“You will not touch her,” Kairos growled. “Elle and I will do this.”
Elwen slid her hand on my shoulder as Kairos wrapped me in his arms. I stared at the rune, the light pulsing beneath the cracked stone. Waiting for me.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
I knew what was coming, the feeling of being destroyed while the magic melted my insides. This time, I had to hold on until the rune broke.
Aelie.Can you hear me?
I startled.Yes.
You don’t have to do this,Kairos whispered.You don’t have to hurt yourself for other people.
I cradled his hands.I won’t live in a world that only works if someone like me is willing to die for it. Can you understand that?
He sighed.I hate it, but I understand.
I turned, catching his eye.You think I’m making a mistake.
I think you’re about to change the realms in ways neither of us can predict.
That’s not the same as agreeing.
His forehead pressed to my temple.I would rather pour every drop of myself into you than watch you die alone.
My throat tightened.Even if you believe I’m wrong?
Especially then.
A century of blood on his hands, and somehow he’d emerged with such a big heart.
Kairos.
Don’t.Just let me love you.
I closed my eyes, savoring his warmth, his fear, his stubborn devotion, and then I opened them.
Trembling, I reached for the rune.
My fingers touched the lines, and light exploded, arching in between my hands. It writhed, twisted, forked into a dozen jagged branches that lashed the air. Elwen cried out.
The magic seared into me. It danced and jolted, slicing through me in bright pulses. My vision blanched. All I could see was the rune, its threads blazing like veins of lightning.
Two currents poured into me. Kairos, warm and steady. Elwen, cool and precise. They filled the cracks the magic tore open, held me together as the seal tried to rip me apart.
We are not your enemies,Tazurel whispered through theagony.We never were. The fae stole what we freely gave. Free us, and magic returns to what it should be.
I didn’t know if I believed him, but the seal was wrong. That had to be enough.
The rune battled me. It wanted to keep stretching and devouring and I sobbed, unable to find a single thread. They were tangled. Whatever Vaeris had done to the rune had stretched it thin, and now the threads pulsed erratically—some too tight, others fraying.
Kairos’s mist circled me, forming a barrier around me until a pulse of raw magic shredded his mist. He grunted, his body jerking.
I felt my skin splitting, layer by layer, the magic stripping me to the bone. The smell of burning flesh filled my nose.
Aelie!Kairos’s voice, ragged with terror.Hurry!
He spilled more of himself into me. I could feel him guttering, his heartbeat slowing.
