“If you say the word ‘complete’ again, I may throw you off this roof instead of me.” I turn to him, ready to smack him to see if he’s still ‘content’ after I do.
“Hey, you look—” He jolts upright.
“What?” I glance down at the white shift I’m wearing.
“You’re disappearing.”
“Huh?” I see me just fine, but when I look up, Chastain’s gone.
“Give Silmaran my love,” his voice fades as I feel like I’m being chewed up and spit out by something. My body aches, and I curl into a ball as I hurtle through some sort of chute that seems to be lined with invisible rusty daggers.
I scream, and scream, and scream. But the sound goes nowhere. And then I’m gone.
26
Gareth
“She’s not breathing.” I stare down at Beth’s pale face, her lips still blue. “It didn’t work.”
“Give her time, Gareth.” Leander puts a hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve practiced this on animals, okay?” Taylor rubs a shaking hand down her pale face. “This is my first time on a human. I mean, I’ve brought changelings back before, but they didn’t really come back. They were husks, just shells I could use as puppets. This is different.”
Leander goes to her and pulls her into his arms. “You’ve done all you can.”
She almost faints, but he catches her and scoops her into his arms.
“I’m fine.” She rests her head on his shoulder.
My Beth used to do the same.
“I pulled every bit of magic I could get my hands on.” She closes her eyes. “I even bargained for more.”
“What did you promise?” Leander’s mood darkens.
“Time. The magic always wants my time,” she mumbles. “Wants to tell me of the war that is coming.”
“Not this war?” he asks.
She shakes her head. “This is just a taste, it says. Just an opening salvo in a conflict that will uproot Arin.”
Leander glowers and walks past me, then stops. “I must take her for rest.”
“Protect her.” I look at him over my shoulder. “Be a better mate than I was.”
His eyes soften. “It wasn’t your fault.”
I nod. But I don’t agree. I would have ended my life there in the desert sands if not for Taylor. She flew in on her black wings and stopped the blade as it punctured my skin, before it reached my heart. And then? She and Brannon brought the queen’s army to a halt. There is peace again, but I find that doesn’t matter to me at all. I worked for peace between the realms for centuries, but all of that is ash between my fingers.
My mate is still. Here, in the winter realm where the snows are as deep as my roots, I hoped Taylor would be able to draw enough power to bring Beth back. But the ritual was completed hours ago, and Beth still lies cold.
I crumple into the chair beside her table. “Failed you again, my beloved.” I hold my head in my hands. “I had to face Silmaran. To tell her that her mate is gone. Tell her that even if he could’ve survived that blade, he was obliterated by my magic. You know the worst part?” I reach out and take her hand. “The worst part was when she told me it wasn’t my fault. Why did that cut me so deeply? Because I know it isn’t true? If I’d only acted.” I curse myself again, just as I’ll curse myself until my time on Arin is done.
I sit for a long while before speaking again. “She negotiated the surrender of Cranthum to Queen Aurentia’s rule with the knowledge that her mate was nothing but dust. Not a tear from her, no sign of weakness. And she prevailed. She got a free Cranthum and a vow from the queen that all of the summer realm will end slavery before the turn of the next year.” I wipe my wet eyes. “We won freedom for all the slaves, but I can’t seem to bear the cost.” I choke up, no words passing my lips for a long time, her hand in mine as I go back over my many mistakes, the time I could have had with her if I’d only admitted from the first that I’d wanted her.
My eyes burn, dry of tears, by the time I contemplate what our children may have looked like. Her wild eyes and my dark hair. Mischief in every move they made. I turn away from that image, because it might break me even more than I already am.
“You are the reason I burned so brightly.” I run my thumb over her knuckles. “Your light. Even with your dying breath, you gave me all of you. My magic wiped out all of Cenet’s army. There was nothing left. And the queen saw it. That, along with Taylor’s and Brannon’s power, convinced her to release Silmaran and talk terms. It was you, really, who freed them all. Your light, your spark. The Phalanx were the only ones to survive it because of you, the power you gave me before you faded. You started it and finished it. This revolution is just as much yours as it was Silmaran’s.”
