One chance, Eimear had said. They had one chance to survive this, and that chance started here. With her.
But the battle was already underway. Vairik was already tearing across the land, stealing the lives of the very people she was meant to protect.
And she’d done absolutely nothing to help them.
She should be on the battlefield. She should be standing by Rion’s and Talon’s side, fighting against the darkness no matter how grim.
One chance.
A sacrifice.
Was she meant to be that sacrifice? Was it meant to be done here? In this pool of water?
Arianna looked down at her hands. The water had already wrinkled her skin. Divine or not, she was just one person. How was she supposed to make a difference in anything when she didn’t know where to start? She’d gladly give her life, if that was the price to pay. But where was she supposed to pay it?
Arianna’s hands began to tremble again. Her heart ached with an emptiness she could never put into words. It was as ifher soul had been carved right out of her chest, leaving a gaping wound no one could fill.
Hopelessness. This was exactly what hopelessness felt like.
She was about to lose everything. She didn’t even have the memories to tell her exactly what that meant.
Maybe that’s what hurt the most.
Would she regain her memories once death claimed her? Would she walk through the gates of the afterlife and greet her old friends the way she used to know them? Would Rion even be there?
A sob tore through her body, nearly making her double over. She wrapped her arms around her middle, clutching it tightly. She was fracturing, her body coming apart at the seams. She was glass under too much pressure. Cloth being pulled too tight. Pieces splintered off, dripping into the cool liquid. Tears, those pieces were her tears, consumed by the world as if they meant nothing.
Arianna struggled for breath, still holding her center like her life depended on it. Her body kept shuddering, spilling out against her will.
Gone.
Everything she’d ever loved was about to be gone.
And there was nothing—
Another sob.
Nothing—
Why did it have to end like this? Why wasn’t anything they’d done enough? How could evil triumph in a world they’d fought so hard to protect?
A feather-light touch against Arianna’s arm had her startling, glancing down to find a pair of beady eyes staring up at her. She blinked through blurry vision, focusing on the tiny creature with a large lotus flower blooming from its head.
It looked hopeless, too. A mirror to her pain. She thought she saw tiny track marks down its cheeks, as if it too had been crying for a world they could no longer defend.
A few more floated closer. Arianna looked up to find dozens, no, hundreds in the trees, all staring straight at her as if she held the answer to saving their dying world. They didn’t sing. They didn’t play their musical instruments. They were just … still. So utterly still, as if echoing the gaping wound burning in her chest.
Another laid its spindly fingers against her skin. Then another. Perhaps they were trying to offer her comfort. She couldn’t even muster a half-hearted smile.
“What do we do?” she asked, voice breaking. When the world fell, Vairik’s darkness would consume them, too, taking every last one with his shadows and fire. Not even The Guardians would be strong enough to protect the sacred beings.
The Fairy Folk continued to stare, watching her as if they were the ones who’d asked the question instead. She didn’t know how to answer. She didn’t even know why she was here.
Foolish.
She was a fool.
Her entire life had been nothing but mysterious prophecies. Maybe those were all lies, too. Nothing more than a fabrication. Everything had been tainted by Vairik.
