One moment that is important to chapter 4, at least to me, is her newly cemented relationship with Trakas. Chapter 2 ended with them going their separate ways, Chapter 3 saw them go through rocky times, but Jason and I both decided that they would be together at the start of Chapter 4. But anyone can tell you, unpacking what has been at times a tempestuous romance can be tricky.
I wrote and rewrote this a few times, yet I am happy with it. The part of me that is Zarnian is thrilled and this makes me anxious to start Chapter 4.
So here it is, a story snippet with Zarnian and Trakas, a few days after Kalak's death.
*****
She
felt his presence before she heard even the softest of his footfalls. His scent
and presence were familiar to her, so she did not move from her place as she
tried to arrange things in her new room in Tyr. Then, she felt his arms around
her. A flood of comfort tinged with guilt stabbed through her all at once. “Zarnian,”
he whispered as he buried his face in her neck. She turned to see him now.
Trakas had not recovered from his ordeal in Kalak’s chambers over the last few
days. His skin still hung on him like beggar’s rags and the dark circles under
his eyes made his face appear as haunted as her soul felt. Seeing him like his,
some of the pain of Malik’s death leeched from her bones. She hugged him with
her one working arm, holding him against her. For long moments, they said
nothing, just holding each other until finally Trakas confessed, “You were all
I thought about while I was in the chamber. You kept me going. Just thinking
about killing Kalak and being with you, raising the kids, being a family.”
Her
confused feelings over Malik wrenched her soul. She loved Trakas but she had
loved Malik, too. Malik had rejected her twice before he died. Why? He wanted
her to be happy, to build a life without him. It was what gave him hope. Trakas
had hurt her to the core, but he hadn’t meant to. He probably felt he had no
choice. The druid’s smell swept over her, the way his heart beat against her
skin, the way he gently touched the base of her neck. If she said she would try
again for this third time, it had to be permanent, no regrets, nothing held
back. “Trakas, right before the fight, I kissed Malik.”
He
gently positioned her good shoulder so he could look her in the eye. “I don’t
care,” he divulged with a trace of his old mischievous twinkle in his own green
eyes. “I don’t care what happened yesterday or before this minute, with either
one of us. All I care about is the two of us, here, now. Zarnian,” he paused
for just a moment as he gazed into her eyes, “I love you.”
Zarnian
released a breath that she didn’t even know she had been holding for the last three
years and with it allowed all the old hurt to flow out. She didn’t say the
words this moment, instead saying them with a lingering kiss. She’d tell him
how much she loved him and wanted a life with him, but later, when they didn’t
sound mimicked. For now, she would just enjoy this moment.
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