A shiver skated over my sweat-slicked skin as we crossed the threshold into the area where the void once stood. One careful step at a time, we wandered into the foreign land. More caws echoed in the sky. An alert to the world that something was coming.
The wings of a voidling created a shadow as it passed ahead, flying in the opposite direction I rode. Its monstrous scales glittered in the sunlight, but the beast ignored me completely.
A stray breeze danced across the dusty ground, pressing against my back and pushing me forward.
My heart pounded, thudding with both anticipation and fear. I knew where the Fates were leading me now. I felt her. Closer than she’d been in a thousand years.
Would she forgive me for what I’d done? For the pain I’d caused us both? While she knew why I cast this horrible spell, while she agreed it must be done—after all these years, would she still love me, even if I didn’t deserve it?
My heart raced, erratic, panicked. It had been so long. I pushed Phoenix forward as his careful steps turned into a frantic gallop toward the only person who loved me through every evil deed. The person whom I’d sacrificed it all to protect.
I didn’t do it alone. A thousand years ago, Evelyn, Queen of Brookmere, Jasper, King of Mysthaven, and I may have each sacrificed everything to save our world, but selfishly, I’d done it to ensure Thames could never reachher.
On too many occasions he kept me from her presence. When he threatened her life to ensure I remained his and only his, I knew the time had come.
I surged through the landscape before me, urging Phoenix to jump over the dead bramble and decaying ground, searching as the string luring me onward tightened.
Suddenly there, where the world should’ve ended had the curse still been in place, stood my sister.
Relief overtook every one of my senses, seeing her face-to-face again. My beautiful, strong sister. Her face tilted toward the sun, arms reaching for the sky, eyes closed in apparent reverence.
I stopped just a few lengths before her. Dismounting, I fell into a heap, my legs giving out beneath me, my body yearning to run to her before I even had my footing. But still, I rose, racing for her. Her eyes opened, and when her gaze met mine, her arms fell to her sides.
“Cassandra,” she whispered. Her wiry grey hair stood on end, begging to be tamed.
Fear, longing, anguish, love—all stuck in my throat, unsure of how to make amends for our past, yet frantic to wrap her in a hug and reassure myself she was truly here.
Smiling, I thought about reaching for her but paused, coming to a halt and swallowing down the part of me that so desperately wanted to touch her. “Vivienne. You look terrible,” I joked.
She scoffed, and her mouth, open in shock, morphed into a smile spreading across her face as she took me in. I didn’t miss the pain glistening in her eyes. “A thousand years will do that to someone.”
Lightning cracked above us, splitting the sky open, as rain spilled instantaneously. The ground making up the void drank in the water like a starved Fae.
A gust of wind followed, whipping around us, weaving through our hair and clothes. I felt it everywhere, embracing me in its tendrils.
Whispers, faint at first, carried toward Vivienne and me until it was not only the wind itself surrounding us, but the Fates’ words as well.
Void of magic, a heroine born,
Destiny calls, though faint and torn.
Many will come from across the land,
Yet only the strongest will win her hand.
With lover’s touch, she shall ignite,
Without it, perish from the kingdom's blight.
Vivienne’s hand found mine and when we intertwined our fingers, the words continued, this time familiar ones that rang in my ears since I’d first heard the prophecy.
Rebels rise where darkness lies,
Not one but two must break the ties.
Across the void, a queen you must seek,
Trust freely given, for one alone proves too weak.
