A memory.
“Remember when we sat together on the tower roof, and I told you stories about the stars? You said pain kept you alive, but you still held onto a scrap of hope. That was the moment I knew. You weren’t only surviving. You wereburning. And I will follow that fire anywhere.”
I reached toward her chest, through the whirring of enchanted steel and the beat of her old, aching pain.
“Your hope is like a flower that only blooms once in a lifetime. It's real and pure and no one else can ever touch it, not even me.”
Daring, I stroked her cheek. Along her throat. Hoping she’dfeel my love in my touch. Then I took a breath and spoke the only words that mattered. “Reyla Jarrn Weldsbane of Evergorne. Lorick Thorne Damaris Shadowhart.”
Not names. Truths.
Bound by blood, by vow, by every broken piece we’d handed each other.
One soul, always.
When I laid my hand over her heart, I nearly cried, because her body was still warm.
“I memorized your voice when you spoke of hope. I filed it away like a secret weapon to use when I needed it most. That's now, Wildfire. Now. And it’s yours. I’m handing it back to you.”
I wouldn’t cling to her hope I’d swallowed on that roof. I flung the precious feeling into the void. And I felt it reach her. Her skin warmed even more, and her eyelids fluttered.
Her chest rose once and relaxed. Her lips moved, whispering things I couldn't understand.
“You don’t need to fight this alone,” I said. “You’re allowed to carry guilt. We all do. But hold it while I carry you.”
Her heart quivered beneath my hand. The next memory I chose was strong enough to stand against anything.
“Never forget, Wildfire,” I croaked. “That night you climbed across the outside of the ship? And you called me reckless? It was brilliant. You made me believe in impossible things again. We kissed for the first time not long after that. That was the night I knew I’d ache for you forever. You looked at me like I was worth burning for. Fates, Wildfire. That moment meant everything.” My lips curved, even as my throat tightened and my eyes stung. I leaned in, resting my forehead against hers.
The restraints throbbed. Light flashed from them. A wind swept through the soulplane, dry heat and ice mixed together. Astorm was coming, but I would face its fury with everything I held in my heart.
Colors bled from the walls. Gray shadows tore free from the corners, stretching long only to snap back and melt into the surface again. The scent of scorched flowers churned through the chamber.
“I’m not leaving you here.” I gripped her hands. Squeezed gently. “I’ll fight this storm with nothing but my bare hands if I have to, because you are worth it.”
The wind howled. Thunder boomed, echoing around us.
“You stood on the ship’s deck with the wind in your hair and flames in your eyes, and you spoke your wedding vows without a single tremble. You looked me in the face. Fates, Reyla. I could read the fury in your eyes, but I could also read the hope. It undid me and sealed me back together again. I would've given anything for you to know that you were marrying all of me that day.”
I poured the memory into her, let every single word sink into the broken links binding her to this wretched place. “I never wanted devotion or duty from you, but you gave it anyway. You gave me you.”
A shudder rippled through the slab below my feet, the bones of this wretched place fracturing.
“I’ll never forget when you realized we belonged together and climbed across the side of the castle. Damn, love. Our suite is much too far off the ground.” My laugh came out frayed and raw. “Your bravery, your endlessly giving spirit, is embedded inside you. It’s not going anywhere, and neither am I.”
Another roar shook through the castle’s bones.
“You thought we betrayed you and you still chose us. You burned like vengeance and love all at once. I never loved you more than when you tried to kill me that night.”
The storm cracked open a chunk of the ceiling. Wind whippedaround us, tasting like iron. Everything pressed down, except the heat between us and the soft glow now blooming beneath my hand on her chest, warming the frozen place inside her.
She sucked in a breath.
Her lashes fluttered. Her lips parted. And her voice, weak and tortured with pain, reached out to me. “Lore. I can see you.”
The bindings loosened.
Her fingers found my face, traced the scar that ran from temple to jaw. “You’re here.”
