Even though we never were able to stand beneath the redwood tree and bind our hands…I have my answer, as undeniable as the sun’s rise or the wind in my hair. It was him. It has always been him.
Every gaze that lingered on another was in search of his face, even when I knew it would be impossible to find him inthose moments. Every embrace I sought from others was a futile attempt to rediscover the warmth I once knew from his arms. Every kiss was in search of the taste of him.
“It was you.” I lean in and press my forehead to his, as if somehow I could walk him through the sacred corners of my heart that were made for him, and him alone. The truth has been laid bare before me, each strand of choice and fate woven like a tapestry—a map, to guide us to each other.
“There are no others you want to return to?” he asks as if he’s afraid of the answer.
“There were others.” I’ve already admitted to as much. No wonder his reaction was so visceral at the time. He even winces now.
“You thought I was dead. Or, worse, that I had abandoned you,” he says quickly, sounding like he’s trying to rationalize it to himself as much as me. Funny that he thinks him abandoning me is worse than death.
“Yes. But…they never meant anything,” I assure him. “Even when I was with them, it was nothing more than a need, a whim, or trying to fill the void you left. But none could compare. I could’ve walked the world and met every man, and it would’ve never been enough. None of them would’ve been you.”
“I love you, Faelyn.”
“And I love you, too, Evander.”
Our lips meet in an unhurried caress, as though we’re both allowing the words to imprint upon our very souls. The sensation courses through me like a surge of magic, making my head spin. For a breath, the fates have finally aligned in our favor. The stars and spirits themselves have conspired to bring us together. Even if the world beyond us is fraught with uncertainty, we have this stolen instant, and every other yet before us. We have each other.
Evander pulls away with a quivering sigh. “I wish I could stop the sun from rising.”
“I might have some of Aurora’s powers…but I can’t make the moon rise again. Nor would I want to.”
“No?” He pulls away, still holding on to me, to blink into the sunlight as it crests the grass in the distance.
“No,” I breathe. The word is as light as the soft breeze that sweeps over the plains. “I don’t want time to stop where it was. I want to go forward because that’s where we will exist.”
The sky is awash with color, turning the grasslands into a dark silhouette. The sun is as bright as hope. The sky is the color of all the blood that was spilled to bring us here.
“We have to go, though,” I remind us both. Something in the glisten of his eyes tells me I need to be the strong one in this moment. “As much as I want to run off with you?—”
“We can’t abandon Aurora,” he finishes for me, stands, and offers me his hand.
I take it, letting him half pull me up. “What will we do about Bardulf?”
“I’ll think about it on the way. For now, we should get moving.”
Yet, neither of us do. We stand, fingers intertwined, eyes locked. I would bet that if I were to put my head on his chest, I would feel our hearts beat in time.
“When we arrive in Den, you’re going to have to keep up the illusion with Conri.” Pain and anger make his words low, filled with gravel.
“I know. If he becomes suspicious, it’s a risk for all of us.” Evander, Aurora, and me. “We’ll leave as soon as we can, together, and we’ll never look back.”
“So long as you want me at your side.” The sentiment reminds me of what I told him earlier, the harsh words I used topush him away when my heart was breaking for what will be the final time in my life.
My face relaxes into a smile that it hasn’t made in years. One that only he can bring out in me. “Always, Evander. Stay by my side, forever and always.”
CHAPTER 36
Beingon Evander’s back again erases the last thoughts of Bardulf. The wrongness of that man is left on the breeze. Left for the grasses and wind to reclaim. A chapter of my story that I didn’t even realize I was writing has been closed—a burden lifted of questioning the unknowns surrounding my mother’s death that I hadn’t known I was asking. The only thing about it that matters now is how we are going to navigate Bardulf’s disappearance when we arrive in Den, and how we’ll take Aurora away.
Which is what Evander and I debate as we walk, side by side. He dropped out of his wolf form not long ago, saying we’re only about an hour from Den, and this will be the last chance we have to talk before we arrive.
“Could we say he never met up with us?” I’d been turning the idea over in my head for the better portion of the morning. “Say that he must still be in the forest. Perhaps you could use that as an excuse to leave for the forest to find him and then?—”
Evander lifts a hand. “I must stop you there. Conri already knows he’s dead.”
“He does? The oath?” I ask. Evander nods and I curse under my breath. “What do we do, then?”
