“You have been on a journey yourself, Aten Ciro.” A strange voice rings out above me—around me—as moonlight carves a streak over us. “You thought you were destined for one path, perhaps a noble path that would have helped to secure peace. But alas, that wasn’t the way.”
Aslendrix.
“You’re talking about my father not passing his magic on to me, but how my mother gifted me her Guard magic instead?”
“Yes. Her magic has always been strong. She, like you, had a choice. Hers was selfless. She only wanted to do what she thought was right for Kirrasia.”
“I’ve made my choice. The Maker told me I had a journey—a decision—and I’ve made it. It’s her. Ever. Every time. I went to save her, brought her back, and she chose to fight for you. She is a Fifth. She isn’t meant to die like this. Not after everything she’s done for you.” My pain turns inward, stoking the wrath and temper within me. “If Ever is meant to save Kirrasia, thenyouneed to save her.” It might be foolish, but with every ounce of strength left in me, I wish it. I will it, focus on it, believe it, and push my intent—the sole intent I feel in my whole body—for Aslendrix to hear.
“I have granted her power already. She took the offer of her magic, and I endowed her. I will not make considerations for my law again.”
“No. You can’t. She can’t die!”
“You have seen this from the start. It was always a future that could come to being.”
“No. I refuse to believe that. We have our say. We make our own choices. It is not already written. Ever is fighting for good. She had the chance to choose the wrong side, to forsake you and everyone in Kirrasia, but she didn’t. Because she is good. She is smart, brave, courageous, and good. And I love her. I love her, and I can’t lose her. I’ve only just found her.”
My hand doesn’t move from the gaping wound in her stomach, the blood still oozing from beneath the pressure I’m desperate to hold. But there’s no response from Ever. Her body is deathly still, the little puffs of warm air rising from her lips have stopped, and the dark stain of her blood is only growing,leaking into the snow and soaking into my trousers as I kneel at her side.
Aslendrix is quiet. Her presence, dauntingly absent. There’s nothing. Nobody.
The pain guts me, just as real as if the blade had punched through my own heart, and I rage at the injustice. “Arghhhh!” I scream into the air, hoping thateveryonehears. That Aslendrix hears what this has cost. For me, it’s cost everything.
“No, Aten, it hasn’t cost you everything. Not yet. But if you choose it, it will.”
“Enough with the riddles,” I scream.
“What is your choice?” she muses, as if Ever hasn’t just died in my arms. “Would you make it, knowing it would save Ever, without knowing the cost to you? Balance, after all, must always be kept.”
“I’ll make it. I’ve already made it, so I’d make it again. Every future. Every possibility, just save her. Please.”
“You, Aten Ciro, will need to be the one to save her.”
Her words vanish as we’re both surrounded by silvery light, cool and serene, nothing like the flaming pillar we faced earlier. And then, the next minute, we’re back at the site of the Transference ceremony.
The clearing is quiet, the stone table crooked and broken in two from the earlier fight, but Aslendrix’s glow isn’t on us. It’s on the spot on the stone where all the ceremonies have taken place. Where all that power had seeped inside, and the reason we were all here. Fighting for our lives.
I see what she is showing me and gather Ever in my arms. I step up and back into the light, letting it wash over us. Ever’s body is cold. Not just icy cold, but I lie and tell myself it’s just the snow. Because this has to work. It has to.
The Maker emerges, as if summoned herself, but there is no audience to witness it. It doesn’t matter. I will this to work.“Please, please, please.” I cling to her and bury my face in her hair, as if my touch can keep her tethered to me—to life.
“Have faith in our Goddess, Aten Ciro. Have faith in your choice.”
For once in my life, I don’t mind the Maker’s voice inside my mind.
The light overhead grows stronger, and as it shines down, I feel a shift within me, something from within. I suck in a deep breath, and as I exhale, the light fades, and I knowShe’sleft us just like after my own Transference ceremony.
The place grows eerily silent, the clouds racing overhead to block out any light, and the weight of expectation grows.
I look down at Ever, her hair still spilling all around her face, her pale skin as white as snow in the darkness. Even her freckles have hidden themselves.
But I feel… different. Less.
I reach for my magic—my power—but it’s not there. There’s a void where it used to be. It’s always been there, since as early as I can remember. Until now.
“Ah-ahh,” Ever gasps as she takes a breath, her eyes blinking open as she looks up at me.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Her body starts to shake in mine, and her hand moves down to the wound at her stomach that had killed her. “No. No, don’t. Just…” I don’t know what to say to her, but I bundle her hands against my chest and pull her closer to me. I hold on, so damn tight as tears streak down her face.
