Luminous

6 - Homecoming

As the party trooped drowsily from the woods to their carriages that evening, Zier strode resolutely toward Meya, sank to both knees, and asked for her forgiveness.

Meya knelt and held him as he sobbed. She didn't begrudge him in the least. Poor lad was simply in denial over his brother's fate, clinging to every last shred of hope in sight.

There remained a score she must settle with said brother, however. Thus, as Coris jostled his reins, spurring their horses to a trot on the road back to Amplevale Fortress, Meya made a good show of slumping in relief against the wagon's wall, then bolting upright with a flash of remembrance.

"Say, Lexi, so did you get a word in with Old Angus that time?"

Ever the master liar, Coris maintained his rhythm on the reins as if he were deaf to her. His brain was whirring under his impassive mask, however, and he finally dipped his head with a sigh under Meya's scrutiny.

"She told you?" he said, his voice quiet.

Meya sighed at her childish attempt to bait out his confession. She nodded glumly, kicking her feet against the board between them and the horses' manure chute, feeling Coris's stare on her cheek.

"You're not... furious?" he braved at last.

Meya shook her head. "No, I know you'll tell me once the babies are out."

"Do you?"

Meya froze and whipped around, and her eyes widened at the dread and guilt she found in those wavering silvery eyes.

Again? This again?

She whirled away as her rising temper threatened to overwhelm her restraint, her clenched fists trembling.

"Now you're making me angry."

"Meya—"

"For Freda's sake, Corien!" Meya exploded, slamming her fist so hard on her seat, the mares jolted and whinnied in fright. "You think I'm gunna leave you? Or you hoped?"

She spun back with a glower. Coris shrank away like a wilting flower.

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

Meya's heart writhed with sorrow at the sight. Learning the cruel secret behind his birth, his mother's actions, had torn a yawning gash in Coris's soul that bled anew each time Meya herself abandoned him, that left him forever striving to prove to himself he deserved love. A futile endeavor, as he was his own greatest skeptic.

Meya slipped her arms around his waist and kissed the curve of his neck. She felt his sides rise and fall with each stuttering breath, which eased as the heat from her lips spread through him. She rested her head on his bony shoulder.

"Are you scared?" she murmured.

Coris eked out a feeble chuckle that fooled no one.

"As any man would be of death, I reckon." He shrugged. "As any father would be of leaving his son to grow up without him, but I know I also have among the best chances a man could hope for of seeing old age. I have the best healers at my disposal, all the food and rest and fresh air I need. I daresay I have far better odds than a healthy Greeneye peasant, in fact. I have no reason nor any right to fear—"

"You have both, and you dun need neither to," Meya struck down his unnerving, long-winded attempt to put his own emotions on trial.

Coris said no more, accepting defeat. Meya rubbed his hand with her thumb as she held it, comforting him with her warmth, her vow to never again leave his side. At last, he broke the silence.