Cassian stared at him for a long moment, taking in the creases along his forehead and the frown weighing down his lips. “I want ourone day, Finnian.” His voice crackled, and he clamped his shaking lips.
Peering up, he ran a hand through his hair and blinked away the tears stinging in his eyes. “I’ve waited for over a century. It was the thing I clung to when the darkness engulfed me—whenI couldn’t step foot back into Hollow City, when you faced me with such disdain, when I had to sit back and let Shivani torture you…” A sputtered cry broke through his words and he paused, gripping his hair tighter in his fist.
Finnian crossed the distance.
Without a word, he lightly unraveled Cassian’s fingers from his hair. He guided Cassian’s hand underneath the collar of his shirt and spliced his palm over the curse mark. Cassian could feel the edges of it raised on his skin.
“I won’t stop you,” he said, somber. “So long as this is what you truly desire.”
Cassian brought his other hand to Finnian’s nape and anchored him forward, connecting their foreheads. “Close your eyes.”
Finnian sucked in a breath and did as he requested.
Cassian lowered his hand along Finnian’s spine and rested it in the middle of his back, pulling their bodies snug. His divine power hummed in his fingertips. “Where do you wish to go?”
“You cannot distract me.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“Augustus,” he said.
Cassian closed his eyes. “What else?”
“I’ll grow a garden. Teach you how to dry herbs to make your teas.”
“I will cook us breakfast each morning. And perhaps we can get a dog,” Cassian replied, smiling.
“A live one, you mean?”
Cassian chuckled. “Yes, aliveone.”
Finnian nudged his nose against Cassian’s cheek. “And we will live happily—with no end.”
Cassian curled his fingers, pressing the tips into the skin of Finnian’s chest. He inhaled. “Forever.”
Like ink being spilled in reverse, the dark coils of cursed magic began to untangle from Finnian and back into Cassian’s palm.
He exhaled, relishing in the pinch of agony within his arteries. A wrong of his own made right.
“Let us share a final set of goodbyes,” he said, “before our life begins.”
The atmosphere stilled.A gray-slate wall encompassed the sky, casting a monochromatic hue across the Land. In its backdrop, hundreds of dazzling specks flourished in its darkness. Rain wept down, mourning the fall of its ruler.
Atop the knoll flourished in lavender, souls gathered outside their village. They sang and danced around him. Crowns of black pansies and hemlock adorned their heads. Garlands of wisteria bounced around their necks.
The rain pelted the tops of Cassian’s shoulders, drenching his hair and clothes.
He smiled and watched his souls praise him one last time.
Nathaira twirled amongst them, her sodden brunette strands flying in the air. She had always glowed in Cassian’s eyes, but as a High Goddess after Vale’s passing, she was marvelous. Laurel braided down her arms and over the corset of her gown, and she swayed with her eyes closed, content and with true peace.
Shivani chanted and jumped in the spot behind her. She wore a pair of jeans and a linen blouse, her complexion unmarred of rust and her hands empty of knives. It was a strange sight.
Finnian stood across from Cassian, his curls soaked against his forehead. Droplets gathered in his eyelashes and trickled down his face. He stared at Cassian with a glistening gaze, his neck free from the curse mark.
As the celebration quietened, the rain ceased, and strips of bronze tangerine streaked across the dreary sky.
“Mavros,” Cassian called out.
