I know who it is before I even look up, but it still doesn’t stop the invisible dagger twisting into my heart. He struggles as if fighting some invisible foe—until our eyes meet. Then he stills.
Zephyr.
You stupid, stupid man.
Chapter 39
Zephyr
The ice-cold water feels like a million small pinpricks when I’m engulfed in its depths. I acted on pure instinct once I could finally get my legs to move toward Evangeline. Watching her jump elicited a scream from me, drawing up raw emotions I didn’t think I was capable of. Then, in an instant, Finnick appeared out of nowhere and followed after her. There was no hesitation on his face. He simply jumped in, leaving me alone.
So, I followed them both down.
The water pulls me deeper, tighter, faster. It’s not just wet—it’s suffocating and pulses with ancient magic I’ve never experienced. It feels like being swallowed whole by everlasting sorrow. My limbs feel weighted, my heartbeat slows, my magic wild and crackling under my skin like it doesn’t know whether to protect me or finish the job. For the first time in my life, the icy coldness bothers me.
This is supposed to kill us. I know it. Lady Thaliaspoke of what the well wants in return to save our lands. It’s what the curse demands. A sacrifice made with unselfish intent.
And gods help me, I’m ready. Because if she is going to die, I refuse to let her go alone.
Not her. Not my Evangeline.
And not Finnick either. Fuck that pesky pixie and his need to save Evangeline. In a span of less than a minute, Niko has lost everyone he has ever loved. I mourn for my mate, but he will understand why I couldn’t let Evangeline die alone. Why I needed to be right by her side. If there is an afterlife, then I will wait for Niko. We all will, and one day, we will be together again. It’s just not going to be in this realm.
The pressure builds around my chest until my ribs threaten to snap. I open my mouth to scream, and the water rushes in like punishment. I flail ungracefully until I find Evangeline and pull her into my arms. She feels like dead weight, her eyes closed. Has she already been lost to us?
I grab for Finnick next, pulling him near us. His eyes are open, but they don’t seem to register what is happening around us. I fear I may have lost him too. I’m alone, without my brother-in-law, and the woman I love but never told, waiting for the darkness to swallow me up.
Except it never comes. Something pulses like a heartbeat around us, growing stronger and stronger until…light. It doesn’t glow. Itblazes,growing bright like an inferno. White-hot and blinding, it explodes behind my eyes.
Magic pulses through my veins, battling with the ice flowing through me. My body jolts at the weird sensation of hot and cold colliding, seized by something bigger than us. Something that feels ancient and holy, like the well is no longer devouring but judging, and it has reached its final verdict.
Then, in a blink of an eye, everything releases. I’m weightless. Floating between here and there. In my body and out. Magic courses through me, but it’s foreign and not my own. The power overwhelms me, and my body is unable to contain it. And suddenly everything explodes around me, and I’m not in the water anymore.
I’m thrown onto solid ground, like the earth itself has spit me out in rejection or mercy—I can’t tell which yet. I choke and cough, sucking in sweet air that tastes like honeysuckle and life. My lungs burn, desperate to fill up with oxygen. My vision swims, unable to make out anything other than blurry shapes and fast-moving colors.
And then I hear her laugh. A sweet, melodic sound I didn’t think I would ever hear again.
Evangeline.
At first, I think I’m dreaming, but then her laughter bubbles up through the chaos like sunlight cutting through storm clouds. It borders on hysteria, which is appropriate for the situation we’re in. Still, there’s never been a more beautiful sound. I lift my head—barely able to move—but there she is. Alive. Breathless and wide-eyed, but alive. I know she’s alive because my body hurts, and if this is the afterlife, I would hope I wouldn’t feelpain. Her wet hair is plastered to her face, eyes red from crying, and still fucking radiant.
“I thought we were dead.” Her voice shakes as she half laughs, half sobs. “Or is this death? Tell me we’re alive. Zephyr? Finnick?”
“I…” Finnick sputters, choking on water before spitting it out. “If this is death, it really sucks,” he mumbles.
I try to speak, but the only thing that escapes is her name. “Evangeline…” My arm lifts on instinct, shaky and slow, and my fingers brush her damp cheek. She’s shivering—soaked to the bone from the well’s cursed water, but I have no warmth to offer her. Only the cold that’s always lived beneath my skin. Ice in my veins. But she’s here. Real. Breathing. And so am I.
We’realive.
It shouldn’t be possible. Jumping into the well should’ve killed us. It was meant to. A sacrifice for our people to end the curse, and yet… here we are. Very much alive. Something must’ve gone wrong. Or maybe…
Maybe Lady Thalia was wrong.
But just as that thought begins to form, Evangeline turns to me, her expression crumbling into something raw and full of wonder. There are tears in her eyes, but I don’t think they are those of sadness. “Of course,” she whispers. Then louder, “A true act of selflessness.”
Evangeline struggles to stand up, but she manages to right herself, and I scramble to my feet. She then picks up Finnick from the sand, dusting him off the best she can. She’s crying now but also laughing.
She stumbles toward me like her legs barely remember how to work, and when she crashes into mychest, I catch her without thinking, and we topple back. My arms wrap around her, needing to feel her against me, and for a moment, we’re the only two people in existence. Just her. Just me. Just this unbearable, overwhelmingrelief.
