A lump rose in my throat. I swallowed hard, fighting the tears pressing forward.
“I could see it written all over you,” he said gently. “I didn’t know her that well, but from what I did… she was one of a kind. Could make anyone laugh. Even me.”
I let out a breathy laugh. “You?”
From the corner of my eye, I saw him run a hand through his damp hair.
“Yeah. The night she told me I better show up to the All Hallows’ Eve Ball—she threatened me. Had her finger in my chest, calling me Row like we were old friends.” His chuckle softened. “No one had ever given me a nickname before. But Salvitto… she had a way of making you feel like you mattered.”
I forced a grin and nodded. “She did.”
Rhodes and I sat in the oak tree in a comfortable silence, each of us quietly taking in the sweeping view of the Shadow Glade and the cool bite of the rain. The wind started to pick up, rustling the treetops in a slow, rhythmic dance that mirrored the thoughts spinning in my head.
Part of me wanted to ask him if he knew what my sister meant—that Elias was the reason our mother was dead. If that was the rumor he mentioned. But the other part? It was afraid. Afraid to ask questions I might not want the answers to.
I’d seen it in him—that flicker of pain when he admitted he was a mage, the quiet fear that I might turn on him for it. I could almost feel the weight of his acceptance of the Mareki’s curse.
So I kept the question locked behind my teeth.
“The curse is going to have to pry me away from you.”
His stern voice cut through my thoughts.
I blinked up at him. He straightened, presence suddenly heavier. One hand gripped the branch above me, the other brushed against my cheek.
“Scarlet Thorne,” he said, voice low and steady. “You are fated to be my end. I am cursed to drown, and you are destined to fill my lungs with water. I am cursed to burn alive, and you are destined to set me aflame. But I think—” his eyes darkened, a smirk tugging at his lips—“I think fate made a mistake when it chose you as my damnation. Because you, Scarlet Thorne… you are my savior.”
My breath caught.
“I will only breathe as long as you allow it,” he went on, jaw tight. “I’ve already fallen to my knees before you with no belief in a future. But you don’t kneel to fate. You don’t back down. You don’t cower. You are everything I’m not—and I’m not ready to let you go. So I’m standing my ground against fate itself.”
My voice was barely a whisper. “What are you saying, Rhodes?”
He leaned closer. “I’m saying I don’t accept this curse. And I won’t stop until we find a way to break it. Fate might’ve written my ending… but it also gave me you. And that feels like a beginning.”
Chapter 27
I shushed the owl perched in the tree above me—it had hooted once, loud enough to give away my position. When it hooted again, I considered throwing a dagger to silence it, but I channeled my earth element to sense its intent instead.
The owl wasn’t alerting others. It was warning me.
I stepped back, shifting my weight and pressing against the tree’s trunk. Then I leaned out slowly, scanning the area—searching for whatever, or whomever, the owl was warning me about. The soft flutter of wings signaled my little protector’s departure, just as a faint crack of a branch reached my ears. Then another quiet step. Closer.
I moved fast—springing from behind the tree, flipping my dagger in my hand, ready to strike.
But I froze mid-throw.
Nash stood there, hands raised in silent surrender.
I exhaled a frustrated growl and sheathed the blade. “Are you crazy?” I hissed. “I could’ve killed you! You’re supposed to be with Rhodes.”
He blinked. “I’ve been searching for you. Have you seen any guards on this end?”
Tonight was the night we would break into Mageia.
It would’ve been so much easier before—back when I could slip through the halls pretending to be just another cadet. But those days were long gone. My face was far too recognizable now.
So the four of us devised a plan. One I hated to admit might actually work—without complications.
