Chapter 56
Elorie
Embers of aether rain like fire falling from the sky. I buckle over at the wave of sorrow that slices through me. Pain ricochets against my ribs and burrows in my heart until I’m certain it’s going to explode.
“Elorie, what hit you?” Callum’s hands find my shoulders, catching me before my knees strike the ground.
I bow forward and try to catch my breath. “I don’t know.”
My words come out in gasps as I choke down more air.
A wave of power ripples through the courtyard. It’s dulled by the crack at the center, but still strong enough to breach the gorge. The haze of clouds and magic parts just enough for me to catch sight of Wilder, too far away. That’s when I realize I haven’t been hit with anything at all.
Selia is draped across his lap with a blade jutting from her heart. His hands wrap the handle as he pulls it free. Blood spills out. It leaks between his fingers when he tries to press his hand to the wound.
“Oh no,” I gasp, and Callum turns to see what I’m looking at.
His hands try to hold me steady, but if I can’t walk, then I’ll crawl.
I need to get to Wilder. I need to save Selia.
My hands dig into the stone, chipping a nail. No pain is greater than what sears through me as Wilder’s magic bursts in violent, painful waves. The pulses of his grief shred the Guard to nothing. Even his court burrows down into their magic to protect themselves from the blasts.
Hazel slips through a shadow and stops beside her brother. She whispers in his ear, and he calls down a beam of light that reflects against the night. One second, they’re there, and then they’re gone.
How did she breach the split from the Well in the courtyard?
My magic reaches out along the ground. I search for the ends of the split, but they stretch too far, getting farther by the moment.
“I need to get to him.” I struggle against Callum.
“You can’t. There’s no time.”
Around us, the trees start to fall. They echo through the splintered forest. Stone rips from the palace. A strong wind starts to gust. Guards try to hide and run, but the doorways are blocked, and there’s nowhere to go. A few try to cross the Well in search of an escape, and it swallows them whole.
My eyes close, and I search the sky for answers. I call down the sight of a star to see the other side, but this gap in the middle is too strong. It muddies my vision when I try to reach out for Wilder.
For Selia.
Snapping my eyes open, I press my palms to the ground and seek her out anyway. Starlight crawls beneath the aether, ripping the realm apart. It weaves through the shadows, butting up against the Well.
“I can’t get around it.” I shake my head as Greer grabs my shoulder.
“We need to go.”
“I can’t.” Tears spill down my cheeks, blurring my vision. “Wilder.”
His gaze lifts to mine, and there’s unending rage splintering through him. His golden eyes are dark amber as his aether stills for me. He looks at the courtyard as if he’s just now seeing the destruction his grief is raining on everyone.
The battle mutes.
The forest quiets.
But the realm beats steadily, with a haunting thrum.
“I can’t reach her. I can’t.” Another tear slips down my cheek.
My magic won’t cross the divide. No matter how far I stretch, I can’t get there. But what’s worse is that even if I could, I don’t know that I’d be much help. The other side is empty, like it was with Isolde. Selia isn’t there.
“I’m sorry.” Tears stream down my cheeks, and my magic spreads.
Starlight whittles at the edges of the barrier, trying to slip through. But the Well drinks and drinks. There’s no getting past, even when it tangles with Wilder’s aether.
After what Malachi said, it doesn’t make sense. Our magics tap into the heart of both realms. We should be able to heal, to create, to do anything we want. And yet, I’m met with a limit every time I try.
It’s the same thing that happened in Solace.
I quieted the Well and drove it away, but I didn’t heal anything.
Not even with Wilder beside me. Something else tangles in the threads.
Something Malachi missed. Something dark.
Something light. Different colors weave together, leaving gaps that aether and starlight can’t fill on their own.
“Elorie.” Wilder’s voice is a whisper, broken with pain.
The loss of his sister is so heavy that I can barely handle the pressure of it crushing my chest. “I can’t reach her. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do this. He—” Wilder swallows down a burst of anger, but I still feel it prickle my arms. “You need to leave.”
His gaze moves up as another tree crumbles, crushing a part of the courtyard, along with a guard who was standing beneath it.
Wilder’s court surrounds him, tugging his shoulders, trying to get him to follow them into the Arch.
“I’m not leaving without you.” This time, the burning in my chest isn’t my heart. It’s the mark, deeper than my skin. The physical proof of the bond I’ve shared with Wilder since the moment I stumbled upon him in the prison.
The prison leads you to where you need to go, and it led me to him. I finally understand.
“You have to go. I can’t lose you too.” His grip on his sister’s shoulders tightens as he stares into my eyes.
Over my shoulder, Greer fights back a line of guards while Callum opens a Gateway. It swirls and beckons. But on this side is my mate, and the thought of leaving him tears me to pieces.
“If you go to Vaelier, how am I going to get to you? For all we know, this is the last Arch.” The others are already faltering, and with the kingdom crumbling to pieces around us, I have no confidence in the strength of the realm.
“I’ll find you, Elorie,” Wilder promises, soothing me with a wave of his magic through the thread. “No matter what it takes, I will find you. I promise.”
Another tear slips free, and the ground shudders. Callum helps me to my feet, and I don’t fight him. For Wilder, I let Callum pull me away.
“I choose you, Wilder,” I promise through the bind. “I always should have chosen you. This was my mistake.”
He needs to know it, even if I accidentally already bound with him, just like I accidentally raised him from the dead. He needs to know that this decision now is no accident, in case I never see him again. I want him. I choose him, no matter what comes of it.
His magic hums in my veins. It stirs against my heart.
“And I choose you, Elorie. I will always choose you. Even if it means every star falls from the sky, and we’re left with only darkness. Even if the gods burn, and the realms are ripped to pieces. I will always choose you. No matter the price. And I will find you. Trust me.”
Trust.
It’s been a fragile thread between us. I’ve barely trusted myself with this untamed magic stirring inside me. But I trust Wilder now as he stands with his sister, lifeless in his arms.
“This isn’t the end.”
Callum pulls me back a step, and Rior takes Selia from Wilder. Rior is the first to step through the Arch, with her in his arms. Then Perame and Atlas. But Wilder waits with his palms to the sky. He’s going to bring this all down before he goes through.
A final show of what his magic can really do.
“It’s time.” Callum nudges my arm as Greer hurries to meet us at the Gateway.
Blood stains her sword, her clothes, her skin. Her eyes swirl with heightened magic. “I’m going with you.”
We’re a strange trio, and we don’t make sense. But having them at my side makes stepping through the Gateway feel possible. Greer slips her hand into mine, while Callum keeps his hand on my shoulder. I look up in time to meet Wilder’s gaze.
He nods once.
A simple, silent promise as I move toward the Gate.
Aether stirs at his fingertips. It crackles in the air. The hair on the back of my neck stands tall as he dissolves the fabric of the palace.
“See you soon, Starfire.” He tosses out a final wink as I move backward, and light explodes all around.
Gold is all I see when the Gateway finally claims me. And when I close my eyes, it smells like home.