202 Chapter 202
“Cain…” she croaked out.
The figure stilled.
And then, he turned slowly.
As if he didn’t believe what he’d just heard.
As if he couldn’t risk hope. His eyes met hers, and the mask he’d worn for weeks shattered in an instant.
Cain staggered toward her, as if afraid that if he moved too quickly, she might disappear.
“Avery…” It wasn’t a whisper this time. It was a desperate, broken sound that came from his chest.
Before she could say anything else, he was at her bedside, sinking to his knees with a thud so heavy it made the floor tremble.
His hands clutched the bedsheets like a lifeline, his head bowing until his forehead pressed against her hip. His shoulders shook once.
Avery, dazed, reached out a trembling hand and brushed her fingers through his hair. He flinched at the touch–not pulling away, but as if the gentleness hurt him more than any wound could.
“You’re here,” he breathed against the fabric of her gown. “You’re here… you’re here…” Tears spilled down his cheeks, silent and unashamed.
He reached for her hand with a hesitance that broke her heart. When she didn’t pull away, he crushed it gently between both of his palms, as if reassuring himself she was real.
“I thought-” he rasped out. “I thought I lost you.”
Avery’s throat tightened with emotion. She never thought she’d see Cain look this broken over her. She squeezed his hands back as hard as her weak fingers would allow.
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“I’m here,” she whispered.
Cain let out a broken, shuddering breath, half sob, half laughter.
He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to the back of her hand, breathing her in like she was air and life itself. “Thank you. Thank you.” He muttered like a chant.
Avery gave a small, tired smile, her thumb brushing weakly against his knuckles. She watched him carefully, blinking the haze from her eyes, trying to take in every inch of him.
Her heart squeezed painfully.
Cain looked… horrible.
Not in a way that scared her but in a way that made her ache.
His hair, once neatly kept, had grown longer, brushing past his ears and curling at the ends. His face was rough with a full, thick beard, shadowing his sharp jaw. And his skin, it was raw in places, reddened by spots, rash, and irritation. Even under his broad shoulders, he looked thinner.
Avery’s throat tightened. She had never thought it was possible for Cain to look like this. Like he’d been drowning every single day without her.
“C–Cain,” she rasped out, her voice weak.
His head snapped up at the sound of his name.
She reached for him, or tried to. Her fingers twitched weakly, not quite lifting from the
bed.
But Cain caught it instantly. He surged forward, cupping it between both of his much larger ones like it was the most precious thing in the world. His hands were calloused and trembling, his thumbs brushing over her knuckles again and again, as if grounding himself.
“I’m here,” he said hoarsely, the words cracking. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Avery’s lip quivered, tears spilling freely now.
“Avery?” came a small, disbelieving voice from the doorway.
Lydia stood frozen in the doorway, a tray of food forgotten in her hands. For a
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heartbeat, she looked like she didn’t believe what she was seeing.
Avery. Awake. Alive.
The tray clattered to the floor with a crash. “Avery-!” Lydia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock. She bolted across the room, tears springing to her eyes.
Lydia dropped to her knees on the opposite side of the bed, grabbing Avery’s free hand and squeezing it tightly. “You’re awake. Goddess, you’re awake. I never thought it would work. Oh, thank the moon. You’re alive!”
Avery smiled weakly, “I’m glad to see you too, Lydia.”
She couldn’t help but notice, though, even Lydia looked like she’d been under so much stress. The eye bags under her eyes were heavy, she also had gotten thinner.
“Lydia…” she whispered, “How… how long have I been asleep?” She asked.
Asleep. That was the only word to use.
Lydia took a shaky breath. “… Two months,” she said softly. “You were unconscious for
almost two months, Avery.”
Avery’s lips parted in shock, her heartbeat stumbling in her chest.
Two months?
Her mind reeled. No wonder Cain looked like he’d aged a hundred years in her absence. She turned her head back to him, seeing the barely concealed guilt burning in
his eyes.
“And Cain-” Lydia started, but Cain cut her off with a sharp glare.
Lydia’s mouth snapped shut, her hands balling into fists at her sides. But Avery, weak as she was, didn’t back down. She looked at Lydia with pleading eyes. “Tell me,” she whispered. “What… what happened?”
Cain opened his mouth to shush Lydia again. Avery was just waking up. She didn’t need to know about his journey. She was just returning from the clutches of death.
“It’s better you rest, I’ll have the healers come now and check you. That’s-”
“No.” Avery refused, “Tell me. What’s happened in my absence.” Her eyes flickered between the two of them. “You both look like you’ve seen better days. Please… tell me.”
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Lydia nodded, glancing at Cain. “After Alaric poisoned you and you blacked out. None of the healers could figure out what was wrong with you. They- Your soul was distant and we needed a way to guide your spirit back. The only way to do that was to go into the Valley of Death.”
Avery gasped, her weak fingers tightening instinctively around Cain’s.
The Valley of Death.
Even the oldest packs whispered about it like a nightmare, a cursed place where the boundary between life and death thinned until souls could be lost forever.
She turned wide, disbelieving eyes to Cain.
“You-” her voice cracked. “You went there? For me?”
Cain didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
The answer was etched into the exhausted lines of his face, in the fresh scars along his forearms she hadn’t noticed before.
Avery’s heart twisted painfully in her chest.
Lydia continued, her voice trembling.
“He didn’t just go,” she said softly. “He fought through it. Cain faced things none of us could have survived. He found you.”
Found her.
Avery’s vision blurred with fresh tears.
All this time… when she had been trapped, floating on the edge of nothingness… he had been fighting for her.
“I’ll do it again if I have to,” Cain finally rasped, his thumb trembling as it brushed her knuckles. “There was no world without you in it.”
Avery choked out a sob, but Cain only pulled her hand to his lips again, pressing a kiss to her skin. “Never again,” he whispered. “No one will ever hurt you again, Avery. I
swear it.”
She closed her eyes against the weight of those words, the raw devotion in his voice.
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It was too much, and yet, it wasn’t enough. She wanted to reach out, to cradle his face and tell him he wasn’t alone either, but her body was still too weak to obey.
Lydia wiped at her cheeks, sniffling quietly. “You should rest. You need it.
“Bring Elder Loris in. Avery’s awake.” Cain ordered, and Lydia nodded. She leaned closer to Avery and kissed her forehead before walking out.
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