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Neith stirred to the sound of rummaging on the other side of the room. Pushing herself up from the bed she rubbed her eyes to see Emmrich with his back to her, bent over his desk in the midst of some frantic search. Groggy, she watched for a moment in confusion as he wiped a sheet of paper to the side with such force that it cracked in the air when it flew from the desk and floated down to land atop atop a number of books littering the floor. Books that had not been there when they’d gone to bed.
“No, no, no.” He muttered. “Where are they? I have to find, I have to find—”
“Vhenan?” Neith called from the bed. Her brow furrowed.
He did not seem to hear her, completely entranced in a desperate search.
Neith tossed back the silken sheets and prodded over to him.
“Vhenan,” she called again, concern laced through the sound of her voice.
She placed a hand against his shoulder blade as she rounded his side and he jumped at the contact.
His head whipped toward her and Neith’s heart lurched in response. He met her worried gaze with a wild expression. His hair, always so perfectly in place, fell around his eyes, glazed over with dread and panic in equal measure.
Emmrich looked at her as if she were a ghost--a mere figment of his imagination there to torment him. Her presence only seemed to encourage his fervor.
“I will find you.” He stuttered, hands trembling over the swath of pages that covered his desk. “He—he took you. I have to find you.”
She rubbed small circles against his shoulder, glancing over the desk. He was rummaging through notes she did not recognize. Her eyes narrowed at the uncharacteristically sloppy diagrams and equations on the fade and her breath caught. Her confusion gave way to an awful ache.She’d never seen these, but she knew what they were from.
He continued to mutter to himself as he searched through the pages. “Gone. Neith. My Neith. She’s gone. She doesn’t know.”
“Emmrich, ma lath” she spoke, reaching for him, “look at me.” Bowed over his desk with such distraught intention she locked her hands into his hair and firmly tugged his face down toward her. “I’m here, Vehnan. You found me. I am here.”
She stroked the hair away from his eyes so he might see her more clearly but Emmrich did not seem so certain. “I’m so sorry.” He whimpered, eyes red and bleary, “I’m sorry. I will find you. I swear it. I swear—”
Neith took a deep breath, “Emmrich.” Grasping hold of a trembling hand she pressed it against her chest. “I’m here.”
Resting just above the steady rhythm of her heart the trembling in his hand began to subside against the warmth of her skin. Slowly, he raised his other hand to cup her cheek.
“Neith. My darling Neith.” She traced a line back and forth against his palm, holding his gaze she took slow even breaths in an attempt to ground them both. Clarity crept back into his eyes and his fingers twitched against her skin as if to make certain she were solid and real.
“Emmrich.” She turned her head slightly to press a kiss against the inside of his palm.
He stared down at her, his green eyes brightening, and she knew he’d emerged from the fog of his nightmare. Still, his lower lip trembled and a soft sob escaped his lips.
“Neith.” He cried, “You were gone.” He pulled her closer, grasping her face with both hands.
“I’m here now, ma lath.” Worry still lined her face. The others had told her of Emmrich’s distress in her absence. But she had not seen it. Even after she returned, she was buried under her own grief. At the time, she believed he did not love her. How horribly wrong she had been.
Emmrich clenched his eyes shut as silent tears gave way to weeping.
“You didn’t know.” He cried, the grief that overcame him dropped him to his knees. He held on to her waist and sobbed softly into her belly.
Stroking fingers through his silver hair Neith choked back her own sob before kneeling down herself.
When she guided his chin upward he spoke with a sudden urgency. “ I love you,” he rasped, pulling her closer. “I love you so much. I—”
“I know.” She soothed, stroking the side of his face, nodding her assurance. “I know.”
“Forgive me,” he pleaded.
“Ma lath, there is nothing to forgive.”
“I hurt you,” he whispered. His face awash with shame.
Neith shook her head. “You saved me.”
She tucked his head into the crook of her neck and he folded against her. She rocked him in her arms, pressing kisses to his shoulder, till finally his shaking subsided.
“I love you.” He whispered against her heart.
Silent tears rolled down her face as she smiled. “I love you too.”
