‘How was Ruben’s mother?’ Benny asks. ‘Could you help much?’
I smile weakly at his less-than-subtle change of subject. Nothing like a good friend to see when you need a distraction. ‘I don’t think so,’ I admit sadly. ‘I’ve no idea what to do, if I’m honest.’
I’m talking about more than just Noleen, and Benny senses it. He slings an arm around my shoulders. ‘Everything is going to be okay, Rose. Really, it is.’
‘Yeah,’ I agree, but it feels like I’m lying.
I’m a ball of anxiety, worrying about Kay, about William. Not to mention the magic that I still have possession of with absolutely no way to control it. With all of that, there shouldn’t be room to think about the bastard of a prince who ripped my heart out without a backward glance. Shouldn’t. But somehow there still is.
Right now, ‘okay’ feels incredibly far away.
Without another word, Benny leads me into the sitting room and fills a glass with water for me, as if I’m the guest and not the other way around. I’ve barely taken a sip before the doorbell chimes.
By instinct, I go to move, forgetting about Summer, but Benny is straight on his feet too.
‘I’ll go,’ he says. ‘You warm up.’
I suspect he’s trying to give me space to work out if I want to talk, and if so, where to possibly start, so I don’t object, sinking back into the sofa.
The weariness feels endless and while it’s not the same as the exhaustion that came from life in the slums, or the endless battles during the Retterheld, it has its similarities. It’s bone-deep. All-consuming. It clouds my brain with a fog that only lets me see glimpses of my future. One that is devoid of hope. Of family.
‘Rose!’ Benny’s shout breaks through my melancholy. ‘It’s Kay!’
Every other emotion I feel evaporates and I’m up and running to her without thought. Sure enough, framed by the door is my beautiful little sister. Despite my despair and worry over her the last day, she looks radiant.
She’s still dressed in the ballgown she wore the night before. And next to her is Jonas.
‘Where have you been?’ I ask, flying towards her, ready to crush her in pure relief, yet as I move closer something catches my eye.
My fingers curl into my palms.
Kay has only ever worn one ring: a simple band with an iridescent pale blue stone, which belonged to our mother. She lost it when she was taken to the forest during the second trial.
Yet at that moment, there are three equal-width rings placed across her middle three fingers, so perfectly aligned they look like a single sheet of metal.
Representing the past, present, and future.
Three rings. The symbol of marriage in Morathka.
Oh Gods. What the hell has she done?
My eyes meet hers, and there’s nothing but pure stubbornness in them. Stubbornness and perhaps a hint of pride, too.
As my gaze shifts from her to Jonas, I note that he is wearing matching wedding rings, and my jaw drops.
‘What the fuck have you two done?’
Jonas. Kay has married Jonas.
A man who, only hours ago, I almost murdered with a power I have no control over. A man who kept our brother’s existence from us. A man I spent moons getting to know –or at least thinking I knew –in the crucible of the Retterheld, whose own father proposed to her, and Kay didn’t even consider discussing the matter with me?
Incredulity and hurt thrum in my chest, and in that split second, I wish with all my heart that I could beanywherebut here.
‘Rose?’ Benny’s voice reaches me, thin and far away. And then, before I can take another breath, the world tilts.
Where I wasand what I was doing no longer seem to matter. All that exists is the here and now. This moment. I’m consumed by it. Though whatitis, I have no idea.
The blackness that I first disappear into lasts less than a heartbeat as pinpricks of light before me grow ever larger.
