He waved his hand, causing ellixen to prickle her skin. “Your wish is granted, Viridia Solace.” A knowing smile curled his lips. “But when the time comes that you want to remember, you need only ask, and it will be done.”
With that promise, Viri’s eyes closed…
And she forgot.
29
Viri’s memory faded like a dream, her mind rearranging to accommodate everything she’d just recalled and reconciling it with what happened next. The Nox arriving. Sarielle comforting the shell-shocked Viri before inviting her into her home. The High Council asking questions that Viri struggled to answer, unable to believe her parents were dead despite having seen Braedan standing over them with blackened veins; unable to believe Reeve had abandoned her when she’d needed him most, fleeing with her murderous brother and leaving her alone in her grief.
Only now, Viri knew none of that was real.
The garden rematerialized around her, the bioluminescent trees and flowers glittering at the edges of her vision, the fountain bubbling softly into the pond, the glowmoths fluttering through the air, and Reeve—
He was exactly where she’d last seen him: standing in front of her, his arms still circling her waist, holding her, supporting her, protecting her.
Just as he always had.
Reaper, monster, killer—none of those things were true. They never had been.
“The girl you killed,”Viri had asked him mere hours ago,“do you regret it?”
“No,”he’d answered.“I don’t regret siphoning from her.”
A tear dribbled down Viri’s cheek. Then another. Soon her eyes were flooded with them, but she didn’t utter a sound, crying silently as she held Reeve’s understanding gaze.
He’d saved her life.
He’d never abandoned her.
And she’d—she’d—
She’dforgotten.
She’d believed he was amonster.
She’dhatedhim for it.
And he’d let her, saying nothing in his own defense, knowing she wouldn’t trust anything he said.
Her tears continued falling like rivers down her face, until slowly, ever so slowly, Reeve leaned forward and kissed them away.
“It’s not your fault,” he whispered against her skin. “None ofit is.”
He was wrong—allof it was her fault, even the parts she didn’t understand.Especiallythose parts.
He kept saying the words over and over, one hand rubbing her back and the other wiping her tears away until, finally, they began to ease. Her mind was a jumbled mess that seemed impossible to untangle, but there was one thing she needed to say, her words coming out rough with emotion.
“You didn’t want to leave me.”
“No,” Reeve said, brushing her tear-damp hair behind herears. “But you asked me to. And you were right—Brae needed me, more than either of us realized.”
“Does he—” Her voice broke. “Does he hate me?”
Reeve’s arms tightened around her, his expression turning fierce in the moonlight. “Never, Viri. Everything he’s done is because he loves you, and he’d do it again in an instant. We both would.”
Another tear dribbled down her cheek, and Reeve caught it with his thumb.
Viri closed her eyes at the tenderness of his touch, unable to resist leaning forward to rest her head against his chest, his heart beating steadily beneath her ear as she wrapped herself fully around him. She had so many questions, and yet, all she could do was whisper, “I missed you.”
