“Aurora knows how to play the politics of the court, so with her, you never know where you really stand. But she cares about Vaelier. I trust her that much.”
It’s strange to think of Wilder in his world, with his friends. Here, I only see glimpses of him. But he has a whole life back home.
“Why have you stayed, Wilder? I know your sister is here and you’ve entered the Rite. But you have friends back home who must miss you, and you know that I—”I can’t choose you.
I’ve said that to him a hundred times, and yet, I can’t finish that thought this morning. I can’t say it out loud. The simple idea of those words makes my chest ache. Like the thought of losing him will tear out my heart.
He threads his fingers in my hair, wandering around those thoughts. I’m not even bothering to close them off, and if I did, they’d no doubt be written all over my face. But he doesn’t say anything—doesn’t force me to face them because we both know that no matter what, nothing changes.
“Do you remember the first time we spoke on Alyssium?” he asks, toying with the blue ends of my hair.
Sun streams over us through the windows, drawing out the gold in his eyes like they’re pieces of the sun itself.
My throat tightens as I nod. I clearly remember the moment I first heard Wilder’s voice. Although, at the time, I thought it was the island, or my mind was playing tricks on me.
When I was eighteen, I was taken by three new members of the Guard.
I’d never seen them before. Not until that night at the tavern, when Letia left early. I had one too many drinks and wasn’t as careful as I should have been. My blue hair loosened from the braid as I was leaving, and they followed me, asking questions.
When I refused to stop or answer them, they grabbed me. They said they’d figure out what I was.
It didn’t matter how many times I said I was human. Or how many days I begged for them to let me go. They cut into me—treated me like an experiment in that cave. Did things I still can’t think about.
They promised to turn me over to the king once they figured me out. And as much as the obsidian belt hurt, it wasn’t anywhere close to the worst of it. The belt reminded me I was still alive. I was still breathing.
After days of being shackled, I was desperate. I was alone, and I couldn’t stand it. So I prayed or begged or both. I asked the stars for help, and they sent me this thread in the darkness.
A spark of hope in my mind telling me to hold on. To listen.
Tosee through the stars.
I felt the thread in my mind, and I wrapped my fingers around it so tightly that everything burst. The cave collapsed, and the Fae who kidnapped me were nothing more than blood dusting the stone.
It was after that, Callum found me running on the beach. And only then did I realize how long I’d been gone, because he was supposed to be in Ruse Village another week when I was taken.
Wilder brushes his hand over the scars on my ribs. He hasn’t asked me about them, but he knows. I was too scared to tell Father and Callum the extent of what happened, but Wilder was in my thoughts.
He was my comfort for the long year after, when I barely slept.He soothed me through nightmares; his voice rocked me to sleep. He reminded me I was strong enough to get through it.
“You were. You’ve always been strong, Elorie. That’s how you got yourself out.”
“I don’t remember how I did it.” At the time, I told myself a greater power collapsed the walls of the cave, but now, thinking back, I realize where that burst started. It was inside me. “I shouldn’t have been able to wield magic on Alyssium. No one can.”
“Yet you did. Twice.” Wilder drags his thumb over my lower lip. “When you needed your magic, you found it to save yourself.”
“I also found it to save you.” My hand rests over his heart, and the dark runes swirl on his skin like they’re reaching for me. “I didn’t even know you, but I couldn’t let you die. I just… couldn’t.”
Wilder watches me, but I can’t read what he’s thinking.
“How am I supposed to let you die now—your people?”
He tips my chin up. “Elorie, I will gladly die a thousand deaths before I let you die once, do you understand?”
“But why?” My chest is too tight for my heart. “Because you owe me?”
“Because I can’t let you die either.” He rolls until I’m on my back, and he’s hovering over me, brushing his lips over my mouth—my jaw. “You asked why I stayed in the Ley Court after escaping the prison, and it’s the same reason you brought me back from the dead.”
“I don’t know why I brought you back. It just happened.”
