She shook her head. “He’s a stubborn creature, and he’s always wanted me all to himself. He never liked the idea of taking lovers or treating our relationship like anything but a committed union between us. I felt the same, of course, but things changed when I was trapped in the human world. Not only were my memories of Fanon disappearing, but I had only the whispers of my weavings to guide me. Once humans discovered the new land that had sprouted from the southern edge of Risa, my whispers urged me to integrate with society and bear heirs. I didn’t experience love again, not like I had with Fanon, but I did start a family.”
Cora knew Ailan had had children, but Cora hadn’t pictured Ailan with a family. A husband. Sons and daughters. “How long did you live in human society before you settled with the Forest People?”
“Once my children and grandchildren died, I felt the whispers calling me away. I met my great-grandchildren, but they didn’t cling to me the way my closer kin had, for they had many other relatives. Besides, I couldn’t appear to live forever, even with how my appearance had aged.”
“Were none of your children immortal, even with the Elvyn blood they’d inherited from you?”
She shook her head. “They aged the same as any human.”
“Then how is Darius still alive? Morkai used blood magic to extend his life, but from what you’ve said about Darius, he’s as immortal as you are. Can he even be killed?”
“He can be killed just like the rest of my kind—beheading or excessive blood loss. He heals relatively fast, so a minor wound won’t do. Even running him through with a sword won’t do much, for he merely disappears, removes the weapon, and heals. But he can be killed so long as he can be outsmarted. And as for your first question, I believe his immortality is due to being born in El’Ara and remaining in the line of succession. If Noah or I perish, Darius still has a chance to claim rule. Until my brother dies, themorawill recognize that and fuel his life.”
When she put it that way, Cora couldn’t help but question Ailan’s choices. If she’d died without any heirs, themoracould have chosen a new bloodline from someone still behind the Veil in El’Ara. But like Ailan had said then, there was no way to know what the repercussions would have been. Would the new Morkara have been able to fix the Veil and return El’Ara’s heart? Would Morkai still have been born to wreak havoc on the human world?
None of them had the answers towhat if. Yet it did bring to mind a question she’d yet to ask. One Maiya had voiced. Since then, it had clouded Cora’s heart.
“What happens to Lela after we defeat Darius? When I asked if you could seal the tear in the Veil, you said it was more complicated than that, because sealing the tear wouldn’t bring El’Ara’s heart back. So what will you do instead?”
Ailan met Cora’s gaze, lips pursed. “I don’t know yet, and neither of us may like the answer when we find it.”
A chill ran down Cora’s spine. She opened her mouth to ask her to elaborate when Ailan tugged the reins and brought her wagon to an abrupt stop. Cora halted Valorre beside it. “What is it?”
Ailan’s gaze was fixed at the edge of the cliffside. “It’s here,” Ailan said, voice breathless. “We’ve found the tear.”
33
Cora dismounted Valorre and watched from the road as Ailan approached the edge of the cliff. The dark sea stretched out toward the horizon while the first blush of dawn slowly crept from behind the mountains in the east. Cora’s heart climbed higher into her throat with every step Ailan took toward the cliff’s edge. It triggered her instinctual terror to witness something so outwardly dangerous. But according to Ailan, the tear lay at the very edge.
Don’t fear for her, Valorre said, nuzzling her shoulder.She’s right. I can feel the tear just ahead.
Uziel shot up from the other side of the cliff, finished with whatever beast he’d taken to the beach to consume. He landed with a thud down the road. The rustling in the woods behind Cora told her Ferrah and the third dragon were nearby too.
The wagon door swung open and Mareleau emerged with Noah in her arms. Her eyelids were heavy with sleep and her silvery tresses were plaited in a messy braid down her back. “What’s happened? Did we—oh, devils.”
Mareleau’s gaze caught Ailan’s figure at the edge of the cliff. The woman stood with her hand outstretched, her patchwork petticoats billowing behind her on the early morning breeze.
Mareleau’s shoulders fell. “Don’t tell me…”
“Yep. The tear is inconveniently located at the edge of a godsdamned cliff.”
Not a fan of cliffs, Valorre added.
Ailan continued to reach into the air before her as she took another step closer to the edge, then to the left. She leaned slightly forward…
Her fingertips disappeared.
She whirled toward them with a wide smile. “It’s here. We can step through it.”
“Or maybe plummet to our deaths,” Mareleau said under her breath.
Valorre conveyed his agreement.Not a fan of plummeting to my death.
Ailan faced Uziel, who eagerly padded over to her, head low like an obedient puppy despite his massive size. She whispered something in the fae language to him, then stepped aside. The black dragon took her place at the edge of the cliff and charged forward without a hint of hesitation. His head disappeared first, then his sinuous neck. His enormous belly and hindquarters followed, then finally his tail. Now there was only sky. Ailan continued to watch the space until a black scaled snout protruded from nothingness. Uziel flicked his tongue and disappeared once more.
Ailan gave a satisfied nod. Then, angling her head over her shoulder, she spoke in her ancient language again. Ferrah darted from the forest toward the cliff in a blur of opalescent white, and a slightly smaller green dragon raced after her. Showing the same confidence Uziel had, they sprang off the cliff and disappeared beyond the Veil.
With the dragons gone, Ailan approached the wagon, lips curved in a frown. “There’s no way we’ll get the horses to step off a cliff. We’ll have to hide the wagon somewhere off the road and set the horses free. Considering the difference in the passage of time, it would be inhumane to tether them, not knowing when any of us will be back.”
