Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ellie
Something was off. Ellie couldn’t place it, but as she walked across the field toward the male she’d agreed to meet, she could sense it in the air. Magic humming, circling her, pulling her in different directions. Shadows rose and fell too, everything moving as if rippled by a current.
But the war was over, the battles won. The dark creatures were gone, defeated by—by—Ellie suddenly gripped her head and a spear of crippling pain flew through her chest. She sank straight to her knees, gritting her teeth.
Ellie looked up and found Kirian sitting on the same boulder where they met every Saturday afternoon. It was the only time their obligations allowed them a moment of peace. She breathed through the pain and forced herself to rise. She couldn’t waste time. She needed to get to Kirian.
They’d all had to see therapists after the war; her father had commanded it, especially of her.
They’d mentioned something about panic attacks.
She’d never had one, but apparently they could be sudden, given everything they’d survived.
Even Rion was prone to them. Is that what was happening?
Is that why it felt like her chest might cave in any moment?
Kirian. She just needed to get to Kirian. He’d make her pain disappear with his easy, charming smile. He always did.
Ellie shoved the pain down and shook away the shadows. Her body trembled for reasons she couldn’t explain and she was suddenly so, so tired.
Ellie told herself that everything was just in her head. It was normal to be haunted by nightmares after a war. Arianna had read about it enough in her fantasy books. There was nothing here that could harm either of them.
It didn’t stop her from hurrying.
Ellie smiled at Kirian, hiding her pain as she plopped down on the stone beside him.
He didn’t react or look at her. That was normal.
The war had affected him, too. He still had his mother, but he’d lost others, friends they’d all grown up with.
Ellie made a point not to bring such things up around him. They all had healing to do, after all.
“I packed your favorites again.” A pulse rocked the surrounding meadow and Ellie jolted to her feet, magic spreading in a circle that encompassed both her and Kirian.
Her breath clouded, and she reached for the blade at her waist, scanning the area quickly once, then slower the second time.
Ellie studied the edge of the tree line, the slightly shifting grass, even the sky for anything that might be soaring above.
Nothing.
She glanced down at Kirian. He hadn’t moved. Had he not noticed?
Another pulse. Ellie gripped her chest again, heaving as she struggled for breath. She fell back a step and spun, her magic flaring again.
“Kirian, get up.” He didn’t obey. Ellie moved closer to him, ready to defend the male. Was someone from Pádraigín here? Had they caught Kirian in their trap? Ellie was already searching for the edge of the illusion, ready to break it.
Something was coming.
Something—
“I love you.” Kirian’s tone had the hair on the back of Ellie’s neck standing on end. He still wasn’t looking at her. He was still that ghost of himself. He’d been that way since—
Another pulse and Ellie’s heart was racing—aching. She gripped the fabric of her shirt, trying to hold back the choking sensation in her throat. It threatened to drown her, to pull her under and never let her go.
“I love you.”
“Kirian, we’re fine,” her voice cracked. “I’m not going to let anything hurt you.” His magic hadn’t grown beyond a few droplets. It was a clear sign that he wouldn’t inherit his Fae lineage. She didn’t care, she was strong enough for both of them.
“Come out,” Ellie screamed at the open meadow. Everything was blurring, curling in on itself, the trees becoming one with the grass, the darkness taking over, tainting the beautiful thing she’d created.
No, no, they couldn’t have him. They—
Gods, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t—
A gasping sound had Ellie spinning toward Kirian, fear overwhelming her in one heartbreaking flood.
He was standing before her now, eyes locked with her own.
When had he risen? Tears were already streaming down her face for reasons she couldn’t understand.
They were fine. They were safe. So long as they stayed here—
The sky above fractured like glass, long jagged cracks spreading across the crimson sky. They reached toward the horizon line, then beyond, sinking below the surface.
No. No, please, gods—
“I love you,” Kirian repeated. She stared straight into those heartbreakingly beautiful eyes. “And when you wake from this nightmare, know that I forgive you.”
The entire world shattered, and she fell away with the pieces.
ELLIE WOKE gasping, still reaching for anything to ground her in reality.
Bodies jerked away as if she’d burned them.
Shocks pulsed through her limbs like she’d been struck by lightning.
Ellie gasped again, blinking rapidly through the tears rolling down her face.
She couldn’t see. She needed to see. Where had Kirian gone? What did he mean—
There. Relief flooded through her despite the pain. Those copper eyes studied her, face still contorted in pain. She locked onto it, absorbing his features, the copper hair, the boyish chin, the eyes she’d grown to cherish. He was here. Her Kirian was here and safe and—
The image blurred with her tears. Those eyes shifted to green, the chin filling out to be replaced by a strong jaw. The copper hair shifted too, turning reddish with just a hint of brown. Her brows scrunched. She knew this male. It wasn’t Kirian.
“Ellie?”
Her name on his lips sent a fresh wave of pain exploding through her chest. She took a breath, gasped, and scanned the other faces in the room, searching, searching, searching, praying the memories cascading through her weren’t real at all.
But she could see it in their faces. She could feel their sympathy in the very air of the room.
Kirian.
Kirian.
Kirian.
Kirian was dead.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Arianna
The entire room had frozen as they watched her sister scan each and every face.
Ellie took in her surroundings next, then somehow, her gaze went right back to Rion, staring at him with her brows knit together, confused, yet aware.
So aware. Gods, her little sister was finally awake. Moving. Processing her world.
“Ellie?” Rion’s voice pierced the tension in the air and her little sister gasped.
They all watched in silence as Ellie’s eyes filled with tears, then those tears slipped down her face, rolling and hitting the sheets like stones.
A strangled sob escaped her next. Then Ellie sucked in ragged breath after ragged breath, her heart rate climbing, climbing, climbing.
“Ellie?” Arianna’s voice was soft as she knelt beside her sister. She wouldn’t touch her yet, Ellie deserved space.
Ellie didn’t react, she just kept staring at Rion. To his credit, he didn’t look away from her pain, not like Arianna might have done. Not like the others were doing now.
“You’re not him.” Ellie’s voice broke on the words. “You’re not—he’s—he’s gone.”
Realization swept through Arianna, hitting her like a punch to the gut.
She’d thought Ellie had been listening to Rion because she recognized him.
But that wasn’t the case at all. A lump formed in Arianna’s throat.
She’d listened to Rion because Ellie had thought him to be the person she treasured most. Because this entire time, Ellie had seen someone else.
She’d been clinging to a false reality where Kirian had still been—Arianna’s hand flew to her mouth.
Her little sister hadn’t just been stuck in her own head. She’d formed an illusion.
And that illusion had just shattered.
Gods above.
There were no words of comfort, nothing any of them could say that might lessen her pain. Ellie’s hands began to shake. She lifted them and stared as if she didn’t know who they belonged to anymore.
“I—I—”
“You didn’t,” Rion cut in, as if the words could lessen the truth. He moved closer. “You didn’t.”
“I did. Him—him and so many others.”
Arianna tried not to breathe. None of them knew what atrocities Vairik might have subjected her to.
Ellie gasped, gripping her head, her breathing and heart rate turning erratic. She stared at the blanket before her. Ellie’s jaw worked. Tears streamed down her face.
“Evelyn.” Sive’s voice. “We need your help.”
“Not right now,” Avalon snapped, his voice firm yet raw with emotion.
“Yes, right now,” Sive returned. “She can drown or she can be given a purpose.” How many others had Sive encountered like this?
Had a new purpose helped? And what happened after they completed the task?
Would they just go back to being empty shells, left to drown in their grief?
Was there any way to ultimately help them in the end?
“Purpose,” Ellie repeated, her voice hollow.
“Yes, we need you to come with us and see if you recognize anything from Vairik’s mind.”
Ellie’s body visibly reacted to the male’s name and her head snapped up.
She bared her teeth at Sive, then lunged for the female, hands curled into fists.
Arianna reached for her sister too late, but Sive moved with lightning-like reflexes.
She grabbed Ellie’s wrist and light blossomed beneath her fingertips.
There was no real need for magic, not as Ellie’s strength faded just as quickly as it had come.
Sive guided her back toward the pillows. Like she’d done it a thousand times. “It’s okay,” Sive assured. “I—none of us would ask if it weren’t important. Gods know you’ve been through enough. Do you remember being Vairik’s captive?”
Ellie nodded slowly, as if returning to the mechanical way of movement she’d had on the road.
“When someone dives into a mind like that, the door opens both ways. There are things you might recognize if you come with us. Things that might help us turn the tide of the war.”
Ellie didn’t react. She just stared at the bed sheets before her, her gaze going empty. For a moment, Arianna feared they’d lost her all over again.
“You don’t have to do much, just a simple glance around, and—”
“He’s gone.” Sive closed her mouth. More tears rolled down Ellie’s cheeks. Then she turned away, wrapped her arms around her midsection, and curled onto her side.
“That’s enough,” Avalon said before pulling the blanket over his daughter’s shoulders. Gavin stood on the outskirts, his eyes wide and red-rimmed as if he could feel Ellie’s pain. Maybe with their sliver of a bond, he could.
Sive tilted her head toward the door. Arianna stepped aside and Avalon took her place. Rion and Talon followed them into the hall.
“We have some time,” Sive whispered once the door had closed. “She’s doing better than I thought she might.”
“That’s better?” Arianna hissed.
“She’s responding. That’s something. So long as she remains calm, she can stay awake and process. Once Liam and his team break into the lower levels, we’ll reassess her state and ask again.”
“She needs to rest,” Talon said.
Sive glanced toward the door, sadness covering her expression. “Grief is a difficult emotion. It comes and goes. Some moments are like an ocean pulling you under, others are equivalent to the raging sea. Neither is pleasant, we just have to tread the current when it’s calm.”
“How is she ever going to recover from this?”
“There’s always hope.” Sive glanced between Rion and Arianna.
“Even for those whose pain seems endless. Speaking of,” Sive stepped toward Rion and glanced down at his arms. “You’re doing well without the runes?
” Arianna followed Sive’s gaze, feeling as though she were missing the context of her question.
“Well enough,” he replied, hands flexing.
Sive nodded. “If you ever decide you need them, the staff knows where my room is located, though I might be here more often than not.”
Something about the suggestion of Rion going to a female’s room had Arianna’s blood boiling.
Sive had a young child, she reminded herself.
She also had a Fae male who cherished her.
Even so, the emotions were fresh and hot, like a white hot poker straight from the fire.
Sive gave Arianna a knowing smirk that had Arianna’s face heating.
“And you.” Arianna froze, hoping Sive wouldn’t give voice to her emotions. “Eimear tells me you have headaches. Come to me later and I’ll see that they’re fixed.” Arianna nodded. “I have to get back to my little one. Both of you, take care and be kind to one another in my absence.”
The Weaver left her and Rion standing alone in the hall.
Arianna watched the woman disappear, then studied the floor, still wondering how Ellie could be of any use in the catacombs.
She’d been subjected to Vairik’s magic as well; did that mean Arianna might have seen something too?
Not that her captivity compared to what Ellie had endured.
Arianna glanced up slowly when she felt his heavy stare.
She met those green eyes for a moment. A moment that was so full of emotions Arianna thought she might burst at the seams. She clenched her fists, but before either of them could utter a single word, Arianna pushed the door open and went back to her sister.
Rion didn’t follow.