Nether

19. More Than Magic

Author's Note: There are two versions of the ending since I couldn't decide lol Enjoy!

***

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, and not that of death and the horrors I'd experienced. I haul in a deep, slow breath, wanting to absorb every iota of it into every particle of me, wishing for it to scrub memories of the Nether and the Darkness.

"Morning, sunshine."

I blink my eyes open and turn my head, but 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.

"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 that gentle caress, I lay still and let her dote. Her weathered hands against my face are heaven.

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

She nods and takes to smoothing down my hair. "I'm sorry," she says through a light laugh. "I can't help coddling you, but 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. But it's okay, because I'm alive, and I'll have many more breaths from here on after.

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 still can't believe the Magus Regent 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 Magus. He would have always had a place of honor 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 says. "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, but you also brought it to an entire race. The things they said you did, Aramina. I'm so proud of you."

Her eyes water again, but she wipes them 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--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?"