“Hey,” he said, pulling her back slightly and wiping her tears away with a soft touch of his hand, gentler than she’d ever known him to be. “Please don’t cry. I am so damned grateful for what you did. You saved my life.” His voice cracked. “He had me, Kara. The nightshade – my magic was already gone. If you hadn’t stopped him, I’d be captured right now. You had no choice.”
The knot in her stomach loosened slightly. But she still didn’t understand. “Then why haven’t you looked at me?”
“Because you shouldn’t have had to do it at all,” he said roughly. “The only thing I’ve thought about since is that I should’ve been quicker, sharper. I should’ve seen him before he got that damn nightshade on me.”
The guilt was plain across his face.
No. This isn’t your fault.
“Stop that,” she said. “This was my choice.”
As she buried her head in his chest, breathing in the smell of him, she knew for certain: “I’d do it again,” she said fiercely. “If it meant keeping you alive.”
The truth of it startled her. Yet she meant every word. He tensed against her.
She lifted her head, her face tear-streaked but resolute. “Guilt or no guilt. No one is taking you from me.”
At the words, he pulled her closer, leaning his forehead against hers. He held her so tightly it almost hurt, and it still wasn’t close enough.
“No one,” he promised.
The guilt didn’t disappear, but it did quieten slightly. This man – the one she loved more than she’d ever thought possible – was here safe in her arms because of what she’d done. She could live with it. Shewouldlive with it. For him.
But she still felt different. Wrong. Dangerous.
Maybe she always would.
Sebastian’s voice pulled her back. “We did it though, Kara,” he said. “The Shard. We got it.”
Kara made a disbelieving sound that was almost a laugh as she shifted against him. Wiped her tears away.
We got the Shard.
In the aftermath, she hadn’t even considered what that meant. They had the whole Arcanth. Here. Right now.
“Yeah,” she said hoarsely. “We did.”
They both stared in awe at the satchel at his side. Neither moved. She got the distinct feeling he wasn’t ready to let her go.
“So... shall we do it now?” she asked tentatively. “Put them together?”
Sebastian smiled, as though the reality of it had only just hit him. “All of them,” he said, almost to himself. “We actually have all of them.”
He reached for the satchel and pulled them out one at a time.
Earth – a deep golden glow, steady and solid.
Water – a rippling blue, light flickering across the cave walls.
Air – a swirling mint white, curling like smoke around his fingers.
Fire – a crackling red, burning brighter than torchlight.
To see them together – the Arcanth whole – felt unreal. This was it, what they had risked it all for.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded.
