Nordamen looked back and forth between the two, astonishment on his face. “It can’t be!”
“I’m not listening to anyone in this crazy place tell me something’s not possible,” fumed Beth. “It’s like when people watch Star Wars and then say something crazy like, ‘You can’t hear explosions in space because there’s no air to carry the sound waves.’ It’s all impossible!”
Nordamen stared at her, uncomprehending.
“Just carry her over to him, please.” She put as much authority as she could garner into her voice and held Nordamen’s gaze. She could see on his face the moment he relented, and she sent up a prayer of thanks. He lifted Alora to carry her a few steps and lay her down by Kaevin. Beth put their hands together, and stepped back.
A curious crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. Graely, Nordamen, Beth and the four newly arrived warriors stood staring at the unconscious couple, along with a number of other warriors Beth didn’t know. Morvaen paced behind them, muttering something about how he’d killed Alora by overtaxing her.
“It’s going to take a while. And when one of them wakes up, they need to kiss. That seems to help.” Even as she spoke the words, she could see the doubt on their faces.
“What’s going on?” asked one of the warriors.
Beth crossed her arms and spoke with a firm voice. “They’re soulmates. And I don’t want to hear anyone saying otherwise. I’ve had enough of trying to keep them alive while everyone argues because they’ve never heard of it happening so young before. Guess what? I’ve never heard of any of this before, and I’ve learned to accept it. So just get over it!”
As time passed and neither one stirred, Nordamen began to pace behind Morvaen. The size discrepancy between the two reminded Beth of a couple of cartoon characters. Nordamen shouted, “We’re wasting precious time!”
“What do you propose?” Graely asked.
A groaning noise caught their attention, and Kaevin stirred.
“Get him food and drink at once,” Nordamen ordered.
“He doesn’t need food, he needs Alora.” Beth knelt beside Kaevin, waiting for him to open his eyes. Even before he became fully conscious, his limp handhold with Alora became a fierce grip. As his eyelids fluttered open, Beth leaned over him. “She’s right next to you. She’s unconscious.”
He rolled onto his side and lifted on his elbow, squeezing both of her hands. In his awkward position, he leaned in to kiss her. Beth could hear Graely muttering in the background. Some thirty seconds later, Alora’s eyes blinked open.
“Kaevin,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize—”
He smothered her words with another kiss. “I think you almost killed us. But it was my fault, too. I’m sorry I made you angry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I know you were only trying to protect me. I just wanted to prove I’m not a liability.” She spoke around his lips.
“You don’t have to worry. After this, I’m never sending you away. You need to stay close—my headache started this morning.”
“Mine, too,” she said. “But I didn’t know what was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“Ahem.” Graely cleared his throat. Alora glanced up, for the first time realizing they had an audience. She pulled her lips away from Kaevin as her face flamed.
“Now, do you believe me?” Beth asked.
Nordamen was speechless.
“Could it be true?” asked Graely. “And if so, what can we do about it?”
Nordamen shook his head. “I’m uncertain. It shouldn’t be possible. But it seems they actually are... uhmm...”
“Soulmates,” Beth said. “They’re soulmates, just like we said all along. So maybe we could all give them a little privacy.” Alora was relieved when Beth herded everyone away.
“I thought you said we only had to touch once a day.” She fixed Kaevin with a hard stare.
“Well, I thought that was true. But the other soulmates described to me were older and married. Also, it’s quite rare. I’m not actually certain of anything about the soulmate bond except it enhances our powers and we can die from separation.”
“So who knows something about it?”
Kaevin kissed her again, with an impish grin on his face. “Right now, I don’t care. I kind of like the recovery process. It almost makes up for the headache.”
“No, it doesn’t. Let’s not do that again.”