Epilogue
Since before the Sundering, we watched.
We saw.
We witnessed the weaving of the universe and stood as protection for the beings born of the sacred energy.
We watched and we waited and we policed the universe.
And then the Breaking came in the form of a brother. He broke us. Shattered our bond. Threw the universe out of alignment.
He who was half of us. He has not yet paid for this crime against all creation, but the bill is coming due.
He will pay—and the price will be steep. Because he will pay with what he holds most dear.
He will pay with her…
Chase’s cry wrenched him upright in bed, the pain in his thigh screaming, and fear clinging to him like a parasite.
No.
Absolutely No.
The dream couldn’t be prophetic. It couldn’t.
Adric would never harm Cora. Would he?
Why the hell not? He harmed the whole damn universe…
Stop. Just fucking stop!
He forced himself to breathe. To relax. To treat as a dream that which truly was a dream. A product of the wolf’s poison and his brother’s blood. Just a dream. A nightmare. And a doozy at that.
Another deep breath, and he felt almost centered. Almost calm.
He reached for the glass of water on his bedside table, his hand shaking as he brought it to his lips.
Just a nightmare born of his lingering fever and desires tangled together in the darkness.
He set the glass down and turned to look at the pillow beside him. Cora lay there, her copper hair spilling across the white linen, her breathing deep and even. Safe. Here. With him.
He reached out, carefully, stroking a strand of hair back from her face, his touch feather-light so as not to wake her. She murmured something in her sleep but didn’t stir.
He closed his eyes, trying to push away the certainty that gnawed at him.
When he opened them again, he turned his gaze toward the suite’s door. Somewhere in this castle, his brother waited. The brother who had saved him.
He shifted, careful not to disturb her as he looked up at the ceiling.
The dream had already faded, but those final foreboding moments lingered along with a vision of the three of them together—and, twisted with that vision, the dream’s dark promise of payment that sent ripples of fear racing through him.
“Just a dream,” he whispered once more to the darkness.
But he didn’t believe it.
Next up:
VEIL OF NIGHT AND FLAME
CROWN OF STARS AND RUIN