Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
True to our promises to one another, Kole didn’t leave me. He stayed in my chambers that night, not departing, and I knew we would be together until the end.
Moonlight spilled through the windows, and Kole slept like the dead. I reasoned it was probably because he’d been awake for so long, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he was already showing a symptom. Fatigue had been one of the first symptoms to appear in Timith.
Of course, I didn’t sleep. Being able to watch Kole slumber in my bed at a time when our future now felt precarious was a gift I didn’t want to waste.
But I didn’t stay idle. My mind was a buzz as I tried to think of some way to help him.
Even knowing that I still dealt with my uncle’s commands didn’t seem as important.
Even if I was forced to alter my loved one’s thoughts, they would still be alive.
Still whole. Still healthy. They wouldn’t be vamfeers. Not as Kole would become.
I chewed on my lip, thinking and searching for some way to stop the inevitable, and when the sun began to rise, I remembered something.
The conversation I’d had with Ree.
About the young fae who had died in Silventine Wood.
About who had likely ended their lives.
And about how powerful that entity was.
I sat upright in bed, my eyes widening, as an idea formed. It might work. Maybe, just maybe.
And I realized I was willing to try anything to save my mate. No matter the risk.
Outside the window, hazy light streaked across the horizon, and a small meteor blazed across the remaining twinkling stars. A small smile spread across my lips when I saw that shooting star.
It felt like an omen.
As though the gods approved of the idea I just had.
And seeing the remaining tail of that burning meteor reminded me of the Wishing Stone. Of the celestial magic that Stone had brought. Of how I’d saved my uncle with it. Of how the gods and goddesses had created that great Stone that could overcome any fae magic.
Of how godly magic was likely the only way to save Kole.
Yes. It’s a sign.
Kole stirred beside me, his muscles bunching and moving. His breathing increased, alerting me to him awakening.
I leaned down and tapped him softly on the shoulder, then pressed a kiss to his neck. “Kole, I have an idea.”
The sun was still rising by the time I finished telling Kole what I wanted to do.
He frowned heavily. “That’s a risky plan. It puts you at risk.”
“I know.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Perhaps, but it’s the only realistic chance we have at saving you.”
“You could die, Prim,” he said quietly.
Tears threatened to fill my eyes, but I wasn’t going to let him focus on me, so I forced a dazzling smile. “Technically, I’m already dead.”
But my forced cheer did little to alleviate his heavy frown. “But as Nicholas said, you could suffer the Great Death.”
“That’s only if God Diredan decides to kill me, but I can’t not try. Please don’t ask me to sit idly while you turn into—” My smile faltered, my lips quivering. “I have to try. If you were in my position, you would do the same.”
His hand covered mine, and warmth from his palm seeped into me. But he felt hotter than normal.
Frowning, I pressed a hand to his forehead. “You’re hot. Stars Above, you’re already running a fever.”
He pulled back, but he didn’t deny it. Instead, he moved closer to me. “If you go, I’m coming with you.”
“But you’re already—”
He brought a finger to my lips, his eyes bright, a fever truly setting in. “I’m not dead yet, and I’m not too sick to be there.”
“But you’re already running a fever, Kole,” I repeated.
“I’ll take a fever-reducing potion.” He cupped my cheeks. “But we should prepare first if we’re truly going back to Silventine Wood.”
I laid a palm tenderly on his cheek. “How does one prepare when seeking out a vengeful god who would sooner see us sent to the afterlife than be left alive?” I felt his skin again, moving my hand to his forehead. He was so hot. “I should go alone. It would be safer for you.”
A low growl rumbled in his chest. “There’s no way in this realm or the next that I’m letting that happen, Princess. I failed you once in that Wood. I don’t intend to do so again.”
Since I hadn’t been lying to Kole about preparations being useless, and since Kole wanted to stay at my side, and since he was already showing the beginning stages of infection, I knew our time was limited.
If I wanted to save him, we needed to go now.
Kole downed a potion to suppress his fever, and I left a note in my chambers explaining what we were doing and why we needed to do it—in case we never returned—then I mistphased us to the edge of Silventine Wood, on the very northern tip of Stonewild Kingdom.
When the mistphase calmed around us, a biting wind cut into my cheeks, and the snow was up to my knees.
Winter hadn’t technically arrived yet, but this far north, it felt as though it had.
A few yards away, the edges of the enchanted carpet we’d left behind after I’d found the Wishing Stone poked through the snow.
“Looks like no one has found that or claimed it yet.” I nodded toward the carpet.
But Kole couldn’t seem to care less about the forgotten carpet. He reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine as he gazed at the ominous forest in front of us.
A silvery metallic haze enshrouded Silventine Wood, like a dome of gleaming metal. With a start, I realized he had no idea what lay on the other side.
“Follow my lead in there.” I squeezed his hand. “I know how to get the god’s attention.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
I cocked my head and tried to say in a teasing voice, “I see your dry humor has decided to make an appearance.”
“It’s either that, or I let my instincts drive me, and I prevent you from entering.”
“I agree. Dry humor is preferred.”
He chuffed lightly and squeezed my palm too, then we began to walk forward.
As before, an eerie metallic shimmer glowed along the Wood’s border.
And even though it was midday and the sun was shining, I also knew that after we passed over the Wood’s border, we could be plunged into the deepest of nights or the brightest of days.
It all depended upon whether Diredan, the God of Vengeance, was sleeping or awake and what his mood was.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” The wind ruffled the dark hair around Kole’s forehead as he peered down at me with piercing irises. “Last chance to change your mind.”
I shook my head. “I would never change my mind, not if this is the only chance we have to stop what’s spreading inside you.”
Kole let go of me and withdrew his sword. He held it in front of us just as we stepped through Silventine Wood’s opaque barrier.
Without a backward glance, we entered Diredan’s domain, and the border swallowed us whole.