My chest tightened with a persistent ache. I hadn't let myself cry since realizing every passing hour brought me closer to losing him.
Grinding my teeth, I lifted my chin and linked my arm through his, keeping my mind on what was happening now, not what might or could or even should happen next.
Mist curled along the cliff’s base, parting as our ship approached, still following the thread wavering across the water.
Dual falls gushed down the cliff ahead, water droplets sparkling in the moonlight as the twins merged into one river, churning into the sea.
“Beneath the crescent’s trembling glow,” I whispered. “Whererivers twist, and shadows flow, a pledge of twin-born hearts was cast, weaving a bond too vast to grasp.”
“What’s that?” Dorion asked.
“Something I was supposed to see.” I didn’t look his way.
It was finally happening, and Prager would not be able to stop this any more than she could the tide.
Farris rose from the coiled rope where he’d slept, sitting on his haunches beside me to peek through a gap in the railing, his ears pricked forward, his body tense.
The ship slowed as a path appeared between the rocks. Narrow and winding, it glowed where the light generated by the talismans touched. Some of the crew whispered behind us. Lore gave the order, and we drifted forward, the vessel sliding into the hidden cove.
When we reached a broad slab of stone, the talisman’s threaded light remained there and went no farther, Lore signaled to Christoff. “We’ll leave the ship here. Lower the anchor and wait for us.”
The captain saluted.
When the ship came to a halt, I gathered the talismans and feather, holding them carefully in my palm. Lore took my hand, and in silence, he flitted us to the stone slab.
Farris, who’d pressed himself into my side, stepped away from us as Laphira and Dorion followed, their faces pale and pinched.
We walked along the stone ledge that curved into a narrow channel, our footsteps echoing in the damp passage around us.
Light bloomed ahead, and we left the tunnel, emerging into a deep cove with water sloshing along all sides. The ledge continued to the far cliff wall, where it ended.
As we made our way around to that point, I tightened my grip on the blade and talismans.
My hands still shook. I hated that. No amount of training ortitles could hide the truth quivering beneath my skin. I remembered the girl I was, an orphan growing up in a border fortress, with no goal in mind but survival. Anything to keep from drowning beneath fate.
I remembered how my prayers for Kinart to live had gone unanswered. Now it felt like I'd been dragged back to the past, every scar reopened, every fear louder than the one before. How could I hold a blade that was supposed to save him if I couldn't even keep myself together?
A hum echoed through the cliffs.
“The stone sings,” Laphira said, shooting me an encouraging smile.
“That it does,” Lore said with wonder in his voice.
A rune glimmered on the wall ahead, half-concealed by moss and mist. I moved toward it, guided by instinct. My heart pounded in my ears. The symbols seemed to shift in the mist, almost alive. As I approached, the blade in my hand grew warm, responding to something in the carved stone that called to it.
“I don’t know if I have the strength to do this,” I said, speaking mostly to myself, though Lore was near. “What if I’m not enough?” All my life, I’d been pretending to lead, pretending to believe. Now I faced the hollow cold I thought I’d outrun.
Fighting didn’t scare me.
I feared failing again. Not Kinart this time, but Lore.
He stroked my spine. “You don’t need to be anything more than what you already are. You saved me. You made me who I am today, and that will always be enough.”
There is no ‘enough’ in this world if you’re not with me,I said.
I always am. Now. Tomorrow. Evermore, Wildfire. I promise.
I turned in his arms, memorizing his face in the moonlight. “Swear that if this works, you'll never let me forget how close we came to losing everything.”
