It took me a long moment before I could speak. “I… see.”
My throat tightened, my eyes burning with tears I refused to let fall.
Arielle and Bastian began weaving the magic between them. Threads of gold spun around me, wrapping me in a cocoon of light.
I found Wolfe’s gaze, and I couldn’t look away.
His cold eyes met mine, and it was nothing like the way he'd looked at me in the Interstice. Nothing like the male who’d traded a hundred years for my life.
The hollow inside my chest filled with something sharp and aching.
Regret.
Regret that I wasn’t the person he wanted me to be.
A flash of light covered my eyes.
And Wolfe disappeared from my sight.
I could still see him in my mind’s eye. Still feel him.
Moments passed, and the light began to part.
Objects came into my view, then the faces of my mother, grandmother, and Emabelle.
They stood before me, tears of joy in their eyes.
My heart soared just for seeing them. They were here and alive and safe. Not burning in flames. Not damned to suffer.
I was about to hug them when fingers brushed my shoulders.
It was Arielle. Bastian stood behind her, and a gentle ripple shimmered in the air just above their heads.
Arielle’s lips parted to say goodbye. But nothing came.
The same thing happened to me.
The two of us moved forward at the same time and hugged.
“Na már iyah,” she muttered
“Ye vár iyah,” I returned.
We pulled apart, and she stepped away from me. Bastian bowed, then the light took them away.
They were gone.
So was Wolfe. Along with all the pieces of myself I’d left in the magical realm.
“Sweetheart,” Mother said, tugging on my elbow.
I looked back at her.
“Come here,” She pulled me into her arms.
The gesture was meant to comfort me, but all I could see ahead was the situation for what it was.
A trap.
