Chapter 23 #3
“If you die,” she says against my ear, “I’ll fucking kill you.”
I’m smiling as she pulls away. “Noted.”
Kimber appears beside us, face pinched and lips pressed tightly together. I can tell that she’s fighting against a thought. That there’s something she so badly wants to say, but can’t.
It’s not ideal when you’re dealing with a Diviner.
It often means there’s something she knows that’s certainly worth mentioning, but she’s incapable of doing so without defying Fate and insulting the Gods.
There are rules to holding the future’s secrets—the most important being that they can’t be revealed until it’s time for them to be known.
Suddenly, Kimber’s whole frame relaxes. Her stare softens, her shoulders roll back, and she even plasters on a smile. As if she’s figured it out.
But the mischievous glint in her eyes makes me think she’s not been permitted to tell me what she wants to say—she’s just found a clever way around it.
“Lucina, do you know what fallacies are?”
I lift a brow, not giving it much thought before I shake my head.
“It’s a mistaken belief,” Kimber tells me.
“Something that seems true from the outside, given the facts, but on the inside…” she seems to lose the words, brows furrowing before she clears her throat and tries again, “We live in fallacies. They’re everywhere.
Don’t be afraid of what they really are, and don’t be afraid to figure them out. ”
Reaching forward, I take her hand. “Thank you, Kimber.”
Her statement was vague enough that I’m not entirely sure what I’m thanking her for, but it feels like the right thing to do.
Kimber might be limited in the things she can tell me, but she wears her heart on her sleeve—no ulterior motives or bad intentions—there is only good in that brilliant brain of hers.
“Is there anything else?” I ask, letting go of her hand.
Kimber ponders that for a moment, then her eyes light up as if my question sparked something she’d forgotten. “Yes,” she says eagerly. “Remember that…everything is intentional.”
I nod, glancing curiously at Gemma, and when I look back at Kimber, her attention has caught on something behind me.
Her demeanor shifts, her chest rising in a full inhale, and on her exhale, she pushes past us.
I turn, following her line of sight.
Pax stands just behind me, up by the trunk of the Banyan.
He’s waiting patiently for the rest of our coven to say their goodbyes, and it hits me then that he doesn’t really have anyone to say goodbye to.
I move to take a step towards him, but Kimber beats me to it, boldly marching right up and throwing her arms around his neck.
Pax freezes, eyes widening, and then a heartbeat later, he’s squeezing Kimber tight to his chest, burying his face in her cinnamon hair.
Behind me, Gemma throws her head back, laughing. “Pay up, Water Witch,” she lilts, and Selene groans, forking up what looks like a shiny piece of jewelry.
I fold my arms across my chest, the bulk of the armor making it difficult. “I would have liked to be in on that bet.”
Callan appears beside me, perfectly blocking the glare of the sun. “What bet?”
“That Pax and Kimber are going to have a whole tribe of cute little red-haired babies,” Gemma says at the same time Selene says, “Nothing.”
Callan sighs. “Hunter and I have something similar going,” he admits.
“What the hell?” I throw my arms out. “Someone let me in on a bet.”
“No,” they say in unison. A bit harsher than necessary.
“Assholes.”
Gemma grins, pulling me into another hug. “Assholes that are going to miss you very much.”
“I’ll see you soon,” I tell her, pulling away and taking the hand Callan offers.
Looking back at the two of them one final time, I follow Callan to the trunk of the Banyan. Devon has already opened the portal, a swirl of glittering gold against the dark bark of the tree. Easton and Hunter have already gone through, and Nix is only a step behind.
I nod to Laverna as we pass, offering the Dame the most genuine smile I’ve ever given her. She looks more awake than she did before, as if the truth has set her free. Perhaps it set me free, too.
Breaking our moment of shared peace, I see Callan waiting patiently by the portal. It’s so unlike how impatient he’d been the first time I came through here all those months ago. He’d pushed me through it that first day, and I landed sprawled in the dirt, right where I’m walking now.
But we aren’t like we were that day.
There is a hopeful glint in his eyes. Hope had lost its shine when I met him, but now it’s brighter than it’s ever been. Jude used to look at me that way too—like I had the answers even when it felt like I didn’t. It’s a facade, hope. It isn’t tangible or real.
But I’ll gladly be hope. I’ll be whatever it takes for these people whom my mother loved so much. These people who I have found home in when I thought I’d never find such a thing. For my friends. For Callan.
As I step into the shimmering gold, I carve the sweet memory of Pirn into my soul, burying it so deep that not even Callan can take it from me.