“There is no need to keep them anymore.”
Then it was Cassiel’s turn to watch his mate walk away from him.
He braced his hands on the table, feeling his body go numb. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t speak or move.
He wanted to say more, to plead for another chance.
But she was already gone.
Netanel quietly came through the terrace doors, sympathy lining his features. “I’m sorry, Cassiel. What will you do now?”
Inhaling a ragged breath, he found the strength to move to the desk in the corner. He laid out a piece of parchment on the table and dipped a quill in a well of ink.
“What I should have done from the beginning.”
CHAPTER 76
Dynalya
Dyna let the sound of her heels clacking on the steps fill the loud void in her mind. She had spent all last night deliberating about officially ending their marriage. Cassiel had nearly convinced her to give them another chance, but learning about her past life and Gadriel’s message only confirmed that ending it was the right thing to do. The Realms had declared it so from the beginning.
They were not meant to be.
She inhaled a shaky breath and banished away the tears gathering in her eyes. The weak bond dimmed to near nothing, sending a sharp ache through her chest. Eventually, it would lose all its light, and the doors between them would seal.
She had to do this. For both of their sakes.
Dyna reached in her pocket as she continued down the steps, and her fingers wrapped around Raiden’s message.
Except, she noticed now it wasn’t flat.
Frowning, Dyna pulled it out of her pocket and broke the wax seal. She unfolded the page and read the short letter in an elegant script.
To Dynalya Astron, the High Queen of Hilos,
I have met many interesting individuals in my short life, but none as brave and sincere and with a greater sense of integrity as the girl named after a flower. Our short time together has changed my life, and it will save that of my father’s. Before I go, I must pay my debts, and so I leave you this gift. It may not seem like much, but it holds great value to me. After today, I believe it was always meant to be in your hands.
Your grateful friend and humble servant,
Raiden Norrlen
Sucking in a breath, Dyna turned over the envelope. A piece of bronze metal landed in her palm.
The second half of the key.
Gasping, Dyna sprinted down the hall to the east wing, but Raiden wasn’t in his room. She ran through the castle, asking the servants where he was. She finally found him in the empty grand hall, holding his mother as she wept in his arms. Noticing Dyna over her shoulder, he murmured something to his mother. Aerina released him and stepped aside, giving them a moment alone.
Dyna went to him, and her stomach tightened as she held out the missing key piece. “I got your message. How did you find this?”
“My father sent it to me a long time ago inside of this.” Raiden laid a hand over his wooden token. “I didn’t understand what it was at the time. I thought it perhaps a jest or a slight, before it became one of the few connections I had to him. Then you arrived. When I saw your scroll at the falls with an illustration of a key, I began to realize none of it was ever a coincidence.” He gently closed her fingers over the broken bit. “Consider it yours now. Whatever happens onward, I am at peace.”
Dyna’s brow furrowed at his words that sounded like a goodbye. “You can’t mean to leaveyet.”
He sighed. “I cannot defy a command of the King. If this will save my father, I will go willingly.”
“Rawn wouldn’t want this, Raiden. It would break his heart and your mother’s.”
Raiden’s brow tightened as Aerina’s soft weeping drifted to them from the corner of the room. “Dyna?—”
