Close the door where dreaming lies,
For love I fall, for love I rise.
Magic lifted from her in a spiral of white light, unwinding from her body like breath released at last. The world seemed to exhale with her, settling into a vast, aching stillness.
All strength fled her limbs and she fell.
Soft blooms caught her as she sank back, their crimson glow dimming as the magic sealed itself away, petals wilting beneath her.
“Alora?” Strong arms gathered her close. Rune’s face swam in her blurred vision, terror laid bare in his eyes. “Alora! No, please,” he said, his voice breaking. “Please, love, don’t leave me.”
She tried to speak but she had no will for that anymore.
He lifted his head to the blood-stained sky and begged, “Don’t do this. Don’t take her. I will never forgive you for this.Never.Nothing in this world will be spared from my rage. I will destroy it all!”
Tears slid down Alora’s temples as her eyes fell closed. The agony in his please cleaved straight through her soul, deeper than the spell ever could. Only in her death did she realize her choice had pushed him fully into darkness.
But it was too late to go back.
As her final breath slipped from her lips, the last thing she heard was Rune’s heart wrenching scream.
Alora woke with a soft gasp, taking a moment to recognize her chambers in Argyle. She looked down at her arms, the glowing markings now glinting red. Her magic was fully surfaced. And so had her memories.
Rune…
His name bloomed in her soul like a rose forged from ash, stealing her breath. She braced a hand against the desk, breathing hard, the phantom ache of his pain trembling through the bond.
No, this was the pain he was feeling now.
Alora looked to the shadows in the corners of the room, gathering there with the sunset.
Alora straightened slowly. Her white markings glowed faintly, edged with crimson light.
What was a queen without her king?
“Come,” she commanded.
The shadows surged, swirling in a spiral before her like a blooming flower of midnight. Their response was instant, as if they had been waiting.
And she whispered, “Take me to him.”
A portal of darkness swirled open, humming with Netherworld power and blooming magic.
And she went home.
CHAPTER 57
Rune
Rune stood at the edge of the balcony, gazing at the dying sun. He had built the tower long ago in a moment of weakness he would never admit. A single room at the peak of the world, not to command from… but to remember.
The last beams of warm light landed on his face. He clenched his teeth as his skin blistered, smoking faintly along his jaw and collarbone and chest. He stood there because he had to. It was the only thing stopping him from devouring what he couldn’t have.
One pain to erase another.
Because he would rather harm himself than her.
The air shifted.
