Cael and Sera hurried to the nearby docks, passing the tall stone temples and whitewashed buildings tinted pink in the sunset. The streets changed from paved road to dirt, and then to the wooden planks of the wharf. They went to the last boat at the end, the ferry that transported people to and from Malluk’s true temple.

They could see the dark god’s volcanic island from here, out across the water. Smoke rose from the top and drifted on the breeze as it did every day of the year, with the exception of yesterday, Malluk’s Day.

“I could do nothing for him, not even slow the poison. It is not natural,” Cael told his daughter. “I believe Malluk’s divine magic is behind it.” The half-elf turned his head to look at her, causing the wind to catch some of his long auburn hair and blow it into his face. “Can you heal him if it is?”

“I don’t know,” Sera answered as they boarded the small ship. “I’ve never seen divine poison before—never even heard of it—but then, Malluk’s people don’t tend to leave their victims alive.”

They continued below deck and stopped in the narrow corridor. “Mathias is in there,” Cael said, motioning to the door to his left. “I will be here if you need me.”

“Don’t stay. I’ll be fine,” she told him. “Get back to Mom. I know how badly she misses you when you’re away.”

“I will stay,” he insisted. “This is not a good man.”

She raised one white-gold eyebrow. “Then why did you save him?”

“Because he risked his life to save Tess, which shows that there is hope for him. But one does not go from bad to good overnight, nor does one selfless deed earn redemption after a lifetime of evil.”

“I’ve been a healing cleric for over four years now, Dad. I’m trained to deal with all kinds of people. This is my job. I’ll be fine,” she told him in a firm, businesslike tone. “Now go.”

Matching pairs of summer blue eyes locked and held for a moment. His Woodlander perception gave him insight into her emotions, though not as fully as she knew his, since she could feel him clearly with her divine gift of empathy. Still, they spoke volumes with their feelings.

Finally, he sighed. “Very well, but I want you to make sure that he is transferred to Aryst’s temple as soon as possible. You will be safe there.”

“I will,” she promised. “As soon as he’s stable.” She smiled reassuringly and let her love for him be her dominant emotion so he would feel it clearly. They never said I love you; he disliked saying it. He felt the words were so inadequate that they were insulting to people who could share it as he and Sera could. He smiled as he tenderly pet her long, white-gold curls, then kissed her forehead and left.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she knew would be a sad scene. She usually knew what she was doing when it came to healing, but not this time. Divine magic was just a tool, as much as a hammer was a carpenter’s. You had to know how to use it; it took skill and training. And divine poison was completely new to her. She had no idea if the normal methods of healing poison would work.

Watching patients die was something she didn’t think she would ever get used to. It was always hard, especially when there were loved ones left to grieve. It seemed this man didn’t have those, but since he had risked his life to save her cousin, she really hoped he would survive so he could do more good. She hoped that he might have a chance to eventually outweigh the evils of his past and earn a better fate when he had to answer to Chira, the goddess of justice, upon his death.

Sera finally stepped into the small, wood-paneled cabin and quietly shut the door behind her. As soon as she turned around, the very second she saw him, she was completely overwhelmed. She clutched her chest and leaned back against the wall for support. She couldn’t breathe for a moment, and tears filled her eyes as two very powerful emotions swept over her, crashing like breaking waves in the sea—beauty and pain together.

The first feeling was incredible joy. Here he was, the one she had been waiting for. Woodlanders called it rahnam, humans called it soul mates. It was real, just as her parents had said. They had told her that on the day they had met, they had only needed to look at each other to know. They were both half-Woodlander, so they were sensitive to it. Sera was the same.

The second feeling was intense fear. She didn’t need to touch this man to know how close he was to death. She had just found him, and now the possibility of losing him was much too likely.

She forced herself to take a deep breath and rushed to his side. She cleared her head, forcing herself to focus on the most important thing in her life: saving him.

Her father had healed the wounds where the arrows and sword had pierced him, though he was covered with dried blood. It was just the poison that threatened the life of this amazingly beautiful man. His tan skin had grown pale, his tousled blond hair was damp with sweat, and he was shivering with fever.

She laid her hands on his bare chest, then closed her eyes and began chanting in ancient Presbelic—the language of the gods. After a moment, her hands began to glow with a soft white light. Her words were a prayer to Aryst, the goddess of healing, calling upon her divine power.

Sera felt through him, as if reaching into him with invisible hands. She found the poison and focused on gathering it. She felt it pulling through his body and seeping through his skin into her hands. Her father was right, it wasn’t natural; it was dark and caused her physical pain as she drew it out.

She opened her eyes and saw red, pulsating, vein-like lines become visible through his skin. They moved toward her hands like living things, snaking their way slowly up her wrists. Each one felt like a sharp, burning cord digging into her flesh. She wanted to cry out in pain, but she had to keep chanting.

She closed her eyes again and focused intently, giving everything she had. She could feel Malluk’s darkness within her, creating a hollowness like a vacant cave, trying to empty her of feeling. The veins continued up her arms, then began to creep into her chest, moving toward her heart. She was panting now, and tears began to slide down her cheeks, but she kept chanting.

Finally, all the poison was out of him and inside her. She had the thought that maybe it wasn’t curable; maybe it could only be transferred. She took her hands off him before it could go back, just in case. She fell to her knees beside the bed, and tears continued to stream down her face as the pain got worse. Her skin was burning, but inside it felt like her blood was turning to ice. As the cold coursed through her, so did a feeling of intense loneliness and despair, making her want to just give up.

The God of Darkness’ divine energy fueled the poison, she thought, so she just had to push it out with the opposite: with light. She took a deep breath, though it hurt to do so, and started chanting again. She conjured happy memories of people she cared about, focusing on all the love she had for them. She thought of her parents, her aunt and uncle, her cousins and friends. That was the key, Malluk’s one weakness, the one thing the heartless god couldn’t fight against: love.

It was several minutes before everything abruptly stopped. She opened her eyes to find that all the glowing had left, along with the pain. It was over. She took a few deep breaths and let them out slowly, pushing the last remnants of Malluk’s dark feelings out of her. She sighed heavily and wiped the tears from her face.

She got back to her feet and laid her hands on Matt again, checking him. He was clean. She smiled and murmured her thanks to Aryst. It was up to him to heal the rest of the way; the only thing she could do now was keep him stable while his body tried to recuperate.

She sat beside him and caressed his face for a moment. “You better make it,” she told him firmly. She thought about the little she knew of him, none of it good, and sighed. “Even when you wake up, you’ll have a lot of healing to do,” she said, running her fingers through his hair, which was still damp even though his fever was gone. “But you won’t be alone,” she promised. “I’ll be with you. Just pull through this. There’s so much life for you to live still. A better life is waiting for you. All you have to do is wake up.”

She gazed down at him and was overcome by the love she felt. She was so tempted to lean down and kiss him... but that would wait. Instead, she settled for tracing his full lips with her fingertips. She smiled. “Could you be any more beautiful? I knew you would be, but not this much. I knew you’d be blond, too. I don’t know how I knew, I just did. I’ve dreamt of you my whole life; I’ve been waiting for you.” Her gazed traveled from his perfect face down to his large, thickly muscled body. She bit her lip for a moment. “Not that I would love you less if you weren’t so attractive, of course, but...” She smirked. “I’m not complaining.”

She gazed at him for a while, then finally got up and fetched a bowl of warm water. She wrung a wet cloth out and started gently washing the blood off of his stomach. She mused as she worked on how she suddenly understood some of the things she had only ever felt in other people before. Now she felt them for herself.

She was surprised by them, too, like the possessiveness. She had never felt like this about anyone or anything before. And she felt so protective. He was hers, or at least he would be—she was sure of that. He was part of her in a way no one else ever could be. He was hers to care for, to love, and to devote herself to, and she would do all of those things wholeheartedly.

Though she was filled with worry and was anxious for him to recover, she was also blissfully content and couldn’t keep a smile off her face. She felt excitement, too, because she couldn’t wait until he woke up, until she could meet this man that she already knew she would love for the rest of her life; because he was her life now, as if she had been reborn into two people instead of just one.