Riyan.
A gentle warmth filled my whole body. Was I connecting with him through my magic? Was a bath in the imitation healing spring all I needed to find him?
“A week,” Riyan said. “We’ve been married for a week. I couldn’t even make it seven days without breaking you too.”
No…I was hearing a memory. Riyan had said he cared for me in the crystal cave while I was asleep and talked to me until his throat was sore…
My heart jumped. The Nordingaard crystals in the cave had captured Riyan’s memories of him caring for me. But if that were true, that would mean his emotions were so intense that…
“I love you, is that what you need to hear? Is that how I wake you?” Riyan cried. “Iloveyou, Serafina Helia. I love you. I would giveanythingto see you open those hazel eyes.”
My fingertips traced the facets of the heart-shaped crystal as my chest shook with a sob. The crystal did not just capture the intensity of Riyan’s despair or his fear of losing his bride, it captured his love for me.
Thatis why the crystal kept me calm—Riyan’s love was flowing into my skin the entire time.
And I had accepted it. Savored it. Craved it.
“Is this the world punishing me for all the bad things I have done?” Riyan’s voice broke. He was crying. “Why must you shoulder the consequences of my mistakes? I’m sorry, Serafina. I’m so sorry.”
My chest glowed with gentle white fire. I wanted to reach through the memories and hold him, to show him I was alive and hale not in spite of him, butbecause ofhim.
White light spread across my collarbone into my arms, filling up my fingertips with power. I parted my lips and my voice shook. “I cannot deny him any longer.”
The Man of the Mountain’s voice filled my mind. “Then follow my one command—seek your heart’s desire, my monster.”
I set my jaw and let my magic flow into the pool of tears. The water warmed around my legs. The intensity of the glow of each Nordingaard crystal in the pool passed through my eyelids.
I did not care what I was risking by using every bit of my power in the Duke’s chambers, not even the fold between worlds could keep Riyan from me.
“Sera?”
His voice caressed my ears and I slowly opened my eyes. I did not see the edge of the secret pool in Derrick’s chambers. Nor the edge of the glowing water.
All I saw was Riyan.
Eight days married. Eighteen days apart.
No matter how many times the sun had risen and fallen since I last saw him, it was like no time had passed at all.
Riyan floated in the dark abyss in the place West of the Moon and East of the Sun as if he were suspended in the middle of the sea. Somehow he did not look fifteen feet tall, but instead the same size as his father.
Though he was little more than an apparition in the blackness, I still knew him. What was trapped in the place between worlds was not just Riyan’s mind, it was his barest, truest soul.
And he wasexactlyas I had always known him.
His golden hair swept across his collarbone. His chest rippled with waves of muscle. A peaceful smile rested on his strong jaw.
I nearly pushed through the blackness to wrap my arms around his bicep when a small ribbon of white light slowly coiled in the dark space around Riyan.
His twilight blue eyes followed the light and he smiled wide enough that the precious dimple on his right cheek appeared. “There you are, Sera. Getting brighter every time.”
I furrowed my brows but then my heart swelled. He was not seeing me, he was seeing my magic.
I knew the Man of the Mountain arbitrated my twists of reality from the bottom of his pit, but I had no idea I created a spectacle when I channeled my power.
Riyan’s eyes followed the dancing ribbon of light. “Let’s see if you can hear me this time.”
He pushed himself through the chasm until he was right next to the ribbon of magic. My magic burned brighter, casting its glow on his chiseled face. His smile widened and he sang:
