“Better, because I have you,” he said in a lower register. “Especially since I thought I’d lost you.”
“Never.” He felt the brush of Azriel’s finger against his own. Brief, but it still made his heart quake. “I would’ve made my way to you no matter how long it took.”
Galen sighed dreamily, then turned his head to whisper closer to Azriel’s ear. “I wish I could kiss you right now…among other things.”
“You devil.” Azriel shifted in his seat, placing his hat in his lap, and Galen chuckled. “I cannot wait.”
Pressed against each other, they stared out opposite windows as the train came to its first stop at a village called Willow Brook. As passengers were let off into the chilly night, Galen was surprised to notice that the platform was otherwise empty.
“Is no one traveling from this destination?” he remarked, and apparently loud enough to pique someone’s interest a row away.
“That village was ravaged by violet fever,” a lady said in a grave tone.
When Azriel glanced at him, Galen knew what he was thinking.
“What do you know of Silver’s Keep?” Galen asked.
“And Willowdale?” Azriel said.
The woman shrugged but looked pessimistic.
They fell silent, each lost in their own glum thoughts. Galen dragged his pad from his satchel and sketched aimlessly, eventually settling on a reproduction of the railway, giving his hands and brain something to focus on.
Despite his best efforts, however, the movement of the train began to lull him to sleep. After all that had occurred since fleeing Moon Flower, Galen couldn’t help closing his eyes and finally succumbing.
He awoke in the middle of the night, his forehead slumped against Azriel’s shoulder.
“Sorry.” He put space between them, fearful of appearing too cozy with his traveling companion. But only a handful of people were awake in the quiet compartment, their eyes trained elsewhere.
“I assume you haven’t slept a wink?” Galen asked Azriel, who had dark smudges beneath his eyes, and Galen felt guilty for leaving him to his own devices.
“Perhaps a little,” Azriel replied in a hoarse whisper. “It’s just…I cannot stop wondering about so many things.”
Galen leaned closer and murmured, “Such as?”
“Such as what has become of the constable…and of my father…both such spiteful men.”
“You are not responsible for their ugly natures,” Galen said through clenched teeth. “And I will be forever grateful that you saved me.”
Azriel offered a sad smile. “I’m glad I eventually found the courage to take action.”
“There is courage in merely surviving as well.”
“I know.” He sighed. “Is it wrong that it felt satisfying, even if he…”
“No.” He pressed the edge of his hand against Azriel’s on the seat. “I feel the same.”
As the train began to slow, they heard the announcement that the next stop was Solar’s Edge. They gathered their things, and then stepped off the train into the dark and quiet dawn.
Chapter 29
Once the locomotive pulled out of the station, they sat down on the empty platform and looked out at the faint blush on the horizon, uncertain of their next move.
“I almost forgot,” Azriel said, drawing his bag toward him. “Agnes insisted on sending us off with sustenance.”
Galen gasped. “Agnes?”
Azriel’s eyes softened. “She sends her well-wishes.”
Galen’s heart thumped against his rib cage, and he was suddenly glad that Azriel had returned to Enchantment and it had all worked out—despite the overwhelming distress it caused him at the time.
Azriel pulled out bread and a hunk of cheese, and they filled their bellies as the sky lightened before their eyes—a small miracle in itself in such turbulent times. Everything was hanging in the balance, and who knew what might become of them, but he was content as long as he was by Azriel’s side.
He felt the profound absolution down to his bones. That assiduous hollow of longing inside him that he’d been sure would engulf him someday, now filled with a rush of emotions—and the tireless, pulsing ache of love—and not being able to touch Azriel, to show him, was a special kind of torture all its own.
A sob he couldn’t contain tore from his lips, and Azriel startled.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, just…” He gulped down that stinging feeling in his throat. “Glad to not be alone.”
To not be without you.
Azriel fleetingly knotted their fingers together. “If I had my wish, we would never be apart again.”
Galen hummed serenely, grateful for that brief connection, and hoping his wish came true.
The sky was picturesque, and Galen wanted to draw it, thinking the wax colors would never do it justice. It was their first view of Solar’s Edge, and though it was much smaller than Lunar’s Reach, it was quite charming in a way that only life in the country could be.
“Mr. Blackburn was right,” Azriel said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “It’s lovely.”
Galen felt a sort of rightness being there that he couldn’t easily explain.
“Where do you suppose the cottage is located?”