Those tears finally did spill over.
Her feet were moving before her mind caught up.
She crashed against Atlas’s chest. Oh, his arms—they came up around her immediately, wrapping tightly around her shoulders, crushing her against him.
In his arms, she was home.
He made a deep masculine sound of joy and grief, a marriage of both. "Oh my Vesperin."
She moaned a cry, undone as her lids fluttered shut, and he held her. She languished in his arms, unable to move, unable to breathe or think. All she knew was him.
Atlas.
At last.
She cried so fiercely her face twisted up. It was not pretty.
He shushed her, his large, warm hand smoothing over her hair, gentling her as she trembled.
She finally opened her eyes and looked up at him, her chin brushing his chest. He wore a dark coat, billowing out behind him, with a high, stiff collar. The shirt beneath was black, cutwith a deep V-neckline down his deeply tanned chest, revealing his sculpted muscles.
His eyes were pitch black, like the river.
"Why?" she sobbed. "Why did you let this happen?"
His fingers tangled in her hair softly. He took a strand between his fingers and stared at it, entranced. "It was the only way—the best way, Star of mine." He framed her face with his hands. They were so warm. "It had to happen."
His lips thinned, expression grim yet patient. It was a strange combination. He stepped away from her, hands dropping to his sides.
"I cannot yet have you." His voice was low. "There is still much to be done."
She could only stare at him, unable to feel anger. It had slipped away, gone as quickly as it had come. "What happens now, Atlas?"
He stepped to the side, revealing the black river. The grass dipped gently where it met the water. Those pinpricks of light converged around him, making her eyes water if she looked too long. She endured it, unwilling to look away lest he fade into shadow.
Atlas gestured to the river. "You must make a choice."
She followed the direction of his hands. The water rippled under their shared attention. It called to her. "What?" she breathed.
"You must make a choice. You know what it is you must do, Star of mine. I cannot help you or influence you in any way. You must look into the River of Stars to see what awaits you if you choose to be reborn."
"The River of Stars," she echoed, his words finding their home somewhere deep inside her. She started to take a step forward, but broke from her trance with might alone. Atlasseemed surprised by it. "I look… into the river? To do what? Tell me, please."
"The River of Stars will show you your fate. I cannot help you," Atlas said, lifting his hands before him. She wished to feel his flesh against hers again. "No matter how desperately I wish to."
That thrumming call filled her bones again, tugging her feet toward the black river. She resisted, a need to know outweighing that Soul-deep, atavistic yearning.
"Did I choose this?" she couldn’t help but ask.
"You have chosen every life. Every Soul does. You are each given the opportunity to be reborn, knowing every single thing that awaits you."
She wrapped her arms around her middle, feeling the water-like fabric of her Starspun gown flutter from the faint movements. "That means…" She had chosen it—everything. The understanding was dizzying. Her knees trembled. She looked up and met his black eyes. "I chose it?"
Atlas nodded.
She wanted to sink to her knees in the bed of flowers interspersed upon the grass. Forget-me-nots. Their name came softly, then withdrew, like a tide. No emotion came with it.
"The last time you were in the Stars, you looked into the water and saw what awaited you, and you chose it. So do not be angry with me. I cannot bear your anger when I have waitedeonsto feel you in my arms again, to have your eyes meet mine."
