Wendy has always preferred to adhere to the rosy version she’s crafted in her head. It is why she held on to the hope theAeternalis would change for so long, despite the way he tortured her.
When I’d told Willa Wendy was selfless to a lethal degree, I hadn’t meant it as a compliment.
“I’m assuming you’ve apprised yourself of what happened after I sent you away.”
Wendy gazes up at me sullenly. “I know you killed the Aeternalis, and sent two worlds spiraling into horror.”
“Apparently I didn’t do a thorough enough job, as he’s now alive and well.” I pause with a smirk, thinking of the revolting wound in his chest I’d given him that even Willa’s magic hadn’t been able to heal. “Perhaps notwell…but alive, just the same.”
Wendy rocks back on her heels like I’ve hit her. “What? H-how? That…that can’t be possible.”
I don’t bother to reply. Instead, I duck into the small kitchen to my right to rummage through the cupboards.
“Do you have any whiskey?” I call over my shoulder. When she doesn’t respond, I look over at her expectantly. “Has the ugliness between us rendered you useless as a hostess? Because a conversation about undead relatives is an occasion that certainly requires spirits.”
Shellshocked, Wendy motions to the cupboard above the refrigerator where I find a few bottles of liquor. I grab two glasses and pour a generous measure in each. Handing one to her, I down my own in one large swallow before pouring myself another.
Wendy does the same, before finally gathering her wits enough to ask, “How is he alive, Niko? I know the stories…how gruesomely you injured him. No one should be able to survive that.”
I smack my lips, the memory of the Aeternalis bleeding at my feet just as satisfying now as it was two centuries ago. “It’s a longand messy tale, and truly…the ‘how’hardly matters. What does matter is that I get back to Letum to set things right.”
Her fingers tighten on the glass until her fingertips go white. “By setting things right, do you mean killing him again?” She shakes her head. “This world has just begun to heal from the plague. And you’re absolutely mad if you think I’ll help you cause another.”
“My madness is one of my most defining features,” I purr. “But take heart…what festers between him and I has nothing to do with this world anymore.”
Wendy nearly chokes, a surprised exhale escaping her lips. “You mean...” A knot of confusion appears between her brows. “Are you sayingneitherof you is anchored to Somnya anymore?”
“For someone who prides themselves on scholarly pursuits, you’re awfully slow to catch on, Wen." She shoots me a glare as I continue, “And though the Aeternalis may live, the kingdom of Somnya is dead. My people shed every reminder of him, including that name.” My voice is a low warning. “Do not speak it in my presence again.”
Wendy sinks slowly down into the cushions of a white sofa, as if the heft of new information has become too much to bear while standing. “Who? Whose power could have possibly been enough for the island?”
“Another of the family who has been put into this universe to be the bane of my existence. One of you Darlings.”
Wendy leans back against the plush cushions, mulling this over. Unlike Willa, Wendy has never been one to speak without fully considering the breadth of her words. I’d thought it admirable when we first met, but now, so close to returning to my kingdom, the pause sets my teeth on edge.
“When I first arrived in this world, I searched for any surviving members of my family, but the last Darling I could find disappeared in one of the camps…Willa Darling Fredrik.”
It’s been almost a year since I’ve heard Willa’s name spoken aloud, and it is like a blade between the ribs.
Thankfully, Wendy doesn’t appear to notice, continuing on, “There’s no record of her death and no record of her leaving. It was like she disappeared into thin air.”
Pride wends through me at Willa’s meticulous attention to detail, her ruthless dedication to survival. Even now, when that same self-preservation banished me to the shitty bowels of the mainland, it gives me a sense of peace, for it is what assures me she will never allow the Aeternalis to retake what she deems hers.
“Did she…” Wendy finally meets my eyes, something like hope glimmering there. “Did she survive?”
Rather than replying, I shoot an irritated breath through my teeth. I don’t want to speak to Wendy of anything to do with Willa. It feels as if I’d be giving up something precious—something Wendy has no right to.
“I don’t have the time to give a lineage lesson on your pain in the ass family. I need to get back to Letum—now—and you’re going to help me do it. You’re going to use that pesky little Darling magic to open a ward and send me home.”
The hope on Wendy’s face is extinguished as quickly as it ignited. She sets her jaw, and crosses her arms over her chest. As if the small gesture will ever be enough to protect her from me—from death.
“I won’t do it, Nik.”
The nickname scrapes unpleasantly against my skin. She means it as a way to endear herself to me—a reminder of our intimate history—but all it does is amplify the ruins between us. A hollow that always existed, but because I was so desperate to be loved, I mistook it as something full.
Now that I’ve knowntruefullness, there is no unknowing. No pretending the shallow depths between Wendy and I were ever anything more than a shiny surface.
“I won’t open the wards for you,” she says again, more sternly this time, like she’s not just convincing me, but herself.
