Koryn gasped beside me, a sob bubbling out of her chest. She pressed her hand to her mouth to contain it, but tears leaked down her cheeks.
“I just realized…I… Kyrelle is safe,” she whispered. “The waters will be filled with fish again. She and her father will have enough to eat. She can marry, have children, live… she will live, Garrick.”
I wiped away her tears with my thumbs. “Because of you.”
Isanara tossed her head and stomped ahead up the path. I stole the moment of privacy and pressed my forehead to Koryn’s.
“I destroyed the talismans,” she said quietly.
“Good.”
I waited for her to speak again. When she did not, I mustered the courage. “Do you think you will ever be able to forgive Syleris for what he did to Alize?”
Koryn’s exhale was shaky, but she did not pull away. “I already have,” she said. “He did not kill her and make her a witch. Maura did. And while I do not know his reasons… I didn’t know yours either. If you love someone,” she paused, taking a deep breath. “If you love someone, you have to trust them.”
She turned her face up to mine, separating our foreheads enough that she could look right into my eyes. She offered me the truth, and I had no choice but to give it back to her.
“After Alair, I swore I would never love another man. The king ordered his execution, but he was already sick. The illness that took him…” I shuddered at the memory, dark even beneath the sunlight. “My mother had seen it before. It is why I wear the amorite stud, for protection. It only affects men.”
Koryn chewed her bottom lip. “But the Dark God…”
“I have already forgiven him, too. I can accept him, Koryn, and his place in our lives. That is not the same as loving him.”
She nodded. I could see the sadness in her eyes, but she did not press. Whether it was sadness for me, or for herself… fuck. If she envisaged the three of us together, truly together… I did not know if I was strong enough to deny her.
I’d given up the perfection of a life outside of Velora with my mother and Koryn because I wanted Syleris in my life.
I was not certain I was strong enough to deny myself, either.
But there was an entire world to set to rights, and no time to worry about myself and my feelings. Syleris was not going anywhere. He would be the Dark God tomorrow and for the next millennium.
Even with the talismans gone, Maura and the fae were still dangerous threats. We’d stolen from them. We’d have to answer for our perceived crimes, with them now restored to their full power. But at least one of them was not more powerful at the expense of the other.
Koryn nodded and took my hand again. We walked for several more minutes. It was hard to tell with the vegetation green and verdant instead of dead and wilting beneath the snow, but I tried to keep track of our progress.
“I think we are almost there,” I said.
Koryn rolled her shoulders. “Good, I’m starving,” she said.
“Of course you are. I bet your familiar is as well. There will be as many veg—Koryn. Koryn! What’s wrong?”
I barely kept hold of her hand as she fell to her knees. There was thick grass beneath her to cushion them, but that wasn’t my concern. It was the pure agony contorting her features.
“I don’t know,” Koryn said through gritted teeth. “My power… something is changing.”
Her power. Yes, she had looked like this when Maura had rallied the power of the Midnight Coven to kill that fae woman, with the intent of resurrecting her as a witch. The power had overwhelmed Koryn to the point of pain.
“Is it the curse? With it lifted, is it too much?” I could think of only one person who might be able to help her. “Should we call for Syleris?”
“I don’t know,” Koryn gasped, another wave of power or pain rocking her. “Just help me out of here.”
Isanara shoved her head beneath one arm, bracing Koryn with her muscular neck. I slid my arm beneath the other and across her back to brace her. Between the two of us, we managed to pull Koryn along the last several yards.
“We’re almost here,” I promised.
“Something is wrong,” Koryn said, even as I felt the first pull of Syleris’ disorienting power. We were about to be pulled from the Unknown Gate and transported back to reality.
“I know,” I said in the last few seconds before I lost the ability to talk. “We will call for him. We will ask the acolyte and priestess for help.”
