I was going to lose them both.
“Reyla,” he groaned, peering around with horror. His gaze locked on mine, and he growled. “Look. At me.”
The strength I’d come to associate with this man was gone, leaving only weakness and death behind.
“Look. At. Me!”
“Lorant. Please. Do something. Heal yourself.”
He blinked slowly. “Not enough strength…left.”
“That’s not true. You’re indestructible.”
His lips curled up on one corner, sliding back into an agonized pinch too fast. “Look at me.Please.”
This man had never begged. I was the one who was supposed to do that. And etch an L and a heart into the floor of the tower. Climb onto the roof and nestle in his arms. Love him. Love Merrick. They were one and the same, and I couldn’t hold onto either of them.
Damn fates.
Damn curse that was determined to steal him away.
I stared into his eyes. “Don’t go. Please don’t go.”
“I love you,” he growled through a tight throat. “Love.You.Didn’t…see it coming. Fought it. Stupid for that. Should’ve… If only I could’ve…told you.”
I snagged power from around me—within me—and sent it out to the world. Sent it into this man I adored.
Pressing my face into his neck, I whispered in his ear. “I love you, Lorant. Always. Know that. Please? Iwillremember. I will remember!”
“Reyla,” he croaked.
I eased back. Such joy in his eyes.
“My wildfire,” he whispered. “Every step I’ve ever taken ledme…here. To you. I die willingly. Again and again. As long as I can tell you that…I love you.”
“Lorant, no. Please.” I tipped my head back. “Damn you, fates! Don’t take them from me. I love Lorant. I love Merrick. There is no life, nome, without them!”
If I hadn’t been looking up, I might’ve missed it.
Or maybe not.
Because when the sky lit up, everything and everyone around me stopped moving. All peered at the sky, even the borgons freezing mid-slash.
The air itself seemed to hold its breath, and I could taste death, promise thick. Eerily silent, the sky cracked open with a light so unusual it stole my senses. Bands of silver, scarlet, lavender, and green stretched across the sky, their hues alive. Bleeding into one another. Pulsing in ribbons of heartbeats.
The glow rippled and swayed before lashing over all of Evergorne, like a blade slicing through stone. It danced across the bloodied cobblestones around me, turning blades molten with reflected light. Even the borgons remained frozen, as if tethered by the brilliance alone. Their grotesque heads were tilted back, their eyes wide like they, too, were witnessing something larger than whatever rage had sent them to attack the city.
I tore my gaze from the sky and fixed it on Lorant. His body was trembling now, spasms rattling his frame against the cobblestones. His face twisted with something I couldn’t name, and a hoarse cry jerked up his throat.
Power licked across his skin. No,beneathit. Silver and red threads twisted through his veins, blazing across every scar etched onto his skin. It felt like the world wrapped itself around him. Held him.
His eyes flickered. Forest green. Then a mossy green and warm and so Merrick, I could barely stand it. The color didn’t hold. Itshue snapped back to a searing dark green, and his pupils widened as he dragged his gaze to meet mine.
“Divided and incomplete,” he intoned, his words echoing around us. “Doomed to never be fully loved for all facets of who I am. Cursed to live as two who will never be one unless fused together by the pure love of a willing bride’s heart.” His voice split through the air, but it wasn’t quite his. Both their voices poured out now, weaving together, discordant and whole all at once.
It was them.
Bothof them speaking from one body.
