chapter eleven : shifting currents
699 Words
🌸 Chapter Eleven: Shifting Currents
Elara woke to the soft drip of water and the glow of the crystals painting the cavern walls. For a blissful moment, she forgot the shadows, the prophecy, the starfire burning in her veins.
But then she sat up, and the weight of everything pressed down again.
Something felt… different.
Kael was across the chamber, sharpening his blade with furious precision, sparks flying with each stroke. He didn’t look at her, but his shoulders were tight, as though her very presence frayed his control.
Riven lounged nearby, tossing a dagger in the air with his usual grin. But when her eyes met his, the grin faltered into something softer before snapping back into place.
Theron knelt by the Veilwater, as always, but when she approached to wash her hands, he gave her a smile so tender it stole her breath. “Sleep well?” he asked, voice calm, but there was weight in the way his gaze lingered on her.
And Darius… he lingered in the shadows, silent, watchful. When she caught his eyes, her pulse stuttered. He looked away too quickly, but she swore she saw something there — longing, or warning. Maybe both.
Her chest tightened. They were all… different this morning. Edges sharper, silences heavier. She felt like the center of something she didn’t understand, threads pulling her toward each of them in turn.
The starfire inside her stirred, restless, as if it, too, was caught between them.
She broke the silence with a shaky laugh. “You’re all acting strange. Did something happen last night?”
Riven’s dagger stilled mid-air. Kael’s blade ground against stone with a screech. Theron’s hand hesitated in the water. Darius vanished deeper into shadow.
No one answered.
The silence told her more than words ever could.
The silence clung to Elara long after breakfast was done. She busied herself gathering herbs from the cracks in the cavern wall, anything to escape the weight of the brothers’ stares.
“Hey, Starfire.”
She looked up to see Riven leaning casually against a pillar, arms crossed, his grin too bright — like sunlight over glass hiding the cracks beneath.
“Come take a walk,” he said. “Before Kael burns a hole through the floor pacing.”
Elara hesitated. “A walk? Where?”
“Not far,” he promised, holding out a hand. “Just… away.”
Her heart skipped, but she placed her fingers in his. His grip was warm, steady, playful without being careless. He led her through a narrow passage she hadn’t noticed before, one that opened into a small alcove with a slit of sky above — a rare patch of daylight piercing the underground world.
Elara tilted her face upward, drinking it in. “It’s beautiful.”
Riven watched her instead of the light. “So are you.”
Her breath caught, and he chuckled softly, though the sound carried something unguarded. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”
She turned toward him, nerves buzzing. “Why did you bring me here?”
His grin softened into something rare. “Because you’re drowning in all of this — prophecy, power, Kael’s scowling, Darius’s… whatever he does. I thought maybe you needed to breathe.”
Her throat tightened. “And what about you? Don’t you ever feel like you’re drowning?”
For the first time, his smile faltered. “All the time.” He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes flicking away. “But if I can make you laugh, if I can steal you a moment of peace… then maybe it doesn’t matter.”
The confession hung between them, raw and unexpected.
Elara’s chest ached. She reached out, brushing her fingers against his hand. His eyes snapped to hers, wide, vulnerable — and for one charged heartbeat, the world felt as if it was tilting toward him.
Then footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Kael’s voice, sharp with urgency: “Elara!”
She startled back. Riven cursed under his breath, forcing a grin onto his face again. “Guess playtime’s over.”
But when he led her back to the others, his hand lingered in hers longer than it should have.
- Writer
