71

Chapter 81

I think my brain short-circuits. Or fries. 'Cause all I can register is one word.
Blue.
Blue like the sky at dusk, following a glorious sunset, the end of time.
Blue like a depthless forest pool in the midst of winter, deep and eternal.
Blue like the poison berries that bloom in the Wold in the fall, tempting to the starving passerby, luring even the most survival savvy into their deadly grasp.
I'm falling into blue.
Tumbling for forever and eternity, sinking down through the shields and the icy shells, through a cold ocean of secrets that embraces me, hides me away forever in it's grasp.
Coal's eyes are open.
I feel hands, warm hands, not icy and dead, but alive and caressing and rough, angled so the claws won't hurt me, on my back, pulling me closer- as if I need urging. With a strangled cry of joy, I fling myself down at him just as he's attempting to sit up, hugging him so tight I won't be able to let go, the side of my head pressed into his neck, as he pulls me closer, wrapping me in his warm embrace, shaking slightly, but there and warm and alive and hugging me, his muscular arms a wall of protection between me and the angry mob that doesn't even matter.
I laugh and cry and sob into his shoulder, having completely lost track of time because it doesn't matter, and all that matters is that me and Coal are both alive and safe and everything's gonna be okay. And that's what I tell him, between murmuring unintelligibly how I missed him and hate him for doing this and never to ever leave me again and that he's annoying as heck.
He doesn't speak much, or really say much at all, for that matter. For once, he just sits there without speaking, only listening, as I tell him what I did by myself and how he was almost dead and how I saved his life and that, ladies and gentle men, changes the score. He's content just to listen, his face a mixture of stunned confusion, joyous awe, and that annoying, sarcastic way he raises an eyebrow and twitches one corner of his mouth in a crooked grin that gives me chills. He listens with an expression that says he's only listening to the sound of my voice, ragged wolf ears perked casually in my direction, twitching in the rain every now and then, completely ignoring the awkward onlookers, not really caring what I say one way or another, only periodically grasping my face gently into his hands, holding my nose inches from his, and looking into my eyes as if to be sure I'm really, actually there and he isn't just dreaming, then letting me hug him again and mutter something else neither of us cares about into his bare shoulder.
Only after what feels like seconds but is probably almost a quarter of an hour, are we interrupted in our happy reunion by Glass, who loudly clears his throat.
I break away and finally release Coal from my grasp and we get to our feet, both somewhat shakily, but then he casually slides his warm, rough hand into mine, and I feel like I'm glowing with strength. What does it matter what Glass says now? We'll be fine one way or another, because we're together, and we have love. Isn't that all that matters?
The thin man awkwardly clears his throat, shadowed green eyes staring out at us from beneath heavy brows.
"Please, Ash. I'm begging you. Think about this." Glass pleads with me. I frown, giving Coal a confused side-long glance.
"About... what?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
"I-" Glass shakes his head angrily for loss of words, and his wife... what was her name? Minute? What's her name gently brushes past her husband, and hard eyes fix on me, disapprovingly darting to my hand, clasped in Coal's. "Consider your options. It's us," She gestures to the large mob behind her, "Or him." She adds, nose wrinkling as if speaking of something unpleasant. I glance up at Coal again, struggling to find anything about him that's detestable. I don't succeed. Well, you know, I kind of ignore the tiny black crown branded into his neck that mars the smooth skin. But besides that- Oh, and the bloody gashes tearing up his chest- Yeah, that's about it. Where was I?
"Make your choice, Ash." Glass steps forward again, his confidence renewed. "Him, or sanctuary. Him, or a rebellion. Him, or freedom."
I speak very quietly, but I know they all hear me, even over the sound of the rain and the wind and my heart beating out a drum roll in my chest.
"I don't see why I have to choose."
Then the world explodes.