“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”
“You thought Selene was your ocean.” He gently presses his shoulder against mine. “She was forever, endless, boundless. She was your mate, and by the gods, she was magnificent.”
I sink my fangs into my lip until it bleeds. I’ll never taste her again.
My fingers itch to feel the silk of her black hair. My eyes water, and I plead to the gods to let me look upon her face just one more time.
“But she wasn’t the ocean, Titus.Youwere.” He removes my hand from the book and grabs me by the shoulders. “She was a storm that came thrashing into your life; she was wild and free within her locked-up tower.”
I wanted to free Selene. But she knew she’d never taste freedom.
She locked me inside with her, forcing me to endure her final days.
Tristen’s fingers curl into my skin. “She was whipping winds and harsh glares; she was gentle caresses and strikes of lightning that struck you. No matter how magnificent and wondrous their strength is, storms do not last. Eventually, they die out, and parts of them return to the ocean. Remember the part she gave you, the good memories. Another storm will blow into your life again.”
When did he turn into a wise old man?
“I can’t survive losing another storm.” Why do they want me to suffer this again?
“Sometimes oceans clash with fresh water; you’ll meet your match. Hey, I’m not telling you to think about moving on; I’m suggesting that once emotions settle into calmer waters, you will find your purpose. We’re all hoping it’s this book.” He carelessly slaps the Vitalis. “But until then, you have all of us. We will stand in your stead and watch over it; we’re here, helping you.
“The world we knew has ended, but the ashes are filled with nutrients that will support the new life. So let’s build something. Let’s make sure the two boys who lost their parents are not forced to kill so they can eat supper.”
My lip trembles. I wish we were those two boys again. Maybe I’d grab a knife and end it. Save us both so much suffering.
What about my other siblings?
What about the good memories we had?
How can one bad event expunge all the joys of life?
It shouldn’t, but here I am allowing it to erase the memories on the paper that holds my life’s story.
Tristen's eyes soften as he continues. “Let’s make a world where a little girl wants a name, where a monster does notenslave a boy.” He blinks rapidly. “Let’s make a world where there is a branch of warriors who fear nothing.”
He pulls me into a hug and presses his lips to my ear.
“Let’s make a world the two boys we once were could have been proud of.”
I thought Selene’s burnt-down field would look different. Like freedom. Victory.
It’s just depressing. It’s still here. The grass is scorched, the soil dry, but the land underneath remains. The dead roots of Galen’s rose bushes still cling to the charred dirt.
It’s going to take a long time until all these terrible memories are no longer as detailed in my mind.
“Mind if I join you?”
Yes, I mind.
“I heard you approach an hour ago,” I grunt.
Hector thinks it’s an invitation. He sits next to me on the outskirts, where the grass is alive. To make life more intolerable, the skies are clear, giving me a view of the last remaining pieces of Caldara’s mountains to the far north of us.
Hector rests his tattooed arm on his knee. His runes look the same, but deep within his flesh, their power feeds him. A glance over my shoulder reveals Cyrus, Ryker, Nero, Ember, Tristen, and Adrian.
“Don’t tell me Everett had another gift delivered.” I shake my wrist, looking at my new bracelet. The rune that wards off Shades is carved into it.
We sent out letters all over the land showing in detail how to draw this rune so it can be activated. We warned kings, queens, and towns ruled by no crown. We told them of the Shades andPhantoms, of the enemy that has united us all; we told them of our power of runes, of the new kingdom we are forming, one that does not care for crowns and glory. We told them we will protect anyone who needs us and those who think they don’t.
