I don’t look up. I can’t. Zarreth’s arms tighten around me like he’s afraid she’ll take me too. After a moment, I gather the strength to speak. “Why does it feel so wrong?”
“Because the balance is not whole. He is shadow unbroken; you are the bridge between light and dark. To stay whole, the portal will seek to correct itself. Each time someone passes through, it will draw from what light remains, and that light is yours.”
“So, it takes from me,” I manage. “Every time?”
“Yes,” she says. “You are its tether now, Frances Hart, the guardian who steadies the breath between realms.”
CHAPTER 48
Zarreth
The walk through the crystal halls feels longer this time. Every step echoes off the glassy walls as Frankie’s hand stays locked in mine. Her thumb keeps tracing the same line across my skin, over and over.
Jess and Graven wait near the chamber doors ahead. Her color has returned, along with her attitude, though balancing the portal hadn’t stopped the poison from spreading through her. She’s standing in her classic stance, hands on hips, head cocked to the side.
Frankie leans in, voice low. “I figured the peace between them wouldn’t last long, but I thought it’d at least make it a couple days.”
I chuckle. Peace never lasts long with those two.
“You think this is fun for me? Being your problem?” Jess says.
“You think this is fun forme?” he fires back. “Being stuck with a human I can never get away from?”
“I never asked you to take that potion,” she snaps.
“Trust me,” he huffs. “If I’d known how annoying you were at the time, I might’ve reconsidered.”
Frankie laughs. “You two aren’t gonna last five minutes in the Mortal Realm without killing one another.”
“I’m hoping it’ll only take four minutes to find the cure,” Graven says. “Maybe five, if we trip over the princess on our way out.”
“I’m sure your girlfriends in the coven will have it waiting for you with a big red bow on it,” Jess says. “How convenient the healer we need just happens to be living with them.”
Graven’s nostrils flare. “Yeah. Convenient.”
Frankie hides her smirk, but I don’t bother. They’re exhausting. Luckily, a guard steps out from the chamber doors, gesturing for us to enter before another argument starts.
Frankie squeezes my hand and gives the faintest nod.
“Ready?” I ask.
Her eyes lift to mine. “As I’ll ever be.”
Together, we step into the Queen’s court. Rows of guards and courtiers stand at attention, then their heads bow, hands to their hearts in quiet reverence.
The falkyrie spot us. Their voices rise from the balcony above, laughing, hooting, and chanting, “Desfara! Desfara!” like a battle cry. One of them even whistles.
Frankie flushes. She’s thinking about bolting, I know it. I smile down at her. She has no problem charging into danger, but getting credit for it makes her want to crawl out of her own skin.
The Queen rises from her crystal throne, her gaze flicking between Frankie and me. She lifts her hands, and the room erupts. The fae add their voices to the falkyrie’s thunder, the sound hitting the glass walls so hard it feels like the realm itself is clapping.
The Queen’s voice carries over the noise as she steps down from her dais. “The realms stand because of you.”
I can feel the tremor in Frankie’s hand, her fingers tightening around mine as she makes a shallow curtsey. I stay upright, meeting the Queen’s eyes with a short nod.
Her gaze settles on Frankie, a gentleness in her voice. “You’ve done what no one in either realm could do. You faced the breach and lived. You restored balance when all was lost.”
She reaches for Frankie’s free hand, her pale fingers closing gently around it. “From this day forward, you will be known as the Guardian of the Veil, protector of the passage between realms, keeper of the balance you bled to preserve.”
