The fire used my mortal corpse to fuel its immortal rebirth and I couldn’t stop it.
Didn’twantto stop it.
I wanted to go where Rook had gone.
I wanted to find her before it was too late.
Flinging my arms wide, I gave in.
Fire raged higher, wild and untamed. I kneeled amid an inferno andburned.
The crevasse she’d caused deepened with a deafening crack, revealing sections of the lab far below. The sky throbbed red as distant volcanoes answered my grief, erupting in the distance with plumes of fire and smoke.
I screamed her name as the power reached critical and my heart wrenched to a stop.
I collapsed sideways, clutching my chest.
Whisper snarled and nudged me onto my back, shoving me so hard he shunted me across the ice—
The world tore open.
Another deafening crack as reality broke.
I wrapped my fist around density and rewrote it, forcing fate to deliver a new ending. A better ending. An ending where—
Ashfall Cliff welcomed me home.
Windchimes sang in the blossom trees and the scent of honeysuckle clung to humidity. The rooflines of pavilions, corridors, and the Whispering Dragon wall slumbered beneath a crisp, clear night full of stars.
Spinning around, drinking in my home, I—
“There you are.”
Her.
My heart.
Myeverything.
Everything calmed.
Everything was exactly as it should be.
Rook smiled only a few paces away. Whole and radiant—glowing like an iceberg lit by the sun. Her silver gown puddled around her feet like mercury, a gorgeous smile tipping up her lips.
She opened her arms to me, welcoming me home. “I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long?”
A broken, grateful sound tore free.
Crossing the distance in two strides, I crushed her against me and buried my face in her neck. Relief. Such overwhelmingrelief.
“You’re here.” My voice shook with gratitude. “I survived the ascension. I-I brought you back. Things are going to be better now, you’ll see.”
Her arms wrapped tight around me, her hands stroking my back. “I believe you. Everything will be wonderful.”
Kissing my way along her jaw to her lips, I captured her mouth and groaned. Her scent of icy sugar and sweetest honey consumed my senses.
Her tongue teased my bottom lip, licking me with affection.
