Some days later...

Sunlight threads over my eyes like needles pricking the inside of my closed lids. I turn my head into the pillow and freeze. My body feels heavy and hollow, but it's the scent that disables me, Caleb's scent of sandalwood and rain. I haul in a deep, slow breath, wanting to absorb every iota of him into every particle of me, wishing his smell would swath my bones like an embrace. But I don't have to wish for him to hold me again. I don't have to dream for the day we can love each freely anymore. Blinking open, a broken chuckle escapes me as his room comes to view. I have a second chance now, to live life and not allow darkness to take the good away.

"Morning, sunshine."

I turn my head and regret it instantly. The room wobbles around me, though beneath me, everything is still.

"There, there." Aunt Sabana holds my head steady, somehow knowing that stability is just what I need. By and by, the room stops spinning and her five faces become one. Her eyes are bloodshot and she's aged since the last time I saw her. She's much thinner, and her skin seems to hang from her bones. I know it's due to worry over me, and it hurts that I put her through so much pain, but nothing compared to how much I know she hurt in thinking I was dead all these weeks.

"How are you feeling?" She attempts a smile, but tears fill her eyes. She strokes my face over and over, and where before I would have shrugged it off, feeling too grown to accept her motherly affection, I lay still and let her dote. Her weathered hands against my face are heaven.

I slip my hand over hers and smile, though the image of her pixelates behind my tears. "I'm fine."

She nods and takes to smoothing down my hair. "I'm sorry," she says through a light laugh. "I can't help it. I thought you were gone..."

The tears she was holding back brim and spill freely. She folds over me, her frame wracking with each sob. For a minute, she hugs me so tight, I can't breathe. She peels back. "Why didn't you call for me? I'm old, but I could have helped you..."

I laugh through my tears. "You're not old, auntie. It was safer if everyone thought I was dead. There were people after us, and I didn't want them to hurt you."

She shakes her head, and though I know she still wishes I would have reached out to her, she sighs resignedly. "I suppose. I still can't believe Mage Edwards did what he did. We trusted him, invited him into our home... I pride myself on reading people, but he fooled me."

Remembering Caleb's pained stare when he killed him, my heart strums. "He fooled all of us."

"But what more could he want? His nephew was going to be our ruler. He would have always had a place among our people."

"That was it. He didn't want a place. He wanted it all, and found an ally in the Darkness."

"Living darkness..." she repeats. "That vision you had sure turned out to be something, huh?" This time she smiles and small crinkles mark the sides of her eyes. "Magic knew to trust you. You brought light to those who needed it, as a Magic should do. But you not only brought it to one man, you brought it to an entire race. The things they said you did... I'm so proud of you, Aramina."

Her eyes brim again, but she wipes the new tears with her hooded sleeves. "But enough of my tears. I'll have time to cry and fuss over you now that I'm not letting you out of my sight. I suppose I can let that boy of yours in now. Well, the other boy of yours."

"Other boy?" Memories wash over me like a tidal wave, and my chest tightens. I knew Caleb was here. It's his room after all, but... "Roane is here? He's okay?"

She nods, and squeezing my hands, she stands. I'm happy to be sitting. The relief at knowing Roane is alive numbs my limbs.

"Should I have him come in? I ordered Caleb to get some rest. He's been sitting at this chair for the week you've been out. Didn't sleep, didn't eat. Roane's been in and out, traveling between the realms, but he got back today."

I want to say something, but my throat swells and I can't. Thankfully, I don't need to. Aunt Sabana smiles and nods. "I'll tell him you're awake."

The minute she walks out of the room to the moment there is a light rap against the door feels like an eternity. I reach for a glass of water on the nightstand and take a sip, my throat suddenly dry. My heart grows warm at seeing Arrow at my bedside, the gold engravings on the blade glinting in the light.

"Come in," I say, my voice a low rasp. I don't know why I'm so nervous, but when the door groans open, I bite my nails into the sheets.

Roane peeks his head into the room, and the knot in my stomach jams into my throat. Entering, he closes the door behind him. Silence stretches between us for a minute that's much too long, but my throat is still tight and I can't get any words out.

"How are you?" His voice is low and deep and rumbles in the room.

I nod. "Good. How are you? How's..." I motion to the area where I stabbed him.

It's him who nods now. "Good, healed."

Silence.

It sucks that we're so odd with each other, and I wish we had the same ease that carried us through the insanity that was the past few weeks, but we're not Sharing anymore, and that uncertainty looms between us. As does the memory of our kiss... at least it does for me.

He walks closer and sits at the chair next to the bed. Leaning forward, he laces his fingers between his knees and deflates with a sigh. "Thank you," he says, his gaze focused down on his hands. "I thought I was strong enough, but obviously I wasn't, and you saved me. You saved my people..."

I reach out and touch his hands. "Don't. It's not a matter of strength. You only just left the Nether. All of your memories had been of pain, guilt, and loss. The kindness shown you was new, but Darkness has existed since before either one of us. You held her off long enough. We defeated her together." I smile. "Besides, I never would have figured it out if it hadn't it been for you."

His brows furrow. "Why? What did I do?"

I settle back against the pillows. "You said darkness will take away everything if I let it. If I let it. Well, that meant I had the power to let her come or tell her to go, and that's what I did. As long as I feared her or was ashamed of who I was, I gave her power over me. So, I took it back. I stopped fearing her. I didn't let her take away my pride or my love. When I no longer feared her, she was powerless against me. "

He looks at me for a moment. A slow smile breaks his pause. "You never cease to amaze me, human."

I arch a brow. "I'm full of surprises, elf."

We laugh, our hackles filling the room around us. It's a nice sound.

Our eyes meet, and slowly our laughs wither to mirroring smiles as though we're trying to absorb every wave of our mirth echoing in the air. Silence finds us once more, but this one is loud and I lower my face away.

"So, what happens now?" I ask, filling the deafening void."What happens to your people?"

"We start again. We're free from the darkness now, all of us. Even the ones that had taken on the Darkness have started to change back. Finvarra has sent convoys to help lead our people out of the Nether. So has Caleb. The Dead Lands are overgrown and wild, but we'll make it work. Anything is better than that darkness." He sighs heavily. "The other realms have sent help as well, though I think it's to protect Forever. They don't trust us yet."

"They will. It takes time, and we've all been divided for so long. But you have Caleb's support and Finvarra's. Like you said, it's a start. It won't take them long to see that they can trust you. I know it won't."

"I hope so. I won't let darkness ruin us again. I've sent out my sentries throughout the provinces to make sure none of the minor kings decide to give Darkness a home. If they do, it will have been a willing choice and they will be removed."

I can't help the small smile that touches my lips.

"What?" Roane asks.

I shrug. "Your tone is very...regal."

A faint blush touches his cheeks.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're going to be a great king, Roane. You are a great king. Your people are lucky to have you as the one leading them out of the darkness."

He looks at me. "Just as I was lucky to have you leading me out of mine."

He says this, and I pause, the weight of his words hitting me all at once. In the end, I kept him from the darkness my vision warned me about. I did it. I completed my charge.

"How did you know it would work?" he asks through my thoughts.

"I didn't."

"You sacrificed yourself for my people. I'll always be indebted to you, Aramina." Reaching over, he brushes a strand of hair that's clung to my lip. It's a gentle touch that tightens at my core, but much less than when we were Sharing. "He's lucky to have you."

I smile as he shifts back and stands. "I like to think he is."

His eyes dip to my lips, and then brown eyes meet mine. "I should get back. Get some rest, okay?"

Turning, he walks to the door.

"Roane, wait." I untangle myself and toss aside the blankets. My legs are sore and my body heavy, but I push through and stumble to meet him by the door. "In the time we spent together, I realized that you were right all along. Darkness will take away things if we let it, and that's why we can't leave any place for it to grow. Like us, right here, right now. I don't want us to be this. We're more than this. More than awkward silences and formalities, and... just more. We've shared magic and danger, and I know things happened between us, and we crossed certain lines that maybe we weren't ready to, but I would hate if that changed what we had before, you know, the kiss." I lower my eyes away. "Sharing aside, I do care for you, and I want you to know that. I'll always be here for you." I shrug. "That was all..." My voice breaks.

He lifts a hand to my cheek and encourages my face to his. "And I'll always be here for you..."

Before another word, I bring him into his arms, holding him as he holds me. And I feel him, safe and sound. 

He peels away first and presses a kiss at my temple. "Besides," he says, brushing away a strand of hair from the side of my lips. "I don't think Caleb can keep the spiders quite like I can."

My eyes water, and I laugh. It's nice to have something of us back, even if we have to start all over.

"I'll see you soon." Trailing his fingers along my jaw one last time, he nods, walks out, and closes the door behind him.

I pace away from the door when it groans open behind me.

"No, I didn't see any spiders yet," I say and turn expecting Roane, yet freeze when I lock eyes with Caleb. He stands at the threshold alone, a disheveled mess. A beautiful mess. My beautiful, disheveled mess.

"Hi," he says, though barely makes a sound.

He enters and closes the door behind him, the small click too loud a noise between us. He stands still and I tense, not knowing what to do, what to expect. It's Caleb. My Caleb. My second chance stands mere feet away from me, and yet the prospect of what's to come leaves me struggling for a breath. I feel like a fool standing here, plucking the fabric of my sweatshirt between my fingers while I stare at him, but I can't help it. Being here with him brings back everything I ever felt for him, multiplied by a thousand and thrown into a cauldron to boil. But after that night in the forest where he let me go, thinking I wanted to be with Roane, where do we stand? Do we still stand?

He clears his throat. "You're up. I...I would have been here sooner, but Aunt Sabana—"

"I know. She told me." I motion to the chair in the corner. "Probably not the most comfortable place to sleep..."

"I just wanted to be here if you needed anything, but yeah, not too comfortable." He chuckles and the curve of his lips clutches at my chest and tears fill my eyes.

"What's wrong, Ro?"

The tears spill onto my cheeks. He's before me in an instant and brushes the tears away. "Does something hurt?"

I take a moment, relishing the feel of his hand cradled at my neck as he grazes his thumb along my cheek with the other. "I missed your smile," I say. 

He looks at me a moment as though digesting my words, then lowers his head, but not before I can see the pain flashing across his stare. "Yeah, well, I've missed having you make me smile."

Those words hurt, but I nod, accepting that throughout everything that's happened, he's hurt too. "I know." I smooth a hand onto his cheek and trail my eyes along him. "I'm so sorry."

He slips his hand onto mine and lowers it from his face. Holding it between us, he stares down at our tangled fingers. "It's okay. I shouldn't have said it." He releases my hand, his brow dipped as though it hurts him to let go. "I'm just happy you're okay. For a minute there, I didn't know if you'd make it out of that cloud. I couldn't see you through it, and didn't know what I would've done if that darkness had consumed you."

"You would have done what you had to do to save our people. The same you did with your Uncle..."

He stiffens at this and instantly feels lifetimes away. He walks to the window seat, and sitting says nothing.

"You don't blame yourself for this, do you?" I ask, knowing he does.

"I killed him, Ro. I still can't believe he was a part of all of this, but he was my father's brother." He shrugs. "I had to do it, but I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for what I did. All I can hope is that I've avenged all the non-magics who lost their lives in some way and given their families some closure. Maybe now my mother can rest in peace."

"You can't blame yourself, Caleb. Your mother went into the Nether because of him, and through him, every realm would have fallen. I saw Darkness's plan. With a human body, she was going to destroy every realm without mercy."

He nods, but still won't look at me. "I know, but it just hurts. He was the only family I had left."

His words tear at my insides. I near him and tip his face to meet mine.  I trail a hand along his jaw, his stubble tickling my fingertips. "You're wrong."

A half smile touches his lips and he lowers his face away from my touch. "I didn't say it so you'd pity me, Ro. You have Roane now, and--"

I slip a finger onto his lips and silence him. "Like I said, you're wrong."

His brows furrow slightly.

Lowering my hand, I confess, "Roane and I had been Sharing for weeks, especially after he engrained the blade within me. And I know you let me go because you thought it was him I wanted. But even in the midst of our heaviest Sharing, I thought of you. Even after you let me go, I missed you and mourned us..."

I brave the heartache of his rejection. The heartache of maybe hearing that after I left with Roane, he chose to be with Vale. That he can't forgive me for betraying him with Roane. I brave all of this and confess to him openly.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is I love you, Caleb, and I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough to see through the effects of Sharing to what was in front of me, to what's always been in front of me, unwavering. I don't want Roane. I don't want your Uncle to be the last of your family." A knot tightens in my throat and my heart pounds in my ears. But it doesn't stop me from walking to the bedside, picking up Arrow, and presenting it to him.

"What are you saying?" His voice breaks on the last word.

"I want... Can I be your family?"

He looks at me as if expecting to wake up and find this has all been a dream. He hauls in a deep breath and slips the dagger from my hand, testing this reality. My knees threaten to give out beneath me, but I force myself still as he slides the cool metal between my skin and the thread. One slight tug and my heartstring is free. One nick at his, and his wrist is also bare. Setting aside the dagger, he then ties each end together and holds it at his palm.

He stands and we face one another. Sunlight filters through the window, bathing us and the room in gold.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Ro?" His hand hovers near my face, but he's afraid to touch me. Afraid to have his heart broken once more.

I lean into his touch and chase away this fear. "Say the vows."

"We have entered into this binding with willing hearts, souls, and magic. Heart to heart, soul to soul, love to love."

I pause. "I thought it was Magic to Magic."

"It was, but Roane told me that you said we needed to be more than magic." He smiles. "We finally are."

Tears spill from my eyes, and for the first time, Caleb doesn't wipe them away.

I nod. "Heart to heart, soul to soul, love to love."

A white flame flares at his palm. In the light, the threads of our promise weave above the flame like smoke. They tie together and burn our vows into existence. The fire dies and nothing remains in his hands, the last of our darkness dispelled.

With a hand cradling the back of my neck, he meets my lips. The kiss is slow and hesitant as if it's our first kiss. In a way it is. We've finally found our way to one another. We're finally whole. Two years of denied passion burn to a blinding flame, and we stumble, trip and topple our way back to bed. And under that flame, we rediscover one another and our love that will sustain us from the Otherworld, the Nether, and Forever.

Thank you so, so, so much for reading. This story was something I wrote for myself and never really thought to share it, but I'm glad I did. I hope you enjoyed Aramina's story into finding her own magic.  

Anyway, again, thank you for those who stuck by the story despite how long it's taken us to get to the end lol I love you dearly, always and Forever.