Chapter 58
GARRICK
I stared at the yellow-brown blade of grass for a long time. Just its existence was a miracle. It had pushed up through the snow, seeking the weak winter sun. No matter the time of year, that sun remained the same. Watery and washed out.
Isanara paced beside me. She circled the tree with its carved markings. Then she finally sat down at my side. We waited for Koryn together.
Every now and then a breeze whipped between the trees. The blade of grass was insulated from it by the snow on the ground. Only its little tip stuck out, and it was barely enough to catch the wind.
Whether it was the Lifebind or the fact that we had entered the final gate together, I was not surprised to find Velora still entrenched in snow even after I emerged successful from the gate.
From the very first time that Maura had explained the bargain in the back room of the tavern in Canmar, it had been about getting Koryn through all Seven Gates.
Bound together as we were by the Lifebind, it made sense.
If Koryn died—I would die. What would happen to Velora?
Would the curse be broken? Or did it hinge on her fate?
I refused to consider the possibility of a world without Koryn in it.
I looked upward, trying to calculate the time. It seemed like Koryn had been inside the Unknown Gate longer than me, but time was amorphous here. I did not even know if the sun overhead was the same one that had hidden behind the clouds when we emerged from the temple that morning.
What if Koryn chose to stay in her imagined future forever? That was the trap. The Unknown Gate did not need to kill its supplicants, only fool them.
Another breeze shook the trees, stronger than before. Thick piles of snow hit the ground, shaken free from the limbs. The green blade of grass bowed over to it, the narrow blade powerless against the force of the wind.
Green.
The grass was no longer brown. It was a rich, verdant green, and it was not buried in snow. It stood out proudly against a thin layer of white, less than an inch thick. I turned around in wonder. I did not even remember standing.
The huge dollops of snow falling from the trees were not shaken loose by the wind. They were melting.
Koryn had done it. We had done it. Together.
She appeared a heartbeat later in the middle of the path where we’d stood while Syleris gave us instructions before the Gate.
Her eyes roved over her dragon, then me, then her dragon again. I could tell from the glazed look in her eyes that they exchanged some words. But it was me she reached for. I was already there.
“Garrick,” she breathed as I caught her in my arms. I buried my face in her hair, breathing her in. She was better than any potential future. I knew without looking that she still bore the marks of all of her bargains. She was whole, therefore so was I.
“Well done, witch,” I said as I pressed my forehead against hers.
“You are here, too. We… we did it. We both passed through together.” Her words were giddy, too fast, all in one breath.
She leaned back her head and closed her eyes as a full, unfiltered golden sun shone down on her for the first time.
“I was born the year of the curse,” she said in awe. “I have never felt warmth like this.”
The bright golden light brought out shades in her dark brown hair that I’d never seen before. There was a reddish tint to her eyelashes.
“I have not seen anything so beautiful since I came to Velora,” I said with complete honesty.
Koryn pursed her lips but accepted the compliment.
Isanara had apparently had enough of our reunion.
She appeared at Koryn’s side, shoving her head into her shoulder.
Around us, Velora was already changing. We no longer stood on barren dirt.
The blade of grass I’d stared at before was lost in a sea of thousands of its fellows.
“What now?” Koryn said, whipping her head from side to side, as if she could not take in every detail fast enough.
I threaded my fingers between hers. “Now we go see what this new world looks like.”
We walked along the same long path we’d taken before as Velora shook itself free from the curse that had held it in thrall for four hundred years.
It would take time for life to return fully. But with the plants came food for the animals. The small creatures first, then the bigger predators. We would all begin again.
Koryn gasped beside me, a sob bubbling out of her chest. She pressed her hand to her mouth to contain it, but tears leaked down her cheeks.
“I just realized…I… Kyrelle is safe,” she whispered. “The waters will be filled with fish again. She and her father will have enough to eat. She can marry, have children, live… she will live, Garrick.”
I wiped away her tears with my thumbs. “Because of you.”
Isanara tossed her head and stomped ahead up the path. I stole the moment of privacy and pressed my forehead to Koryn’s.
“I destroyed the talismans,” she said quietly.
“Good.”
I waited for her to speak again. When she did not, I mustered the courage. “Do you think you will ever be able to forgive Syleris for what he did to Alize?”
Koryn’s exhale was shaky, but she did not pull away.
“I already have,” she said. “He did not kill her and make her a witch. Maura did. And while I do not know his reasons… I didn’t know yours either.
If you love someone,” she paused, taking a deep breath.
“If you love someone, you have to trust them.”
She turned her face up to mine, separating our foreheads enough that she could look right into my eyes. She offered me the truth, and I had no choice but to give it back to her.
“After Alair, I swore I would never love another man. The king ordered his execution, but he was already sick. The illness that took him…” I shuddered at the memory, dark even beneath the sunlight.
“My mother had seen it before. It is why I wear the amorite stud, for protection. It only affects men.”
Koryn chewed her bottom lip. “But the Dark God…”
“I have already forgiven him, too. I can accept him, Koryn, and his place in our lives. That is not the same as loving him.”
She nodded. I could see the sadness in her eyes, but she did not press. Whether it was sadness for me, or for herself… fuck. If she envisaged the three of us together, truly together… I did not know if I was strong enough to deny her.
I’d given up the perfection of a life outside of Velora with my mother and Koryn because I wanted Syleris in my life.
I was not certain I was strong enough to deny myself, either.
But there was an entire world to set to rights, and no time to worry about myself and my feelings. Syleris was not going anywhere. He would be the Dark God tomorrow and for the next millennium.
Even with the talismans gone, Maura and the fae were still dangerous threats. We’d stolen from them. We’d have to answer for our perceived crimes, with them now restored to their full power. But at least one of them was not more powerful at the expense of the other.
Koryn nodded and took my hand again. We walked for several more minutes. It was hard to tell with the vegetation green and verdant instead of dead and wilting beneath the snow, but I tried to keep track of our progress.
“I think we are almost there,” I said.
Koryn rolled her shoulders. “Good, I’m starving,” she said.
“Of course you are. I bet your familiar is as well. There will be as many veg—Koryn. Koryn! What’s wrong?”
I barely kept hold of her hand as she fell to her knees. There was thick grass beneath her to cushion them, but that wasn’t my concern. It was the pure agony contorting her features.
“I don’t know,” Koryn said through gritted teeth. “My power… something is changing.”
Her power. Yes, she had looked like this when Maura had rallied the power of the Midnight Coven to kill that fae woman, with the intent of resurrecting her as a witch. The power had overwhelmed Koryn to the point of pain.
“Is it the curse? With it lifted, is it too much?” I could think of only one person who might be able to help her. “Should we call for Syleris?”
“I don’t know,” Koryn gasped, another wave of power or pain rocking her. “Just help me out of here.”
Isanara shoved her head beneath one arm, bracing Koryn with her muscular neck. I slid my arm beneath the other and across her back to brace her. Between the two of us, we managed to pull Koryn along the last several yards.
“We’re almost here,” I promised.
“Something is wrong,” Koryn said, even as I felt the first pull of Syleris’ disorienting power. We were about to be pulled from the Unknown Gate and transported back to reality.
“I know,” I said in the last few seconds before I lost the ability to talk. “We will call for him. We will ask the acolyte and priestess for help.”
“No!” Koryn’s cry ripped through space, through the swirling darkness and overwhelming power. It was still falling from her lips as we crashed to the ground in front of the temple.
One look was all it took. I did not feel Koryn’s pain or hear the words.
“Garrick. Something is wrong,” Koryn gasped out again.
Yes. Very, very wrong.