Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Seventy-SixSage

Chapter Seventy-Six

Sage

“ W here to?” Dean asked, holding my hands between us.

I shrugged. “Somewhere here?”

A small smile grew on his face and he shook his head. “No, it should be somewhere special. Somewhere you’ve never been before.”

I tried to think, but nowhere came to mind. “I’ve been to all three Madierian Kingdoms now,” I shrugged and Dean snorted.

“Battle does not count.”

I pursed my lips. “Vasier kept me on the island from the moment he brought me there.”

Dean nodded, then tilted his head. “Where are you from?”

I swallowed. “A small village outside of Vestaria.”

Dean raised a hand and ran a thumb over my cheek. “Where do you want to go?”

I thought of the snowcapped mountains of Correnti, the coast of Merwinan, and the sprawling streets of Neomaeros filled with shops. They all sounded fun, but right now, they were covered in blood and weren’t where I wanted to spend my last day with my magic.

“I want to go somewhere with greenery,” I whispered. “With grass, and flowers, and trees.”

Something flashed in Dean’s eyes, and he cocked his brow. “If something happens, how quickly can you open that portal to get us out?”

My heart rate increased as I straightened, my interest piqued.

“In a breath.”

He smiled, and nodded.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, taking a step back to give me room for a portal, one hand clasped in mine and hanging in the distance between us.

I nodded. “Of course.”

I opened the portal, and made sure to practice my land-stilling while I was at it, and turned to him.

“You have to picture it, for me to portal us there.”

He nodded and closed his eyes. I held my hand over the portal and watched as the ground shifted from a deep black to a soft green.

“Ready?” I asked, and he nodded.

We held hands as we stepped through, and my feet landed with a soft thud.

I squinted my eyes, needing to adjust from the shade of the loft to the bright light of the sun all around us.

There was green, as far as the eye could see. Grasses, as tall as my shin, swayed around us. And in between them all, splashes of color. Some purple, others white, and yellow.

Wildflowers.

I spun around, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the sun so I didn’t have to squint, and turned to look for a building, a kingdom, or any other sign of life.

But there wasn’t one.

Dean’s hand found mine again, and he gently squeezed it.

“Do you like it?” he whispered in my ear.

I turned to look up at him. “Yes,” I breathed. “Where are we?” I looked out over the grass as a wind combed through it, sending a wave past us, and down through the rolling hills I could see in the distance. “Are we even in Brassillion?”

Dean looked out over the horizon, too, and I saw a twinkle of sadness in his eyes.

“This is Widow Maker Plains,” he said softly, and I gasped.

To hear the name of a place that I had only ever known to mean destruction, and then to see the beauty and peace around me, the two didn’t link together in my mind.

“It is?” I asked and spun again. “The Vasi in Mortithev had always said how ugly it was. How death-ridden and destroyed.”

Dean nodded. “It was. For hundreds of years, Vasier brought battle here. But the last one was so long ago, now.” He reached down to run a flattened hand over the top of the grass. “The land has finally started to heal.”

I strode forward, felt the way the grass tickled my legs even through the pants and boots I wore.

“I’d never thought about what it could look like untouched,” I said, bemused. “Especially with a name like that.”

Dean followed behind me, and I felt him reach up to playfully tug the end of my hair.

“The humans named it that. Each time they’d stumbled upon the land, it was war-torn. Blood and bodies, everywhere. They didn’t understand what was happening, or who was fighting—unless they were one of the ruling families who knew of the Kova and Vasi—so they deemed the land cursed. Named it for what they thought it held the power to do, and kept away.”

He bent down and plucked a single white flower from the land below us, and raised to tuck it behind my ear.

I smiled up at him, and held my own hand up in front of the flower. His smile widened as the blossom did the same.

“Aren’t you going to miss that?” he whispered, brows furrowing.

My face fell, and I spun away from him to keep walking.

“I didn’t come here for you to try to talk me out of it. You said one more day of humanity and my magic, not another lecture.”

He caught up to me. “It would be irresponsible if I didn’t tell you the reality of it all, though.” He waved a hand. “Forget about the magic portion of it, considering it seems like you already have. But what about the purely Kova part?”

I shook my head and continued to walk, casting my hands out at my sides, and grazing the petals of the flowers I called to grow up to my hips.

“It doesn’t matter, Dean. Nothing could be worse than losing my magic,” a lurch of pain went through my heart at that, and the flowers reaching up to kiss my fingertips only accentuated it. “And I’m prepared for that.”

I saw his head shake from my peripheral.

“Your lifespan will be longer. Have you considered that? Someday, and it’ll come faster than you could even prepare for, every mortal you’ve ever known—loved—will be dead.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was sad, or demented, that I snorted at that, and then felt the immediate feeling of regret down the bond as Dean must have realized what he said.

“I never knew my real father,” I said, raising my hands to tick each item off on my fingers. “My mother might be dead, what I had with Lauden was never real,” Dean tensed at that. “And Evaline—the only other mortal I care about—well, time will tell since she is mated to a Kova, too.”

Dean sighed and I thought he’d let me walk and play with my magic in peace, but hardly a moment passed before he spoke again.

“Have you thought about what you’ll have to consume, to survive?”

My feet stopped below me.

I had thought about that, I had just chosen not to continue thinking about it.

Dean stepped in front of me to face me, and crossed his arms.

“Besides losing your magic, it’ll be the biggest change. Do you even know how feeding works on the island? Or considered whether you’ll be comfortable compelling someone to feed after undoubtedly seeing Vasi, and Vasier, in Mortithev compel humans? And bleed them dry?”

I looked up at him, and crossed my own arms.

“I get it, okay? I understand that you’re trying to prepare me. And yes, I know it’ll be a huge change. But if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been going through a lot of that lately, so just add this onto the list,” I hissed and then rounded his shoulder to continue walking past him.

Again, Dean caught up with me. And as he took in a deep breath I steeled myself for his next point of contention, but instead, he sighed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he whispered. “No matter what you decide, I will help you through it all. Through feeding off of the human volunteers in Rominia, or how to find and compel humans in Brassillion, or wherever else we go.”

My heart did another lurch, but this time it was of delight at the sound of that we .

“Thank you,” I said softly.

There were a few moments of comfortable silence before he spoke.

“Now, Sage,” he said softly, taking my hand. “I think the only question left, is how do you want to spend what may potentially be the last day with your magic?”

I swallowed, and looked out over the plains.

I thought of all the times my magic had saved me. Saved me from feeling alone. And not only my ability to portal anywhere I wanted, but just my Terra magic.

The potted plants I grew in my room growing up—and then in the one I shared with Lauden when I got older. The ivy that crawled up the castle, the vine I’d made to wrap around the spindles and railing of the balcony off my room.

I thought of all the times I’d help them grow bigger, stronger. Thought of the wildflowers I’d find dying on the edge of the beaches in Mortithev after a particularly dry summer. The way I could feel their thirst, their descent into death. How I’d revive them, and when I left, saw how strong and sturdy they stood, and felt how happy and whole they were.

How in so many ways, they’d been my only family all my life.

Tears swelled in my eyes as I thought about it, and letting it all go, and I swung my face to hide it from Dean.

“I just want to feel it all,” I whispered.

And he let me.

We must’ve been there for the entire day. We walked Gods know how many miles, identified a few different types of wildflowers, and sat in the shade of a tree we finally came upon.

And when I’d lowered my hand to rest on the dirt beneath the tree, pressed my palm to it. I felt it. I felt it all. The pain of this land, how it had been torn apart over and over, and left to mend itself. I felt centuries into the past, before it had been hurt and had just been here . And I felt now, felt how it thrived and cherished and hummed in its happiness over being left alone to heal itself.

And that brought the tears on. And when it did, Dean held me. And I knew he thought they were due to the unknown, the risk I was taking, what I would lose.

But they weren’t.

They were born from the land below us. How happy and content it was to be here, well and truly and finally, alone .

And the thought had made me wonder how many times I’d both wished and dreaded the same thing.

How I wished for Vasier, for Lauden, to leave me alone. Leave my magic alone. Stop trying to force me into blood magic I could never get right, and to stop using me for my portals.

But also how I dreaded being alone. Dreaded when I’d be left to cry alone at night, or daily when I had to grow up without friends in the castle, or without a mother or a kind father in my life.

But as the sun dipped closer to the horizon, and I felt the heat of sunburn on my cheeks and nose from being out in the direct sunlight all day, I took a deep, calming breath.

Here I was, in this beautiful, healing, land. On dirt below me that felt peace and content at knowing it was safe, that it had built itself back up from being ravaged.

And I was reminded that I had done the same. Or at least, started to try.

As Dean wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me into his side, I remembered that this time, I wasn’t alone. I didn’t have to mend myself alone, anymore. He was here, and willing to help me grow back into the girl I was, who I could’ve been, before Vasier owned me.