“I’ve missed you both, too,” I teased, even as tears lined my eyes as I stared at my sisters. It had only been two days, and yet, it felt like a lifetime since we’d all been together.
All four of us—my family—in one place, together.
Loxl ran in circles around our feet, jumping up to paw at us as we continued hugging each other.
“Raelyna.” My mother’s voice sounded from behind my sisters, and I turned toward my mother, running into her arms.
“You’re safe.” The words fell from my lips in relief. “You’re all safe.” A weight lifted as I looked at my mother.
“We’resafe.” She smiled softly as she spoke. “We’re all here because of you, my dear. Because you fought for the light, just like your father did. I can’t thank you enough.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” I replied as I clung to my mother.
“Your father,” she said. “He . . . Well, he would be so proud of you. Furious that you got involved with the Guild, but so proud of you and what you fought for.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I hugged my mother for another moment before pulling back.
“We haven’t even been here for a full day, and you’re already crying?” Finn’s voice sounded from beside me, and I whirled in his direction, a grin splitting across my lips. “We can’t take you anywhere.”
“Whatever,” I joked as I found my friends standing there, smiles on their faces. In the distance, I recognized their families clustered together, elated grins on all their faces.
“You did it, Rae,” Emberly whispered as she pulled me in for a hug.
“No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything. This—us being here—it’s not because of me.”
“I know you’re not one for attention, Rae,” Finn stated. “But we are here because you fought for something we couldn’t see. We’re all safe—our families arealive, free—because you believed in something bigger than us. Bigger than Solis.”
I turned around, looking around the courtyard as I watched angels I’d grown up with, mingling with the Remnant. Smiles were wide across faces, and families were together, safe and happy.
“You’re all okay?” I asked softly. “With Solis falling? Crossing The Rift?”
“Stop worrying.” Finn nudged me as he let an excited Loxl leap into his arms, the creature nuzzling against him. “We’re all going to be okay. All of us, Rae.”
“The Guild is helping to relocate us. They’ve had a process in place since The Wall went up . . . since Iver began helping the Remnant—those still faithful to Aeternus—to escape from Solis.”
A flash of gold distracted me, and my gaze shifted up, jaw dropping as I watched Orela fly through the sky, golden feathers proudly on display.
“W-what? H-how?” The words barely dropped from my lips. “How is that possible?” I watched as she flew through the air, soaring after Kira, the two chasing each other through the courtyard.
“You showed us the light.” Emberly spoke softly from beside me. “You showed us all that there was more waiting for us, if only we dared to have the faith to reach out and grab it.” She raised her left arm, showing me the marks on her forearm.
The gold marks.
Finn and Sage raised their own arms then, the golden inkshimmering as we stood together—free from the darkness that had hovered over our lives for so long.
Turning, I watched my sisters fly through the sky, golden light glimmering in the distance as they chased after each other, wild and carefree.
“You ready?” Callum asked from beside me as he laced his fingers through mine, and I leaned my head against his shoulder. We stood there for a moment, surrounded by those we loved, and I let out a deep breath, feeling at peace for the first time in over a century.
We were safe . . . from Lucanus, from the corruption that had spread through Solis, from the darkness that had been closing in on us.
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the suns’ light dance across my skin as I breathed deeply, counting to four, the words I’d repeated to myself for nearly two decades echoing in my mind.
One day. One day. One day.
Not today, not tomorrow, but one day.
I’d made it.
