“So he has to stay here forever?” I felt terrible that her words had relieved me. Revel deserved his freedom. He’d been stuck as a gate for millennia already. But I was secretly glad she wasn’t taking his place. “Wait,youwere going to be trapped here forever? That was your whole mission?”
“No, not forever. I was to stand in for him until a gate was no longer needed.” I gaped at her; that was essentially a yes.
Her mission had been to take over his awful job? For how long, exactly? I had a sudden, inexplicable urge to demand to see a manager. Who had come up with this terrible plan? Or combination of plans. This clusterfork of crappiness. My fingers itched to write a scathing online review, or something.
“No longer needed? When would that be?” Truth spoke my thoughts aloud. “From what I know, the gate keeps—or kept—the Abyss from entering Sanctuary. But more importantly, it keeps the shadow imbalance from affecting the Celestial Realm, right?”
“Yes, young one,” Arabella said. “Your name is Truth in the Smallest Detail, is that correct?” He nodded, blushing. “As your name shapes you, mine also sets the course for my life.”
She stepped to my side, and took my hands in hers. Staring into her exquisite face, I had a really, really bad feeling, but I had to ask, “Whatisyour name, Beauty?”
The green ring in her eyes almost seemed to expand. “It’s short, and simple, and it made my siblings very sad to use. So they called me their beautiful one instead. But I think all older siblings see the babies of the family as exceptional.” She stroked my hair. “I know I do. My true name is Thysia,” she said. “It means sacrifice. The Dreamer of All Dreams wove me into being when She saw that one day, there would be a need for one of Her children to make a Great Sacrifice, to save all the realms. So She created me.”
“That’s some bullshizz right there,” I protested. “You’re more than a sacrifice, Beauty. You’re a person, a being. You deserve to live a good life, and have fun, and eat chocolate, and rub honey on as many abs as you like, in whichever form you prefer—” Her hand landed on my mouth.
“Little sister, you are one to talk. How many abs have you rubbed honey on, in all your years as a sacrifice?” She tapped my nose when I exhaled. She wasn’t wrong; the answer was none. My knee-jerk reaction had always been to sacrifice for others. To be the Great Sacrifice, like…
I had a sudden, unworthy thought. “Is that why I do it? Because there’s some of you mixed with me.” Were all of my best parts… really her?
“You think I’m why you choose to help others, again and again?” she asked, visibly shocked. “Feather, no.” She kneeled down and pulled me into a tight embrace. “I was created to be a sacrifice. But you were the beautiful one. Your name was to have been Arabella. I may have taken some of your wings in the Well, but you shared something more important, more valuable. You changed me from just a sacrifice, to abeautifulsacrifice. You transformed my act—the sacrifice that I must still make here—into one that will live forever, in glorious songs and stories. You changed my task from an onerous, necessary one, to a commitment I am more than proud to make.
“Your love, little Feather. Your beautiful love and your bright spark are what will cause my soul to remain from now until the end of time. I will live forever, because of you.”
“What do you mean?” I said, grabbing at her hands as she stepped away. But there were hands holding me back. “You’re not taking Revel’s place, you said that!”
“You are correct. I am, however, required to live up to my name: Thysia, the Glorious Sacrifice.”
I fought to reach her. “You can’t! I just found you again. I won’t let you go into the gate for?—”
She spoke over me. “Feather, the Dreamer of All Dreams created me for this purpose alone, out of a unique material, perfectly suited for one thing. To be a sacrifice.”
“But you’renotjust a sacrifice. You’re my big sister.” My heart felt like it was breaking open.
Her green and gold eyes shimmered with tears. “Yes, I am. It was a gift I never expected. You made my life mean so much more. I always had a purpose. But you gave me joy.”
“I could give you more. You don’t have to go.” She sighed. We’d both heard the false note in my last statement. The power inside her was breaking free, and there was no more time. I wept as she stepped back.
“I will draw the shadows to me,” she announced to everyone around us, her eyes beginning to shine brighter and brighter. The creatures near the back of the massed horde started to drift away from the gate and toward her. “And then I will ask Revel to open. As soon as the way is clear, follow behind me.”
Hope choked back a sob. I didn’t bother, letting my tears trace lines of fire down my face.
“I will live in your love, Feather. Don’t be sad. This is what I was born for. Why should you cry when a soul like mine finally achieves the pinnacle of what it was meant to do? And because of you, I go with a sense of renewed hope.”
“I’ll miss you so much.”
“Why?” Her smile reminded me of a sunrise, filled with possibility. “When you were unmade in the Abyss, were you not still present in all your parts?”
“Well, yes,” I said, “but Rumple put them back together.”
“And who do you think taught him how to perform such a miracle?” Her smile was even wider. “My Mother would never throw away one of Her children. Would never give up. So who am I to believe that this is my ending? Perhaps it is my beginning.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I believe I will see you again, little sister. Look for me.”
“I will. I promise.”
She sighed heavily. “Tell Gavriel I’m sorry I couldn’t speak to correct his mistake all those years ago. If he had known I was not his mate, none of this would have happened. You would be happy with him.”
But I wouldn’t be with Mikhail or Righteous, I thought.I would never have known Rumple either.No. For all the pain of all the years I’d suffered, to be able to know that my two mates could never be taken from me, to have had all those years with Rumple singing to me, teaching me…I wouldn’t change a thing.
“There, you see?” Arabella said quietly, her fingers tracing over my eyebrows. “You understand. It’s all as it must be.” She raised her voice so we could all hear. “Close your eyes now if you wish to keep your sight. All of you.” As she spoke, she dropped her robe to the ground. No one saw her but me, since they had all followed her instructions.
