone else.
“Hi, Ma.”
