Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Branock
“Branock. Branock.” Something pressed at my chest, but I ignored it and wrapped my arms around the soft, warm body that rested against mine.
My hands grasped at thin air.
I opened one eye as she said my name again. “Branock, wake up.”
Taking a deep breath, I stretched and pried my other eye open, only to bolt wide awake at what I saw.
We were laying on the edge of a mountaintop.
“Where did the cottage go?” I asked, pulling myself to my feet. The last thing I remembered was Evadine falling asleep in my arms as I cast another warming spell, her body curled perfectly next to mine.
Wind whirled around us, sending fresh snow sweeping across the side of the mountain. Everything from yesterday was gone. The forest, the cottage, the rubbles of the palace. We were now high up on the mountain, with the snow blowing so fiercely I could hardly see a few feet in front of us.
“Come here,” I said, reaching for her. “Let’s get away from the edge.”
We took a few steps back, and I did my best to tuck her into my side to fight off the freezing wind. It grew faster and more chaotic with each passing second, making it hard to walk through the force of it.
“Why would Zaro do this?” Evadine called out, voice muffled. “How are we supposed to get out?”
“I don’t know. Just stay close to me.” I tightened my grip on her, but it felt as if the wind was trying to tug her away. It whipped between us like a raging storm, dragging at my clothes to pull me in the opposite direction. My fingers slipped around her arm, but I clasped my hand around hers.
“Don’t let go!” I shouted. I could barely hear my own voice above the roar of the storm. Her hair lashed around her bright pink cheeks and chapped lips. I felt her sliding, and panic filled me, rising like a bubble in my chest.
“Branock!” she yelled, right as her fingers were yanked out of mine.
My body went flying.
I sailed through the air, wind and snow battering against me from all sides. But when I blinked, something else appeared in the haziness.
A vision of me sitting on a gold throne with a crown atop my head. Evadine was on the throne next to me. Her smile was radiant, her hand clasped in mine on top of the arm rest, that same powerful, mischievous gleam in her eyes.
The image wavered and was replaced by a cheering crowd. The people all looked up at me with jubilation, and a warmth filled me. Were these my people? Were they happy?
But like before, this image disappeared. Vision after vision followed in its wake, flashes of scenery and people materializing and vanishing in the blink of an eye. I didn’t have time to take it all in besides the momentary glimpses of good and bad, of heartbreak and joy, of destruction and life.
People screaming in agony, fires spreading, a strange, red mist floating over a city.
Bells and laughter ringing, crowds cheering my name, heartwarming smiles beaming up at me.
My father lying sick in bed, horses racing through the night, blood soaking my arms and hands.
Evadine with a tired smile and sweat-slicked skin, holding two small babes in each arm.
Just when I thought my mind was going to explode from the onslaught, a familiar voice echoed over it.
“Your future is waiting for you, little emperor,” Zaro’s disembodied voice said, crackling and humming like old parchment. “Are you willing to take it? The good and the bad?”
My future. Is that what that was? The mingled pain and suffering, the beauty, the loss, the happiness, the sorrow, the abundance.
Our lives would have all of it, and then some.
I’d always been afraid of the hard times, the ‘what ifs,’ the wrong choices.
And I still was. I feared I would fail my people. I feared I would fail her.
But it was worth taking the plunge. If I could have even the prospect of that kind of joy, it was worth it.
“Yes,” I growled, limbs still thrashing in the wind as I tried to find solid footing and stand firm. “I want it all. I want it with her.”
His chuckle vibrated through the air. “As you wish, Your Highness.”
The roar of the storm grew louder and louder, reaching an earth-shattering crescendo when suddenly—there she was. Haloed in the glow of the sun peeking through the snow, with ice crystals sailing around her like a cloud. Her hair floated behind her, her arm outstretched and reaching for mine.
“Branock!” she called.
“I’m here, Evadine,” I said, using one final burst of wind at my back to push forward and grab her hand. Adrenaline raced through my veins as I crashed my lips to hers, weaving my arms around her back and molding her body to mine.
That future was ours. And I wouldn’t let anything tear this woman from me again, not even the Fates themselves.