A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 8 - Disdain

For the second time that day, Lyrani found herself at Yidelhorn station. This time, she didn't have her boyfriend's company to look forward to.

She tightened the straps of her backpack passing over her shoulders.

She could still feel Nash's heart beating against her chest in time with hers. She could feel the soulfyre pulsing through him. It was what kept them alive and reminded them that they were. It was the essence of their beings.

Nash had kept Lyrani in the carriage even after it arrived at the station, checking that she had everything that she needed and asking if she was sure. It had taken a reminder of her train's departure time to convince him to bid her farewell with a kiss. Perhaps Nash's reluctance to let Lyrani go was why his touch had remained with her.

The shadows of his kisses lingered on her lips. The ghosts of his fingertips wandered along her thighs, but they were in the past, and Lyrani wasn't sure what future she had to look forward to.

Judging from the tension between her and Meiyla Phen at the briefing, it probably wasn't anything good. Judging from Nash's fear for her, it definitely wasn't.

Lyrani had tried to soothe his concerns because she didn't want him to worry about her or this mission, but she had her fears too.

She had never been to the northern plains before. It was at the edge of every map of the realm she had ever seen. She had no idea what she would find beyond it.

Did Lord Dundor have any power there? Did Lyrani? She needed a partner who had her back more than ever before, but all she had was an agent who despised her for a reason she didn't even know.

"Lyrani Esch? One way to Wyndern?" asked the fairy behind the glass window at the ticket counter.

"Yes." Lyrani huddled into her coat, pulling it tighter around her.

Despite being built from wood, this train station was somehow colder than its glass counterpart in Irylen. There must be breaths of the night's coldness slipping between the logs forming the walls.

The fairy dragged a pointy fingernail over the bookings records until she found Lyrani's name. "Ah." She tore a ticket off one of the five rolls beside her, stamped it, and handed it to Lyrani. "Enjoy your trip!" She smiled as she straightened a flower that had strayed from the perfect line of the headband she had pinned at the edge of her hairline.

"Thank you." Lyrani squared her shoulders as she turned away from the ticket desk.

Yes, there was a lot at stake with this mission, but she was Lyrani Esch, going beyond the edge of the map and exploring uncharted territory. When had missions like this become something to dread instead of an adventure?

Lyrani knew when. It was when she first found out she was to assassinate Nash Astor. She had fallen in love with him instead, which didn't make that mission or any that came after any easier.

It was one thing to care about a realm of strangers and to want to alleviate faceless suffering. It was another for a specific person to matter so much that one would be willing to lay down one's life for them, make any sacrifice to keep them safe.

Agent Phen had a point. Emotional attachments could make a person vulnerable. It could even weaken them, but Lyrani would never tell her that. It sounded too much like what Nash's grandmother had told Lyrani when she lay dying on his bedroom floor over a year ago. She shuddered at the memory.

Agent Phen and Rayn were both wrong. Loving Nash made Lyrani the best agent she could be. It forced her to hunt for solutions in situations where there appeared to be none. It inspired her to fight battles she didn't think she could win and resulted in victories she hadn't expected.