“I’m sorry that I left you to deal with so much,” Egan said, his voice thick with emotion. “I have little advice to give. Except...sometimes, you have to lose something, to gain everything.”
And with that, a woman materialized by his side. She had long dark hair and green eyes.
Violet. Isla’s ancestor.
Egan had been engaged to someone else—Aurora. But it was purely a match of strategy, an alliance between Sunling and Starling realms. Egan had never cared for Aurora that way, though she had always loved him.
When Egan fell in love with Violet, Aurora’s best friend, he had planned to end the engagement and abdicate. But Aurora, in her fury, had other plans. It was the betrayal that had launched the curses and centuries of suffering.
Even so, the first words out of Violet’s mouth were, “How is she?”
Oro knew who she meant, but he couldn’t believe the question. “Aurora?” he asked in shock.
The Wildling nodded. “She isn’t here,” Violet said, looking around. Seeming distressed.
Of course. Violet didn’t know...she didn’t know her best friend had been responsible for their deaths.
Oro didn’t have the time to explain—and seeing the happiness on her face, and on his brother’s as he gazed upon her, he found he didn’t want to. He couldn’t take away their peace.
I thought you were supposed to be honest, Grim had said.
Damn him. Sometimes, there was a good reason to lie.
“She survived,” was all Oro said.
Violet’s eyes filled with tears of joy. “I—I had hoped she would. She was so powerful.”
Yes. The witch had been more powerful than any of them had suspected. “She lived a long, long life,” Oro said.
Violet smiled. “Good.Good. I miss her,” she said, and her voice echoed like a wind through a forest. And Oro didn’t know how theWildling could betray her friend...and still care about her so much.
But he did know that love was strange and uncontrollable. And that though he might have judged his brother heavily for his decisions in the past...now, he understood them.
Oro wondered if Violet ever regretted it—choosing love over everything else. Over the world, in many ways. Not that she had known she’d had the fate of the world in her hands.
Buttheyknew. Oro, Grim, and Isla were very aware that every decision they made would shape fate.
The fog began to stir, as if a breeze was flowing through it. The storm was coming. His brother was starting to fade. “Are you trapped here?” Oro asked, hurriedly.
He shook his head. “We stayed here because we wanted to.” He turned to Violet, and that expression on his face...it hadn’t changed since the day he told Oro he had chosen her over his crown. “Here...we have been able to finally be together. If only for moments at a time.”
Shreds of their souls had remained in this cursed place, just for the chance of finding each other again.
Oro swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Ready?” A deep voice cut through the fog, and Oro looked toward the sound.
Grim. Oro took a deep breath. He just needed a little more—
He opened his mouth to speak, but when he turned back, his brother and Violet were gone. Faded into the mist.
“Family reunion?” Grim said, coming to Oro’s side. He didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response.
At that moment, the fog parted with a gentle flurry of air, and Azul appeared. His expression was solemn, but Oro could see something within it. Something at peace. Wordlessly, he held out his hand. Grim and Oro took it.
A moment later, they were back on Lightlark.
ISLA
