Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 35 of 86

The engine hummed below the deck. Talon had promised they would fly at first light. That left one night in Fairhaven. Zach found Raven at the rail, watching the waterfalls spill down the glass towers. Colored lights ran through the domes above the harbor. He had spent weeks running, fighting, bleeding. Tonight nothing chased them. "Come with me," he said. "No maps. No sword. Just dinner." They found a small place near the docks. Warm light, quiet tables, a window facing the airships. A waiter brought bread and wine. Raven set her hands flat on the table and looked at him. Her cat ears twitched once. "Zach," she said. "If you found a way home tomorrow, would you take it? Truly?" He turned his cup slowly. "Back home my girlfriend left me. I lost my job. Everything fell apart. I was drowning and no one noticed." He met her eyes. "Here I have a reason to get up. People need me. I matter. I never felt that there." Raven said nothing. Her fingers tightened on the table. "There's something else," Zach said. His voice dropped. "I'm in love with you. I have been for a while. I was afraid to say it." For a moment she just breathed. Then a smile broke across her face, sudden and bright. "I feel the same," she said. "I have since the forest." She looked down at her cup, then back up. "You should know something. Before you, there was no one. You're my first." Zach reached across and took her hand. He held it tight. "Then I'll also be your last." Her eyes filled. She laughed and wiped them fast, embarrassed. Outside, an airship lifted from a dock and swung into the night. They ate slowly. They talked about nothing that mattered, and it felt like everything. For one meal Zach was not the chosen one. He was just a man across a table from the woman he loved. Later they walked back along the water. Raven leaned into his shoulder. "When this is over," she said, "if you can go home—" "This is home now," Zach said. "Wherever you are." She stopped walking. "My father is King. If we do this, if we stay together—it isn't simple. There are people who won't accept a stranger beside the princess." She searched his face. "Are you ready for that?" Zach thought of the sword waiting on the ship. Of Malachar, of the seal already broken, of the fight still ahead. None of it scared him more than losing her. "I'm ready," he said. Raven took his hand and they walked to the ramp. The airship glowed at its dock, wings folded, engine warm. At first light it would carry them south to Geneva and the war ahead. But tonight something had changed. Zach knew now where he belonged. Not a place. A person. And that answer would follow him into every battle left.