“Fair enough. Give my love to Adrienne.” Ginna nods towards the cottage.
“Will do.”
Ginna nudges me with her elbow.
“Right. Thanks for the ring. I can send it back to you –”
“Keep it,” Rafe responds curtly.
Those two little words hurt me worse than any others he’s thrown at me. It’s the final key in the lock of that slammed door. Proof that the ring no longer holds any significance to him.
Ginna leads the horses over to us. I’m about to pull myself up, but turn towards Rafe at the last second.
“For what it’s worth, I am sorry. About what happened to Adrienne and everything else.”
Rafe licks his lips. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you are yet. But you will be.”
I don’t know how to respond to that so I stay quiet and grab the saddle to heave myself up on the horse.
I hold out a hand to Elia to help her up, but realize she’s taken a few steps back to stand right besides Rafe.
Elia slowly shakes her head as tears fall down her face.
“You’re not coming with us.” It isn’t a question, but a statement that I read clearly on her face.
“I can’t, Callum. I need time to myself. To live a life I’ve never had before.”
A life that she could have had if it wasn’t for me.
They must have talked about this in their trip to the woods. This was the decision that I saw etched on their face when they returned.
Ginna takes the opportunity to pull Elia in a quick embrace. “I hope we see each other again sometime, Elia.”
I wonder if Ginna had seen this coming or if she is as blindsided as me.
I want to jump off the horse and run to Elia, drop to my knees and plead for her forgiveness. But I don’t. She is better off without me. They both are.
“I’m sorry for everything, Elia. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the Hunt. You deserve more than I can offer.” Tears prickle in the corner of my eyes and I will them not to fall.
“Stay with us, Callum.” Elia pleads. “Forget the King and Ashven. Start over here, with us. Please.”
I bite my tongue hard in my mouth. I allow myself to imagine her scenario for a few seconds, of Rafe, Elia, and me staying in Sevrin. Maybe we’d live in a cottage similar to this one, homely and quaint, stocked full with Elia’s lavender wares and Rafe’s sketchbooks. I could see Rafe and I playing chess in front of the fire late at night, Elia sleeping on the couch because she refused to go to bed without us.
It’s a nice fantasy, one I have to drag myself out of and back to reality. The King is dying and is relying on me to find the Stone. No matter what the others believe, I still owe the King. And I know now that Elia deserves better.
“Take care of her, Rafe.” If I can’t be in her life, at least I know she is safe with him.
“I promise. Goodbye, Cal.”
Now, for the second time in my life, I am saying goodbye to the man I love. Only this time, I’m also saying goodbye to the woman I love, too.
I turn my horse away, following Ginna onto the path we had arrived on. I crane my neck around for one last look, capturing the image of Rafe and Elia standing next to each other, both burning as bright as suns.
Later that night I sleep outside, unable to pull myself away from the three constellations in the sky that Elia had shown me: the Queen, the Hunter, and the King. Elia was my queen that I, the Hunter, thought I was protecting. But I was wrong. The Queen didn’t need my protection, didn’t need the infatuation of an undeserving Hunter. No, instead, Elia deserved the King, the hero in her story, standing by her side. And when I recall that final image I memorized, of her and Rafe surrounded by the serenity of the forest, I’m atpeace knowing that she had finally found her missing piece, her King, even if it wasn’t me.
Afterall, a storm cloud shouldn’t exist in between two suns.
Epilogue
