“It’s okay,” I soothe her, voice shaking. “You’re going to be okay.”
Her head tilts toward me. Her eyes are glazed over, as if she can’t see. “Come, god of flame… take me away.”
“No. No, you have to stay with us,” I plead. “Stay with me, with Mariel & Vivian. We’re sisters, and sisters need each other.”
Her hand trails along the railing, that fragile line between life and nothing. “Sisters?” she echoes.
“Yes.”
Her lips curve faintly. “One sister meant to soar… another meant to fall.”
My stomach turns. “What… what are you saying?”
But the wind howls, snatching the next words from her lips.
“Cassy, please,” I beg, reaching out. “We can—”
“Alone have I been,” she murmurs. “But no more. Death calls to me.”
“Cassy!”
Her laugh is like breaking glass. “A heart full of secrets, cold as stone… black as night. Poisoned is the crown; cursed is the heart… Destined to heal, cursed to destroy.”
Her heel slips, and the stone groans.
“Hold on!” I lunge forward, my fingers catching her silken sleeve, but it slides from my grip.
Without even a gasp, she falls.
“NO!” I scream after her.
The world tilts as stars, mist, and shadow spin together. I teeter on the edge.
Then Keiren’s arms slam around me, yanking me back just as the ledge collapses. Stone shears away and vanishes into the dark below.
He drags me against him, his cloak flaring around us like wings. His heart pounds wildly against my cheek. “You mustn’t—”
I shove him away. “Don’t touch me!”
He freezes.
“This is your fault!” I scream, the words tearing out of me before I can stop them. “We’re just pieces in your cursed game!”
Pain flashes across his face, but he doesn’t raise his voice. “You know that’s not true.”
I don’t answer. I can’t. I’m already backing away, the corridor swallowing me whole.
He doesn’t follow.
***
I stand shoulder to shoulder with Mariel and Vivian on the windswept cliff. The lake ripples below us. A pyre smolders at itsedge, draped with driftwood and Cassy’s cloak. There’s nothing else left to burn.
I press a white rose into Mariel’s hand, wrapping it in both of mine. Our fingers tremble.
Mae and Arther stand hand in hand next to Lyra and Cassian. Seraphina is nowhere to be seen. Across the flames, Keiren watches, motionless, his cloak pooling black as the smoke rising from the funeral pyre.
When the fairies begin their final prayer, Mariel and I place our roses on the pyre. The petals vanish in fire, their scent swallowed by a surge of icy wind.
