Light from the Shadow

Chapter 42

The night before

"I am... still alive?" She had asked. Ayna did not think she would survive. She asked the librarian but he did not answer her. The librarian just hugged her. She could feel her shoulder wet. He did not let go of her, for so long until she told him she needed to go to the washroom. When she returned to the bedroom, she found Rishi was staring at her angrily.

"Sit." He commanded, pointing to the bed. Ayna had expected this. A long lecture was coming her way. She obediently sat in front of him.

"It's not like I have any choice!" Ayna defended herself after she told him what Helten had asked her to do.

"That doesn't mean you can throw your life away just like that!!" Rishi shouted back.

"I did not! You said it yourself! That my magi will protect me! So I thought... even if I try to, this power won't kill me..." Her voice trailed off. She recalled the day when she felt as if her body was crushed to pieces. She thought she was going to die.

Rishi was stunned. "Are you crazy?! It's just a possibility! What if I was wrong?? How can you just..."

Ayna bit her lip. "I believe in you."

Rishi stared at her.

Ayna turned away. "I said I believe in you, okay?"

"Ayna..."

"What do you expect me to do then? Just stand there and watch you and Jyaga killed by that crazy prince?? And he won't stop at that... He'll do whatever it takes to take this power by force!" The princess wiped the tears from her eyes but the tears would not stop pouring.

Rishi now felt bad for shouting at her.

She squeezed her right hand. "You don't understand..." She sobbed. "I don't wish to die too... But I don't know what to do! Because of me, people are dying. My mother... Qwentine... that bad men in the mountain... who knows who is next! I have to bear this power for my whole life." She broke down crying. "I was... scared..."

"I'm sorry." Rishi wiped her tears and put his arms around her. "I don't mean to get angry with you."

She hit his chest and then hugged him back. She thought she could never do this again. "Bastard."

Rishi chuckled. He patted her back. She hit him again.

He lifted her face up with his finger. Ayna realized this was the first time she gazed at his golden eyes in close distance. A beautiful pair of clear golden eyes.

"I'm sorry for what I said the other day. My father's death is not your fault. I couldn't accept his death and tried to blame everything on you. But I was wrong. It was my fault. If only I went back to Remblan with you... if only I never..."

Ayna leaned forward and kissed his lips.

The librarian looked taken aback. He touched his lips after their lips parted. "I thought you hate it?"

Ayna ignored him. If he could kiss her carelessly like before, well, she thought she could too. "Now you tell me. What happened after that? We are still in Solbaru. Are we captured? And what happened to my body? I was sure I was going to die..."

Rishi pinched her cheek. "You are asking too many questions." He pushed her down to bed and pulled the blanket to cover her. "Sleep."

"But I just woke up."

"And I haven't slept. For days. Because of you." The librarian let his body fell down to the bed, lying beside Ayna.

"Why are you sleeping here?"

"Don't worry. I'm too tired to do anything to you." He turned his back on her.

Ayna's face turned red. "That's not what I meant!!"

But Rishi did not answer. He had fallen asleep.

"No way... are you really asleep?" She peeked at his face. He looked tired. There were dark circles around his eyes. Just how many days had he not rested properly? She sat there watching him sleep.

"Here, hold my hand if you can't sleep." Rishi turned back and extended his hand to her with his eyes closed. His sudden remark made her jump.

Ayna pouted but gladly took the offer. She held his hand inside hers. "It's warm."

***

"You mean... the magi from this sword saved her? But I don't understand... Didn't you say magi cannot revive the dead?" Kuan's head was spinning after he heard the story. His hand was holding the said sword.

"It can't and it didn't. Ayna wasn't dead to begin with." Rishi replied.

Kuan was more confused than ever.

"I suspected the magi from that sword is healing her magi, not her body." The librarian added.

"Magi healing magi?" Kuan repeated, not understanding a word he himself just said.

Rishi nodded. "She..." He hesitated for a moment. "She tried to kill herself with magi but I guess it didn't work. I think it is not supposed to attack its host. But it wounded itself, unable to work to heal her body... and she almost lost her life because of that."

The prince noticed the mark on her right hand. It was now the same blue color as before.

Ayna lowered her head. "I'm sorry I worried everyone..."

Kuan wanted to hug her again but Rishi was giving him the death stare. As he thought, the librarian did have feelings for Ayna.

"So how do you use this? It looks like an ordinary sword to me." Kuan examined and tried wielding it.

Rishi took it from him and showed both Kuan and Ayna what he had been doing with it.

"What is this?" Kuan and Ayna were dumbfounded when they saw the sword glowed, making Rishi's newly made cut healed miraculously. "That's what you have been doing since then??!! Trying to give healing magi to Ayna continuously??"

Rishi nodded. "I noticed her hand was warm when the magi from the sword flowed into her." He pointed at the magi mark on her right hand.

"I thought there must be something. Maybe it needs more blood from me or..." The librarian murmured.

"So... with what you did just now..." Ayna did not want to hear it.

Rishi nodded again. "I tried drawing blood from different places, different temperature, thickness of blood... different amount..."

"You psycho..." The prince and princess were horrified. "Are you trying to kill yourself?!!!"

"The sword heals them every time so..."

"That's not what I'm saying!! You are still hurting your body!!!" Ayna wanted to smack him.

Rishi turned to her. "I don't care... if there is a way to save you..."

The princess bit her lip. Her eyes were already wet. She did not know what Rishi had gone through just to bring her back. She threw her arms around him and cried. "I'm sorry, Rishi."

The librarian smiled and stroke her hair. "If you are sorry, then promise me. Promise me that you'll never do that again. Never leave me again, Ayna."