The Raven and the Wraith Book 2 (Completed!)

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 20

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 20

"Do you remember my eyes, that night back on the caravan? When you were scared of me."

Kiera nodded slowly. I could tell she didn't like to remember that, that she didn't like to think of me that way. But I had to tell her. I had to explain. I couldn't bear the idea of going through what I had with Genevieve with Kiera, too.

"Remember I told you the Cat had said "Beware the Hunger? And remember when I had almost consumed the lifeforce of every living thing?"

Kiera nodded again. Waiting.

"I hold two links inside of me. One is the link to the great Cat. The other is the link to all living things. The Hunger. I can't have one without the other. And the two of them together are what allows me to hold the Shadowfall."

"You're saying the Hunger is part of you...?"

"Yes." I was impressed that my voice was steady, when inside I felt like I was a brittle chunk of ice, with fractures appearing with every word I said.

I saw the moment Kiera fully understood what I was saying. Her face paled and her eyes...they looked at me like she was seeing a stranger.

"And it's always been part of you. Right? It's why the Cat chose you, why you ran from Genevieve. It's why you almost gave in to the Draelkin in Possum Hollow. And it's why you can't touch these red rivers of flowing Life here."

I could only nod once, my heartbeat hot and heavy, sluggishly pumping freezing fire through my veins. I was caught in the teeth of fear, a helpless puppet hating every moment, every word, every realization, that was tearing apart all that Kiera thought I was.

Her eyes fluttered with repressed tears, bright jewels borne of betrayal, pain...and something else.

"Is that who you really are, then?" Her whisper was so fragile and small that my keen ears barely heard her.  "Just a Vampyre? Just a Destroyer?"

I opened my mouth, but no words came to me. There were so many things I wanted, no, needed, to say that it all spun together into a thick, immobile ball in the very back of my throat.

Kiera took my silence badly. I could see the trust crumbling in her eyes. It hurt worse than a burning spear in the heart, and I simply reacted, stepping forward and pulling her into a fierce kiss. My heart leapt with hope when she threw her arms around me and kissed me back just as fiercely.

"And you say she's not your mate." Chan remarked drily.

I lifted my head and glared at him. "Perhaps now would be a good time for you to get lost."

Chan looked perplexed. "I'm a Scout. We don't get lost. In fact, I cannot even remember the last time I was lost."

I couldn't help myself, I growled at him. Kiera laughed softly against my chest, placing one restraining hand on my arm.

"Chan, he's asking if we could have some time alone."

Chan's expression was priceless. I hadn't known the Cha'el could blush.

"Oh! Well why didn't he say so! I'll just come back in a while." He said, then spun around and scurried away.

I looked at Kiera, hardly able to grasp how she had simply just accepted me. How she now truly knew what I was, but hadn't turned away.

"I know what you told me you are, Rahvin. I also know you've showed me who you are, and that is who you truly are. The things you do, and don't do, are what make you who you are."

We sat by the fire, close together, and many minutes passed in comfortable quiet. I suspected her mind was racing like mine, trying to make sense of it all.

"Tell me...tell me who you were as a little boy."

Her request brought a painful wave of poignant memories down on me, making me clench my fists as I struggled to control myself. As I struggled to repress the poisonous fangs of old memories.

I surprised myself when I found myself talking about Genevieve. But in a way, it made sense to me, to explain all that had happened as a child, by first explaining how I had come to work with magic. By explaining how it had always seemed to haunt me, to ruin my life whenever I tried to get close to someone.

We talked for hours. I was barely aware of the surrounding woods, the dull, orange glow from the twin moons far overhead, or even the ever-present way the air in this realm tasted different. Kiera was a patient listener, allowing me to ramble around as I struggled to explain things I didn't understand myself.

"So small children are left to forage on their own, in the streets, in your realm?" Chan asked.

He had returned at some point, sitting quietly, and listening as intently as Kiera. Now, as I shared some of the most painful, earliest memories, of the agony of starvation, of the searing loneliness and fear, I could tell he was horrified by what he'd heard of my youth.

"Well, there are many children who have families and grow up in normal homes. But yes, in all of the bigger cities of our world there are homeless children, left on their own, to either find a way to survive, or simply to die alone."

Chan didn't look comforted by this explanation. "We would never allow our young to be alone. Children are precious."

Kiera looked over at me, her own eyes distant with memories.

"I joined the traveling merchants because my parents and siblings died when I was young. It wasn't until years later I found the caravan my aunt was part of."

I hadn't known that. I had always just assumed the caravan Kiera was in was her extended family, since Rhonda was her aunt. Now, knowing she was an orphan like me, I understood why she had seemed to fully understand when I had talked about loneliness and fear.