But these were just fleeting moments. Most of the time, he remained determined. Trevain spent long hours massaging Aazuria’s arms and legs to maintain her muscle tone, the way a physiotherapist for coma patients had taught him. While doing this, he could not resist having conversations with her, and telling her that he was resolved to make sure she was capable of dancing again when she woke up. Varia would join them too sometimes, helping to massage her mother’s limbs. Varia spent the largest amount of time beside Aazuria after Trevain himself. Once her initial shock at her mother’s half-alive state disappeared, she began to try to pour her hope and love into the lifeless corpse in any way she could.
If it had not been for her lessons, Varia would have spent every waking minute in her mother’s room, and if she had been allowed, she would have slept there every night as well. This consuming obsession often convinced Trevain that his decisions had been unhealthy for his daughter. Sometimes he broke down in tears when he heard Varia telling her mother that she wished they could go “home” and be safe. She wished they could go “back.”
“Mama, I miss you so much that I can’t breathe,” Varia had whispered once, when she thought Trevain was not listening. “I hate it here. I hate it so much without you.”
Sometimes, she mumbled the words of a lullaby that Trevain had never heard before. His throat grew constricted as he listened to his daughter cry and sing, imagining that Aazuria had sung the words to her when she was younger:
Frosty winds gusted from the far north lands;
They froze my fingertips and chilled my face.
But they brought kisses you’d blown from your hands
They fetched the mem’ry of your warm embrace.
I have grown weary in the far south parts
Waiting for the waiting to be over
Do you still keep me safely in your heart?
Do you wear my ribbon on your shoulder?
He realized that not only did he hardly know his only child, having missed most of her life, but his own daughter preferred to live in captivity than with him. This was rightfully so, he imagined. Even Prince Zalcan Hamnil had been able to provide a better, more structured environment for her. It had surely been less of a rollercoaster. Trevain had never thought that he would have been jealous of the man for this reason, but he truly believed that Aazuria’s kidnapper had been a better father to Varia than he had ever been. This often made him question his entire life; nothing made him feel less like a man, and diminished his self-worth more than when Varia awkwardly called him “Father” as though she did not believe he deserved the word.
“But I don’t care,” Trevain said zealously, as he squeezed Aazuria’s hand. “I don’t care about anything as long as you come back to me. She can hate me if she wants, and Elandria can hate me, and they can all wish me dead for all I care. I did what I needed to do. I tried everything to get you back, because I couldn’t do anything else. I really tried my best, Zuri. And if that wasn’t enough for you, then maybe I’m not good enough for you. Maybe I never deserved you to begin with.”
He tried to calm his breathing and release his fierce grip on her hand. He took her lifeless palm into both of his hands, and held it against his chest. “My mom once told me the story once of an Arctic flower—I forget the name now. I am not thinking too clearly. But basically, this plant was so tough that it was able to remain frozen under artic ice for long periods of time. It just stopped growing and waited, knowing that the spring was coming soon. Then when the snows melted, the flower came to life, bursting into color and drinking in the sunlight, growing and thriving once again.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “You’re tough, Zuri. You’re tough like that Arctic flower. Sionna said that the procedure she performed would not have worked on anyone but a pure sea-dweller—and possibly not on anyone who had survived such difficult environments as you had. You’re tough on the inside and out; by nature and by labor. You worked hard to be as strong as you are; and I’m not putting my faith in Sionna’s science, or Yamako’s nanotechnology, or Mother Melusina’s prayers. I’m not putting my faith in the fucking magic fish either, even though I swear, that fish was glowing in a really magical and impressive way when I found it. I even tried to have a conversation with it, and it stared at me with a skeptical, fishy-expression—I might have been a bit delirious from the pressure at those depths, but it seemed like an important fish. The point is this; I am putting my faith in you.”
He kissed her hand ardently, letting his tears spill over her skin. “I have faith in you, Zuri. I’m not going to give up on you again.”
He had closed his eyes tightly and was listening to the sound of the machines when he heard a voice break through the silence.
“You talked to a fish?”
Trevain looked up and blinked, seeing that Aazuria had removed the breathing apparatus from her face to give him an appraising look.
“It was a magic fish,” he said automatically and defensively, still in shock from seeing her eyes open. There was an unmistakable spark of mirth in the familiar blue depths. A moment ago, he had been a man dying of thirst and starvation. Now, he felt as though he had been suddenly dumped into a freshwater lake and presented with a feast, and he was unable to do anything but stare.
The corners of Aazuria’s lips curled upward in a smile. She tried to squeeze his hand, but she found that her body was unbearably weak. When she spoke again, her voice was raspy and hoarse. “Why is it so loud, Trevain? It’s so bright.”
“Life is loud and harsh,” he answered, “but it’s life.”
“It was peaceful,” she said, closing her eyes again. “I was sleeping so peacefully. Can I please have five more minutes?”
“Hell no. Aazuria? Aazuria! Don’t you dare go back to sleep! Aazuria!” He grasped her shoulders and gave her a hard shake to force her to open her eyes again. “Please don’t leave me again. You’ve been gone for months. Please.”
“Okay,” she whispered weakly. “I had a nightmare. My heart stopped—I knew I was going to die. And then everything was so cold.” She was startled when she saw the frantic way that her husband was clutching her body and sobbing against her. “Trevain? Was that a nightmare?”
“Yes, my love.” He kissed her lips as he cried, letting his tears soak her brow. “The last ten years have been a nightmare.”
Aazuria blinked in confusion, looking around at the hospital room. “Where’s Varia?” she immediately asked in a panic. “Is she okay?”
“Shhh, she’s fine. Everyone’s fine.” He could not seem to stop kissing her face. “Now that you’re back, everything is going to be better. I swear, now that you’re here, not hell or high water can take you away from me again.”
The story continues…
A Note from the Author
Dear Reader,
Thank you for following the Sacred Breath series! If you’ve made it this far, you have spent many long hours with the characters and may have grown attached to them. I just bet that all this reading has made you hungry. You definitely deserve to treat yourself to something nice—you just read four whole books!
These stories have consumed my life for the past few years, and I constantly think about the world of Adlivun. I hope you have enjoyed the ride as much as I have. At this point, there are two more books available in this series, which will continue to show some of Varia’s adolescence and her adventures as a young adult. Glais also grows into a fine young man! I have big plans for the undersea world now that the Clan of Zalcan has finally been eliminated. I’m excited to see a fresh conflict, something even bigger and more daunting than ever before. You might be surprised at the scope of some of the new conflicts; I truly believe that the series only gets better, because I fall in love with the characters more, the more I write about them. I have many more of these novels rattling around in my brain, and I am eager to continue writing additional books.
Most of my favorite series are extremely long, and I have difficulty letting go. Vis
ola is so deep in my heart that I can’t drive down the street and see a redhead without feeling nostalgia and thinking of her. I don’t know what I would do without the ability to spend time with these wonderful people and watch them struggle through their conflicts with such inspiring strength. I often don’t feel like I’m in control of the characters at all, and I feel like I am just lucky enough to be part of their world. They often shock, surprise, and frustrate me. I have pretty much abandoned my friends to spend time in Adlivun, writing these books, but I do not regret sacrificing my social life in the least. Just watching how much Visola and Aazuria care for each other renews my faith in humanity. To me, this is far better than real life.
I have a confession to make: I have often felt during the last two books that Elandria suited Trevain better than Aazuria did. I’m not sure why, but it just felt calmer and more comfortable when they were together. I really enjoyed watching their interactions, and they felt like equals. However, many of my readers were unhappy with that turn of events so I have tried to “fix” Trevain and Aazuria to the best of my ability. Perhaps I was just projecting too much of myself on Zuri, but I felt like she was comfortable being alone and focusing on her nation and her daughter, while Elandria needed a companion. She seemed more of a traditional, domestic, couple-person, while Aazuria was more businesslike.
Nevertheless, I really hope that you have enjoyed this book! If you would like to stay abreast of updates, I invite you to join my Facebook fan page where I post fairly regularly. Feel free to comment or chat about anything; I promise I don’t bite! I respond to all my fan mail, and I love being pressured to write more and put out books faster.
If you enjoyed this story, I would be very grateful if you would leave a quick review on Amazon or wherever you purchased this novel. It really helps to encourage new readers to try the books, which helps me to keep writing them. =) Thank you so much for your continued support. I am beyond honored that you have taken the time to read my stories! Writing means the world to me, and I am so excited to know that there are others who can share in my joy and passion.
Please keep reading for a preview of the next novel in the Sacred Breath series!
All the best,
Nadia
Available now, Book 5 in the Sacred Breath Series…
Tides of Tranquility
By Nadia Scrieva
Five years ago, Adlivun defeated the Clan of Zalcan in a crushing victory. Since then, Queen Aazuria has liberated all of the oppressed underwater nations and joined them together under the crown of the Oceanic Empire.
Everyone is enjoying this time of peace, prosperity, and rebuilding, when whispers begin to surface that danger might be afoot again. The CIA has taken a special interest in Vachlan and his family, while a new threat called Leviathan baffles sea-dwellers and land-dwellers alike.
Princess Varia and her childhood friend, Glais, are now teenagers trying to find their place in the world as they grow up at the palace. The tensions run high between them as their innocent friendship teeters on the edge of evolving into something more. Meanwhile, far from the capital and her beloved family, Queen Elandria struggles to survive the grueling training of the high priestess.
Visola seems to be concealing important information from her husband; could this bombshell upset the carefully achieved balance in their lives?
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Nadia Scrieva is an award-winning author from Toronto, Canada. She also writes under the pen name Loretta Lost, and is the author of the popular Clarity series.
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Website: NadiaScrieva.com
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Sacred Breath Series (Books 1-4) Page 118