“Not since we left the house. And we didn’t exactly end that conversation on a good note.” I’d filled her in briefly yesterday. She’d seen how torn I was and immediately tried to distract me with talk of magic—which I’d welcomed. But now I had to face reality.
“Maybe it’s best if we don’t talk.” My stomach squeezed when I thought of heading back to Stormfell without seeing Wolfe again.
Arielle frowned. “No, why? Youshouldtalk. I can’t imagine Wolfe letting you go without talking to you first. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Well, after yesterday, he may think differently. And it might be for the best for me, too.”
“Talk to me. You sound upset.”
“I just… feel terrible that I can’t remember him. I can’t even try. It’s not like I hit my head and lost my memories.”
“We know that’s not the case.”
“Maybe so. But Wolfe looks at me like he’s expecting me to wake up and become that version of myself who…loved him. But this is me. I’mmyself. I’m not her.”
“You’re still you, Elariya.”
“I’m not, though. I feel hollow. I feel nothing where I should. I don’t know if this is how I usually am after a reset or if this is something different from going through too many. I just know that all I feel is this intense fear for my family’s safety.”
She rested a hand on my shoulder. “Try not to worry.” Her voice stayed steady. “We’ve just been through one hell of a lot. We’ll figure this out. We have to.”
She sounded so sure that I couldn’t tell if she truly believed it or if she was putting on a show—for both me and herself.
I bit the inside of my lip. “I don’t see how we’ll sort anything out without causing more trouble.”
“This situation requires a bit of thought and tact.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Thought and tact won’t work with Thayden, Arielle. He outsmarted us once. He’ll do it again.”
“We’ll be ready for him if he tries anything next time.”
I gripped the edge of my shawl. “I’d rather it didn’t get that far. My family are…” My throat tightened. “They’re my everything. It doesn’t sit right with me—giving Thayden what he wants after everything he’s done…” I swallowed hard. “But I won’t risk their safety.”
“And no one will ask that of you,” Arielle assured me. “No one expects you to do anything that will place them in harm’s way.”
As soon as she spoke, a gust of wind picked up her hair and wrapped around me.
We both gasped and looked around. A faint vibration tinged the air, and there was a noticeable ripple, as if the fabric between worlds was loosening.
Below, the waves had picked up suddenly, lulling the ship forward.
“Blessed Mother. Look.” Arielle pointed ahead.
I followed her gaze, and my breath caught. Falling from the sky like a shimmering curtain, thousands upon thousands of stars were cascading downward in streams of liquid silver. They fell in graceful arcs, creating an ethereal waterfall that stretched as far as the eye could see.
It was a barrier of starlight separating the realm of the dead from the world of the living.
The falling stars caught the twin suns’ light, flaring like diamonds before dissolving into the water, only to rise again at the top of the cascade.
"Gods. It's beautiful," I whispered, utterly transfixed.
The beauty before me made up for the all the horrid things I’d endured since leaving Stormfell.
The ship surged forward, and as we drew closer to the waterfall of stars, I could hear it—a soft, melodic chiming that seemed to resonate in my very bones.
The stars sang as they fell, their voices weaving together in a harmony that spoke of endings and beginnings, of crossing over, of coming home.
The orchestra grew louder the closer we got, then we were right there.
