A Baron of Bonds (Conduit of Light #2)

62. Rev

Chapter 62

Rev

She was just wading there, waist-deep in the stream.

Her back was turned to me, her long chestnut and white hair curled, clumped and frizzy down her back as she laughed watching Parvus and Rauca swim after the stick she threw into the calm water.

She turned to me when I reached the riverbank, and her face lit into a glorious smile. Her green eyes sparkled in the late-morning sun in rendition of the glittering surface of the green-blue water.

“It’s been quite a morning, R?—”

I silenced her with a kiss, rushing through the water to her the moment she had smiled. The moment I assured my racing heart she was alive, she was well, she was still here.

I wrapped one arm around her waist, one hand at the back of her neck, and I did not let go.

If I let go, she could not be as safe as she was in my arms.

If I let go, harm could befall her, and then where would I be?

The raging, panicked man I had been thirty minutes ago when I was in the Baron trial, preparing the last few pieces?

Karus had almost died.

Within the span of a minute, I could feel her in Felgren and a moment later, she was struggling to breathe—her life fading in seconds.

Seconds .

Within seconds she would have been gone.

No waiting for her to return.

No easy seven years to get her back.

Gone.

“I’m okay. I’m alright. Rev, look at me.”

She tried to pull herself back from my arms, which just fueled my grip. I pressed her head into the curve of my shoulder and would not let go.

If I let go, she’d look at me and say something about the fact that she was still here.

She’d assure me she was fine, as if my life hadn’t just almost ended with hers.

For once, I did not want to hear her voice.

I did not want to hear her reassurance that she didn’t leave me.

I just wanted to hold her body to mine and tell myself that she never would.

That whatever power brought us together would not be so cruel as to tear us apart again.

I chose to believe that.

I chose to cling to that hand of hope and hold her just a little longer.