But Azul and Oro were gone.
ORO
Oro didn’t know what was pulling him through the fog—only that someone was waiting for him.
Egan.
His brother was standing there, beaming.
He appeared like a gleaming shred of light, one moment solid, and the next as transparent as the fog itself.
After five centuries...
He was seeing his big brother again.
For a moment, the centuries fell away, and he was back in his room, heart racing with excitement as Egan visited to teach him all he had learned in training that day. Oro had always looked up to him. He had always thought he would make the perfect king.
His eyes burned.
Oro finally found the strength to say, “You’re here.”
Egan’s smile grew. “I’m here. And so are you.”
Hearing his brother’s voice...after all this time...He had forgotten, he realized. He had forgotten what it had sounded like.
He wanted to embrace his brother, but he didn’t think he would be able to, given the half-corporeal quality of his form. It would hurt too much to try, only to be disappointed. So, Oro just stood there, grateful for what he did get—a glimpse of someone he loved and missed very much.
“What are you doing here?” Egan said.
Instead of answering, Oro asked, “Do you know where you are?” For a moment, he wanted to pretend the only problem in his life was that his brother was dead.
Egan shrugged a shoulder. “A snag between places,” he said. He looked around. “It’s not always like this. There is a place, beyond. One that glimmers. Sometimes, though, I’m here.”
“You’ve been here a long time,” Oro said, chest clenching with worry for his brother.
But Egan brushed him off. “Time passes differently here. Don’t concern yourself.” His eyes turned serious again. “Why are you here?” his brother repeated.
Oro looked over at Azul—and saw the Skyling was gone. He was likely speaking to his husband. He deserved that time, however limited it may be.
Oro would take advantage of this time, too. For he needed some guidance himself.
He told Egan everything. Everything he could, in the few minutes they had. The effects of the curses, and all that had happened afterward.
Including Isla.
He couldn’t help but realize it echoed another conversation—when Egan told Oro that he was stepping down from the throne because he had fallen in love.
You’ll understand, one day, Egan had said. Oro had sworn he never would.
Look at him now.
For his part, Egan did not interject. He did not bring up that conversation. He just gazed at Oro and said, “Our family’s responsibility has been to our people for a very long time.”
Oro nodded. “Because of nexus,” he said. The force that bound him to the very island itself. So that if he died, all his people did too.
Egan’s brow furrowed. “I had always wondered if there was a way to rectify that.”
Him, and all the rebels on Lightlark, he had learned. Oro wished there was. He didn’t want to be responsible for so many lives like this. It wasn’t fair to them.
