Blackwater Islands dread

oh, how he had grown into himself! she had always felt his power, rippling from him like waves of dark heat, yet now —

now it was written in his flesh, etched into those endless eyes of the sea. i am divine, the regal set of his shoulders proclaimed. you will obey, the fierce strength of his jaw commanded.

he had risen while his prophet withered to dust, nightblack rags on bones. punishment for her arrogance, while his faith did not go unrewarded.

yet he loved her still. that, too, was written in his eyes. his fallen queen, his failed prophet. she was divinity gone awry, and he loved her still.

nightwife, he called her.

you were my iron guardian, careful words as they met, close enough to intertwine their scents. faintly in his scent were others, none of them familiar. none of them her druids. until i failed you. now i return from the realm of spirits, knowing my arrogance was my downfall. i am a seer, a soothsayer, a prophet... never a leader. never again. but i am your nightwife still, and my place is at your side. and so we must trade roles. i will follow you, as you once followed me.

she studied him.

we were listener and keeper, before. tell me, my husband... what shall we be now?