Chapter 85 #3
“You can join your family, if you wish,” the red-haired man said.
“Or, if you prefer . . .” He pointed a finger, and the twirling ember soared across the Everflame, casting light over its roots where people lay nestled, eyes closed and faces calm.
“You may rest here until your mate arrives. Your loved ones in the After will not grieve the wait.”
Teller and Andrei gave reassuring nods, freeing me from guilt for my choice, but neither my heart nor my body could seem to pick its path.
Though I longed to reunite with my family, my legs would not carry me toward them no matter how hard I tried.
It would be so easy to lie down and close my eyes until Luther arrived, and yet my soul was far too restless to sleep.
“Then again,” the man said, “your choices are two. Balance comes in threes.”
More voices rang out, sounding distant and too muddled to understand.
I glanced over my shoulder and gasped at the image before me: the palace of Lumnos, though it looked different than I remembered.
The light and shadow magic that once adorned it had vanished, revealing the simple stone beneath.
Several of its spires had toppled, and many of the exterior walls lay in crumbled piles.
Crews of mortals and Descended were working together to rebuild them, and I smiled, spotting Taran among them.
Eleanor and Zalaric stood nearby, gesturing at the palace in sweeping motions and talking with determination on their faces.
My heart leapt as I spotted Luther in the gardens, walking beside my mother and a woman whose face was hidden as she gazed down at her belly, round and heavy with child.
Luther and my mother were smiling at her, and it gave me immeasurable relief to see them both in good spirits.
“Life for life,” the red-haired man repeated beside me.
“That’s how your curse began. I wonder, little flame, is that also how it ends?
” The ember returned to his palm, circling up and down.
“You brought my Fire back into your world. You restored the balance, just like I asked. Perhaps I owe you a debt that a third choice can repay.”
“A third choice?” I asked.
His finger flicked forward, and the ember drifted toward the scene of Lumnos, stopping in the gardens. Luther froze mid-step, glancing toward the ember and clutching at his chest.
“A life,” the man said, resting his palm against the Everflame’s trunk, “for a life.”
I held my breath at what he seemed to be offering—a chance to return to the living. I looked back at Luther, an ecstatic yes already forming on my lips, when I saw the pregnant woman beam up at him.
“Lily,” I cried out, turning to Teller, whose grin spread from ear to ear.
“Our son,” he said, proudly puffing his chest.
“But it’s only been a few hours—”
“Time works differently in the After. To them, we’ve been gone for months.
For us, the past and the future are as real as the present.
I’ve already seen the life our son will have.
He’s going to have my eyes and Lily’s heart.
Mother’s stubbornness. Luther’s loyalty.
His grandfathers’ beards.” He chuckled. “And his aunt’s habit of getting into trouble.
He’ll grow into a fine man. A true Bellator. ”
My heart wrenched in two. I looked at the red-haired man, mourning the choice I was about to make even though I knew it was the right one. “Send my brother back. Give Teller a chance to live instead of me.”
“He crossed over,” the man said. “His spark returned to the earth. It glows in another life now.”
“Then give him mine,” I begged. “Let him watch his son grow up. He and Lily—they can become mates. They can finally be happy.”
“I already watched my son grow up,” Teller said. “I was with him for every single day of his life. That was a gift I could never have had among the living. And Lily . . .” He smiled fondly. “I’ve seen her future, too. Lily will find her mate, and she will make Lily happier than I ever could.”
“Go back anyway,” I argued. “You were too young, Tel. You deserve more time.”
Teller sighed. “I didn’t make my own choices in life.
I let Mother and Father and you and Remis and Alixe and everyone else tell me where I should go and what I should do.
I never found my place. Now, I have.” He looked over at Father, then back at me, his features bright and entirely lacking the uncertainty that had plagued him in life.
“Let me make this decision, D. I’m where I’m meant to be. ”
“Let’s go, son,” Andrei called out. “The weather’s perfect, and the fish are biting.” He winked at me. “Your sister will join us when she’s ready.”
Teller gave me a final smirk, then turned and jogged toward Father, who slung an arm over his shoulder as they climbed inside the boat.
Not far away, standing along the water’s edge, another woman watched me without speaking.
Her hair was long and black and wavy, and her skin was a rich, dark shade of olive-gold.
Her arms were full of flowers, and though I didn’t recognize her face, there was such love in her warm brown eyes, my heart begin to swell.
The red-haired man held out his hand. “The choice is yours, little flame. Will you join them, will you rest . . .”
The floating ember settled in the heart of his palm.
“ . . . or will you burn?”