Chapter 37
The fae paused in her jubilation, but only to cast Ryn a dismissive glance. “Is the eventual death of your lover not enough for you? Would you have me prove what more I am capable of?”
Perhaps she’d never had a chance. Perhaps the ending of this story had been set since the day Ryn entered Dunmaren. Since the moment she’d looked into the eyes of a storm cat and seen Xavi looking back at her.
But no matter what happened now, there was no going back. No going back to a time before she knew what her heart truly wanted. And even if it haunted her to the end of her days, she would not choose to deny herself this moment of clarity.
She wanted the man who told her family he owned nothing but a valley.
The man who did not mind that she found old things so very fascinating.
She wanted the same man whose family was long lost, but who was free to make his home wherever her heart was.
Even if he had no money, no property, no profession, he would have supported and protected her until the end of her life.
Never turning aside or breaking his word.
Respecting her choices and wishing only for her joy.
Perhaps he had never been real. Never truly been hers. But she wanted him anyway, and now no other future could ever compare.
Even if she lived, even if she escaped—it would mean nothing without Xavi to loom at her side and call her “human” while he glowered at everything and everyone in sight.
So there really was no choice.
She had to find a way to change the ending.
So despite her tears, and despite the agony of knowing that Xavi could be dying, she lifted her chin and smiled at the fae. “You are capable of nothing,” she said calmly. “Or have you forgotten what you swore to me in the depths of your own labyrinth?”
The enchantress’s face froze in an almost comical expression of shock.
“You made a bargain with me,” Ryn continued coolly. “You swore that if Xavi and I made the same choice, that we would be free of your vengeance. Free to leave these lands if we chose. And you said that you always keep your word, because if you don’t…”
“No,” the fae cried, waving her hands in desperate denial. “I did not go back on my word.”
“But you have,” Ryn said, feeling a sort of peace steal over her as she watched her adversary begin to panic. “Perhaps we did not make the choice you planned, but we did make the same choice.
“We chose not to step through your doorways. Not to give in to your manipulation. Not to sit back and tamely accept the tragic fate you intended for us. We won. But now we are trapped here. Unable to leave. And Xavi is bleeding out from a wound you caused—a wound born of your own violent act of vengeance.”
“That is not what I meant,” the fae snarled, crouching and cringing away from them, her eyes wild.
“Do not argue semantics with me, fae witch,” Ryn snapped back, taking a step forward, her fists clenched with fury.
“Words matter, and no one knows that better than I do. You have been toying with us with your words since the moment I set foot in this valley, and now it is your turn to realize that they can be used against you. And do not forget that it was you who told me of your weakness. You who admitted that if you break your word…”
It was Kel who finished the sentence, his tone soft and bright with awe. “She loses her power.”
The fae dropped to her knees, drawing in great, gasping breaths as her hands splayed on the cold stone.
“No. I will not fail now. I cannot.” Her eyes were wild as she glared at them across the width of the platform.
“And it does not matter even if I lose my power now. The heart of this land is linked to my own. These fires of my vengeance can never be quenched. Not until my betrayer has paid with his life!”
“Is that all?” Kel stepped forward to stand by Ryn’s side, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “If only you had told me sooner.”
Behind her, she heard a sound of pain from Xavi, but Kel turned to regard the silver wyvern with that same smile, now widening as he regarded the one who had been his brother through so many centuries of suffering.
“The easiest decision I have ever made,” he said. “But Xavi, I need you to make me one last promise.”
Ryn could not hear the words that passed between them, but even in the reptilian eyes of the wyvern, she could read his agony.
“I will make the way,” Kel said aloud, as if repeating himself. “You need only save her if you can. And then, whatever comes, our long tale together will be ended, with nothing left unfinished between us. Only gratitude.”
The wyvern screamed in answer, and even Ryn could see the weight of all the feelings left unspoken between them.
Kel bowed his head. “It has indeed been an honor, my brother and my friend. My only regret is that I can never repay you for all that you have sacrificed along this road.”
The wyvern sagged to the stone floor as Kel turned away. Screamed again, then struggled to his feet as Kel closed his eyes and punched his fist skyward, releasing a surge of power.
The very air rippled before the onslaught. The flames hissed and surged with a hungry roar, and Ryn flinched away from the heat, pressing against Xavi’s side as it scorched her skin.
Again, Kel released that battering ram of pure magic, this time falling to his knees from the effort, and somewhere above their heads….
The very walls of the mountain began to crack.
Ryn staggered in shock as light burst through the widening gaps, and chunks of stone began to fall all around them.
“Go,” Kel shouted, and with one final, forlorn cry, Xavi crouched and launched himself into the air. Snatched Ryn from the stone platform with his claws, and then battled his way skyward.
His own blood dripped down his silver scales, staining them scarlet, but he did not falter as he dodged the massive slabs of stone. Until one piece clipped his wing and sent him reeling towards the side of the cavern.
“Xavi!” Ryn screamed helplessly, but he halted his fall with moments to spare, colliding with the wall for only a moment before pushing off again and climbing towards the light.
Slowly they gained altitude, rising closer and closer to the jagged edges of the mountaintop until, with a final heave of Xavi’s wings, they broke free.
Out of the darkness, out of the fire, and into the morning sun.
Clean and golden, it washed over them like a cleansing wave, bathing the scene beneath them in radiance…
…as the peak of the mountain crumbled and fell, collapsing in on itself with a deafening roar and a blinding, choking cloud of dust and ash.
The ground shook, the trees trembled, and everything around them seemed to hold its breath, until at last the roar diminished to a whisper and then trailed away into silence.
For the next few moments, they drifted on the wind, staring in grief and shock until Xavi’s injured wing finally gave out. He lurched to one side, gave a despairing cry, and then began to fall, like a broken leaf tumbling relentlessly towards the valley floor.
As the ground rushed up to meet them, Ryn reflected wistfully that at least one of the fae’s promises had indeed been kept—she and Xavi had faced their final moments together.
Until a swirling breeze struck them both, Xavi lost his grip, and Ryn fell alone into silence and darkness.
When she finally awakened, the world had changed.
She lay on the valley floor, cushioned only by an uneven bed of scrub grasses and moss. The trees were the same, and there between their trunks, she could see the glimmer of the lake where it lay still and quiescent.
But it was no longer golden and bright. The sun had disappeared behind a blanket of low, gray clouds, and even the air smelled of winter.
The mist was gone. And with it, all protection from the elements. Xavi had once told her that the valley did not experience the worst of the seasons…
Ryn’s eyes slammed shut, and her lips pinched fiercely as she fought not to cry.
Xavi.
He’d given the last of his strength in order to save her.
And Kel. He’d stayed behind and sacrificed himself to end the threat to his people’s descendants.
The story was ended. The curse was broken.
But so was her heart, and she did not know if it would ever be whole again.
She sat up anyway. Looked down at her hands and at the stained gray-brown of her traveling skirt, then glanced around her and saw what seemed like a memory from another life.
Her bags. The ones Xavi had carried for her, with her tent, her bedding, and her books. How could they simply be lying there, exactly the same, when she was no longer the same person?
At least it seemed she’d somehow survived her fall with no broken bones. There was no fresh blood on her clothing, and nothing hurt except her head.
Pushing to her feet, Ryn closed her eyes until her balance steadied, and then turned around, looking for Xavi.
He should have fallen close by, and while she might not be able to bury him, she could at least do something.
Say a few words, or build a cairn to mark the ending of what had turned out to be a tragedy after all.
But there was no sign of him. No broken heap of wings and scales, no blood or scars in the turf. It was as if he’d never existed at all, and as she searched frantically beneath that cold, gray sky, a new fear began to creep into the darkest corners of her heart.
What if…
What if none of it had been real? What if she’d come here and found nothing, and only dreamed of a cursed, immortal warrior with crimson eyes and a wild, untamed heart of pure sacrifice?
What if she’d only dreamed the cavern and the king, the fae and the trials, and all that passed between her and Xavi? A dream born of her longing for meaning and acceptance. Her hunger to be valued and cherished.
Tears fell, hot and disappointed, as her heart insisted that this much pain could never be founded in a dream.
There had to be proof, and then she remembered…
Her ball gown.
Clawing frantically at her layers of skirts, she stripped away the gray-brown wool to reveal…