The Gift of Battle

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

Reece sat on the deck of the ship, back against the rail, and holding Stara in his arms, as he had been all night, still feeling as if he were in a surreal state. So much had happened to him in the last twenty-four hours, he could barely process it.

He looked up, bleary-eyed, at the rising sun, having been awake all night with dreams of Selese reaching out to him from the water, melding with dreams of Stara. He looked down now in the first light, feeling someone in his arms, and was still amazed to see it was Stara and not Selese. Selese had truly left him.

And just as shocking, Stara had truly appeared.

Their ship sailed along at a steady clip, its sails full as they caught the morning wind, bobbing up and down on the huge rolling waves of the open ocean, and as Reece smelled the ocean air, he marveled at how mysterious life was. His mind spun with the events of the last day. On the one hand, Reece knew, from the day Selese had emerged from the Land of the Dead, that her time with him was limited. She had always had an ethereal quality, and in the back of his mind he knew that she would leave him one day. Yet he had allowed himself to slip into denial, and had somehow believed that he could hold onto her forever. His time with her was too short; he had not seen the ending coming so soon. It left him with a feeling of sadness in his stomach.

It had all left him even more confused when he had seen Stara appear. It was as if Selese had sacrificed herself for Stara, as if each had taken some time from the other, in some karmic cycle of destiny. It was an act of selflessness on Selese’s part, Reece knew, the final act of selflessness from a girl who had loved him entirely from the day they’d met. Selese had known she could not be with him forever—so before she’d left this world, she had found him someone who could.

Stara, unconscious when he found her, still lay unconscious in his arms, as she had all night long. He wondered if she’d ever wake. It felt good to hold her again, to keep her warm, to keep her alive. He held her limp body tight, a part of him imagining it was still Selese. And yet he knew that this was what Selese wanted: to love Stara now was to love Selese.

Holding Stara, Reece slowly began to realize how much he had missed her, too, all this time. Was it wrong to love two people at once? He wished it were otherwise, but he had to admit he did. And now that Selese was gone, all Reece had left was Stara, and he was determined to keep her alive, whatever the cost. And to learn to love her once again. As much as he ached for Selese, Reece knew, after all, that this was what she wanted.

Reece leaned down and kissed Stara’s forehead, holding her, silently willing for her to come back to him. He could not believe she had come for him, had crossed the world for him, alone; he could not fathom the dangers she had faced, the sacrifices she had made. He was beyond touched. He saw how much she loved him, how she would literally cross the world for him.

“I love you, Stara,” he whispered to her. “Come back to me, please.”

It was a sentiment he had repeated often throughout the night, staring back at her eyes, beautiful even while closed, and wondering, hoping.

But now, as he stared in the early morning light, Reece for the first time thought he saw them flutter. And as he sat there and watched, he was shocked to see her slowly open her eyes.

Stara’s watery, light-blue eyes stared up at him, shining, so filled with life, with love—and as they did, he remembered how much he loved her. They were as beautiful, as mesmerizing, as he remembered, those eyes that had haunted his dreams ever since they were children—and he fell in love with her all over again.

Reece, his own eyes tearing up, felt reborn again, and couldn’t believe how elated he was to see her alive, back in his arms.

“Reece?” she asked softly, her voice hoarse. “Did I make it?”

Reece smiled with joy and a tear fell from his eye as he leaned down and kissed her on the lips.

She lifted her head and kissed him back, and he could feel her love for him.

“You did, my love,” he said.

She reached out and clasped his hand, and he held hers.

“Did you cross the sea alone?” he asked in wonder.

She smiled and nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I did,” she replied. “I searched the world for you. I prayed to God that if I did not, then to let the waters take me.”

Reece pushed back his tears, overwhelmed by her words, that she would love him that much. He felt once again the connection that they’d had since they were children. It had never completely left. And though so much time had passed, it was as if it were yesterday.

As Reece looked into her eyes, it was the strangest thing—he watched something shift within them, and for a fleeting moment, it was as if Selese’s spirit lay within her, as though Selese looked through Stara’s eyes too. He felt Selese’s spirit strongly, living through Stara, and no longer did he feel the conflict. He felt to love Stara would be to love Selese, too.

“I love you, Reece,” she said, sitting up, looking into his eyes and holding his cheek. “And I always will.”

They kissed, her warmth returning, and for the first time since Selese’s death, Reece’s heart was restored again.

As they sailed for the Ring, ever closer, he knew a great war lay ahead of them, perhaps the greatest battle in his life. He hoped and prayed they could rebuild the Ring, that he could start life over again in his homeland, with Stara by his side. That they could one day have a family of their own.

But whether they lived or died, for now, at least, being together with Stara once again, he had truly lived.