“Sunny, I was worried when you didn’t come for so long,” she says while filling our mugs with coffee.
“Sorry, I had to go out of town unexpectedly.” I take a sip of my scalding coffee to hide the sudden rush of tears. Here’s another friend I let sneak into my heart. It turns out I’m a lousy loner.
“And look how skinny you’ve gotten.” She tsks when she gets a good look at my face, then narrows her eyes at Ethan. “I hope your young man is treating you right.”
“It’s not ... He’s not ...” I turn into a tomato.
“I’ll do my best”—he holds my gaze—“if she lets me.”
“Well, then.” Rachel beams at Ethan, placated by his solemn answer, then at me. “I’ll get your steak and eggs started.”
“I’ll have the same,” he says when our happy server looks askance at him.
“And you two are getting an apple pie à la mode on the house.” She clucks her tongue. “Really, sweetie. You’re all skin and bones.”
When Rachel bustles away, I straighten my utensils with great care.
“Sunny,” Ethan says, quiet pleading in his voice. “Ask me anything you want. I’ll tell you everything.”
“So ... the Prince of Mountains, huh?” I go for flippant but end up with strangled.
“Yes.” He swallows but steadily holds my gaze.
“When did you find out?” I manage to whisper.
“The night of the fire.” Regret lines his face. “I learned everything that night.”
A part of me already knew, but I go limp with relief that he wasn’t lying to me from the moment he walked back into my life. I was afraid he was using me somehow, laughing at me the whole time ... laughing at how easily I fell into his arms. But he didn’t know until the house burned down—just hours before he was taken from me. It doesn’t change that he kept the truth from me, but I take comfort in the fact that most of our time together was real.
“The jade necklace,” he pushes on. “I did lose it when the string snapped in the fire.”
“But?” I arch an eyebrow.
“But ... while you slept, I went back to the house—or what was left of it—to look for the necklace.”
I clench my teeth against the sting of his first lie. “Did you find it?”
“Yes, I found it.” He blows out a long breath. “But thin, jagged cracks spread along its surface. It felt like my heart was cracking with it. And ... and I closed my hand around it, desperate to hold it together. It was my last connection to my mom.”
I can only nod at him to continue, because my heart’s breaking for him.
“I didn’t notice it at first, but I felt the disk beating in my hand like ... like it was alive. Before I could even register the thought, silver-and-green fire burst out of my hand, throwing me onto my back. Then my whole body levitated off the ground.”
“Oh, gods.” I thought I dreamed about the burst of silver-and-green fire that night. “It must have been terrifying.”
But Ethan doesn’t seem to hear me. “The fire closed in around me, but it didn’t feel like the fire that burnt down the house. It wasn’t hot, but it was ... all-consuming in a way I can’t explain. Then the jade exploded into a thousand pieces, and my mind felt like it shattered too.”
“You broke the stone,” I breathe. “Ben’s last words ...”
“Yes, he wasn’t rambling at all. He wanted me to break the stone of tears.” Ethan covers his eyes with his hand, his voice catching. After a moment, he takes a deep breath and looks at me again. “The silver-and-green fire ... the blast ... it all happened in an instant, but it also felt like a lifetime. Like I’ve lived another entire life.”
I reach for his hand across the table, needing to ease his pain.
“Between one breath and the next, I suddenly knew ... everything. Everything my mother, the Queen of Mountains, knew before she hid me away. She imbued all her knowledge ... all her memories ... into the jade and bound my powers to it. Then with the last of her gi, she enchanted the stone to keep me hidden—to keep me safe—until my time came.” His eyes are far away. “I was meant to break the jade disk when I came of age on my twenty-fourth birthday, but Ben died before he could tell me.
“But I ... I think I’ve pieced together what happened after I left the Kingdom of Mountains. My mom ... she was the queen’s lady-in-waiting and ... and my dad ... they didn’t die in a car accident. I think they died saving me. That’s why Ben and I had to move to LA so quickly. Even with my mother’s magic, the people after me ... they found us somehow.”
“Oh, Ethan.” Helpless tears spring to my eyes.
