Chapter 913: Tournament Troubles |
It was a long time before Noah let out more than a breath. There wasn’t room for a single word within Noah’s head. Every single part of his being was focused on the moment. The faint strawberry scent in her hair. The feel of her arms around his sides, her fingers digging into his back. The faint tickle of her breath against his neck.
He was probably squeezing too hard. She was too.
“I knew you were alive,” Moxie finally whispered, her words muffled against his skin. She didn’t pull back even slightly. “I missed you, Noah.”
“I missed you too,” Noah said.
It was several seconds before either of them did anything else. But, finally, Moxie pulled back slightly, craning her neck up to get a good look at his face. And it struck Noah that she had changed. Somehow, she’d actually gotten prettier. Her eyes were sharper. Deeper. As if she’d seen a great deal of things since the last time they’d met.
She probably had.
And it pained Noah, somewhere deep in his stomach, that he hadn’t been there to see them with her. That he hadn’t been there to see them with anyone. So much had been lost. Stolen. Experiences that could never be re-lived or rewound, no matter how much more powerful he got.
The past was the past.
It was a lesson.
“You’ve changed,” Moxie said, pressing a hand to the side of Noah’s face, her gaze boring into his. “Your eyes are different.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Noah replied with a soft smile. “But no matter how much you change, you’re still the same woman that I’ve been looking for every day for the past months. Running to a whole new continent and hiding in an anti-domain city isn’t even close to enough. You can’t get away from me that easily, Moxie.”
Moxie let out a small laugh. She let her head fall against Noah’s chest once more. “I didn’t mean it metaphorically, you idiot. Your eyes have literally changed. They’re… distant.”
“Empty?” Noah asked, only half joking.
“No,” Moxie said. “Far from that. It just feels like you’re somehow still somewhere far across the Empire. Maybe a part of me still can’t believe that you’re here. I mean, I knew you’d come. It’s why I’m here. It’s why I’m sure everyone is here. We all knew. But actually seeing you…”
“I know,” Noah said gently. “It’s almost impossible to believe.”
Moxie pulled back ever so slightly to nod. “What happened to you, Noah? Why did you disappear?”
“It’s a long story,” Noah said. “A very long one. Longer than I think we have time right now, and one that I can’t risk falling on the wrong ears. I don’t know how truly alone we really are.”
Moxie blinked. Then her eyes sharpened. She let out a small laugh.
“You’re right. Damn it. I suppose we’ll have to save it for later. After the tournament. I — wait. The others. Have you found them yet?”
“Some,” Noah said. “Not all, but some. Lee. Brayden. Bird — though only through a secondhand source. And Yoru is here as well. I haven’t seen her, but she’s here.”
“She’s fiddling with things?” Moxie guessed.
“More than you can imagine,” Noah said. He let out a small sigh. “I — no. Wait. Before we go any further, in case we get split up, Lee and I are staying at an inn called Riverdeep. Find us. Brayden is there too. Or if you’ve got no other choice, stay put. I’ve figured out how to get through the barrier that stops domains from working here. I’ll find you. As many times as I need to.”
Moxie’s hands found Noah’s. “I know you will. I…shit, Noah. There’s so much I want to say. Half of it I can’t. You’re right about not knowing who’s watching. You don’t have any Death Magic, do you?”
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“Huh? No. Not as far as I’m aware. Why?”
“Keep it that way for now,” Moxie said. “It seems the Coral Empire really, really hates it.”
Seriously? Sievan didn’t seem to have any trouble. Maybe he’s too powerful?
“Noted,” Noah said. “And—“
“Hold on,” Moxie took a step back. With a grunt, she slung Grim off her shoulder and thumped the book down on the ground before Noah. “Here. Take this. Ungrateful bastard has been whining for you ever since we left. He’s been continuously getting heavier this whole time.”
Noah glanced down at the huge book. He rested a hand on its covers, a grin spreading across his face. “It’s been a while, Grim. It’s good to see you.”
About time, Herald. You took far too long. Do not let it happen again. I am hungry. I must be fed.
“Don’t let him gaslight you into anything about feeding him,” Moxie warned. “I stuffed him full of runes right before we came over here. So if he says he’s starving or some shit like that, it’s a load of crap.”
Ignore the temptress. She is jealous.
Noah snorted. He patted Grim, then slung the huge grimoire back over his shoulder. It was so light that he could barely even feel it. Something felt oddly right about having the snarky, potentially evil book back with him.
“It’s good to have you back,” Noah said. He looked back to Moxie. Words bubbled up in his throat so quickly that it clenched for a second. He still couldn’t believe that he’d managed to find her. He finally managed to squeeze out a sentence. “You know, the only reason I actually managed to find you was because of Grim?”
“Seriously?” Moxie blinked. “How?”
The pages of the grimoire fluttered in satisfaction.
“He was basically screaming at me,” Noah replied. “And when I managed to break through the mist blocking off my domain here, the first thing I heard was Grim. I followed his voice here.”
Moxie shook her head and let out a laugh. “Of course. I… how did you get here?”
“That’s part of the long story,” Noah said. “And I’ll tell you all of it soon. You’ll have to tell me what happened to you as well. Everyone will. Do you know how the others are doing? At all?”
Moxie shook her head. “No. I can’t say much about it here. Can we speak in your soul?”
Noah paused for a moment. That would have been the best solution at one point. But that point was before he’d filled his soul with the Beyond. He still hadn’t forgotten the Lead Researcher’s warnings about what happened to people that came into contact with the strange magic.
I’m not willing to risk that with Moxie. Not on just my vague assumptions of how it works.
“My soul is… slightly out of commission right now,” Noah said. “It would be best if we didn’t. At least for the time being.”
Moxie’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that mean?”
“It’s not hurt,” Noah said, hoping that wasn’t necessarily a lie. “It just isn’t safe. Trust me on it. I’ll tell you later.”
Moxie pursed her lips, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll say what I can, then. The Apostles’ disciples split us off when you vanished. Alice took in all the humans. I went with her. She trained us. Kept us split so people wouldn’t be able to trace where we were from. And it looks like the Apostles might have been planning something. I don’t know what. But Alice might actually be on our side.”
Noah tilted his head slightly to the side. “Is that so? What about Garina? Where was she during all of this?”
“Doing what she could, from what I could tell,” Moxie said. “I haven’t seen her since.”
“What about Jalen?” Noah asked. “Any sign of him?”
Moxie shook her head once more. “No. I haven’t seen anyone from… before. Not until you. But I’m pretty sure every single one of us were told the same thing. Alice signed us up for the tournament so we had something to work toward and so that we had a meeting point when everything was done.”
Great. More schemes. Nobody does anything for free. Especially not anyone related to the Apostles. Something is going on. Garina and Jalen should have been strong enough to track Moxie down if they’d wanted to. Why wouldn’t they have? Are they waiting for something? Or are we missing a vital piece of the puzzle?
Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit. We’re caught up in something again, aren’t we?”
“When aren’t we?” Moxie let out a small laugh. “As long as we’re doing it together, I won’t complain. And now that we’re… well, out here, the world is so much more open. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen. What I’ve discovered.”
“I suppose I’ll just have to look forward to you showing me when we get out of here,” Noah said with a grin. “I can’t say how relieved I am to see you again. You know, I even held off on dying. Hasn’t happened once since the last time we met.”
“Seriously?” Moxie’s eyes widened. “Now that is impressive. The addict is improving. Good job. Try to keep it up, yeah?”
“I’ll do my best,” Noah said with a chuckle. “It sounds like this whole thing was quite the shitshow. But it’ll be worth it. There’s a place I can take us. All of us. One where we won’t be bothered. We just have to find everyone.”
“Won’t be bothered? Somehow, I doubt that.” Moxie sent Noah a wry smile. “But I’ll look forward to it. And there were certainly a lot of surprises. Ones that I’m hoping to be done with. I think the Apostles might have been planning something. Something that their own disciples were’t much a fan of. The whole time we were with Alice, I was half expecting something to blow up all around us. I’m just glad to be done with it. It’s somebody else’s problem, now.”
Noah’s lips thinned. “Well, damn.”
“What?” Moxie asked. Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, damn?”
“Can I take that back?” Noah asked.
“No,” Moxie said. “You cannot. What’s going on?”
“I… saw the Apostles. During the masquerade,” Noah said. “I’m certain of it.”
“Shit,” Moxie groaned. “They’re at the tournament?”
“Some of them are.”
“Why?” Moxie shook her head. “What would they be here for? They aren’t exactly friends with the Prophet from what I gathered.”
“I don’t know,” Noah said with a helpless shrug. “But something tells me we’re going to find out whether we want to or not.”