“Don’t do this, Ren,” he begged me and I felt his sorrow overwhelming me, suffocating me. Desperate, he was so desperate.
“Just go. Just live. Please. Promise me.”
“I can’t. Not without you.”
“Lark, promise me.”
“I promise.”
I leaned in and kissed him, tasting his blood on my lips, my tears wetting his skin. I let his longing fill me, let my love grow and grow until it was a balloon sitting on my chest, daring me to pop it. Then I pulled away and moved to Cass. She was shaking when I embraced her.
“Thank you,” I whispered into her dark hair. “For being the only friend I ever truly had. I won’t ever forget the kindness you’ve shown me.”
“Don’t let her control you,” she answered, her voice shaky. “You fight that bitch every step of the way.”
“I will,” I promised with a sad smile, collecting that friendship and storing it in my soul beside Lark’s love, and let go.
I moved to Rook, standing before him.
“Keep him safe,” I told him, wiping away tears that wouldn’t stop coming. “Don’t let him come back here.”
He nodded once, tearing up himself. I felt his defensive nature, his disappointment at being unable to save Lark, to save me, his gratefulness that I had stepped in in his place and found a way to save him. That undying gratitude, I found a place for it inside me as well and that balloon of love and light from my friends grew even bigger. Then I moved to Gemini. She was surprised when I embraced her and even more surprised at what I muttered into her ear.
“Find my grandfather,” I said. “Get him out of here.”
And then I stepped away from her and closed my eyes. Reaching within myself, I found that balloon.
And I popped it.
The sound of shattered glass filled the room as the manacles on each of my friend’s wrists burst into a million pieces. And up there, on that dais, my mother’s victorious grin turned to an expression of outraged shock as she realized that not only were all of her prisoners free but that amulet against her chest had shattered as well and from it flowed a glowing blue magic that drifted upwards and disappeared from her.
“No!” she cried, enraged as she reached for it, shot out for it, and missed.
I collapsed onto the floor just as Gemini blinked from existence. Rook ran toward me as Cass went to Lark. Rook gripped my wrist and I knew what he was doing even as he failed. He glanced down at the contact with confusion.
“I can’t leave,” I muttered through my post magical haze. “I’m bound to her now. Go. Please. Both of you get out of here. Now.”
They exchanged a glance just as Lark screamed my name.
“Ren!” he shouted, reaching for me.
But Rook met Cass’ gaze and she understood without being told. She grit her teeth and grabbed her brother and they disappeared with one final, guttural cry from him.
“No!”
“We will come back, Ren,” Rook promised, his gaze boring into me. “We will find a way.”
“Seize him!” Ariadne screamed furiously, and her soldiers stepped forward.
“Go,” I whispered but he was already gone and my mother’s howls of rage followed me into unconsciousness.
Epilogue
Igrippedtherussetmarble beneath my fingers and listened to the sounds of forks scraping against plates with my jaw clenched and my head held high.
My mother had crafted the same sort of manacled chair for me in the dining room as she had in the throne room. So now I was shackled at the end of the table, my mother and father on either side, eating in complete silence, keeping their eyes focused on their plates and nothing more. My father, for his part, glanced up at me once or twice throughout the duration of the silent meal as if he could hardly believe I was actually here. He was worried about me. I could feel the concxern emanating from the very core of his soul. A true paternal fear.
The only thing radiating from my mother was anger.
