Page 161 of Revealing Fate

Kal lifted the garment with exceeding care. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen. The intricate threads were woven so expertly that it must have taken a master an age to fashion. The fabric was soft as silk, yet it possessed a tensile strength uncharacteristic of any homespun material.

“Silverskin,” Kal said.

Felíne’s hand stilled. She looked up at him. Kal’s attention was trained on the garment, an indecipherable expression on his face. His throat bobbed. “It belonged to my mother.”

Oh, Kal. “It’s beautiful.”

“My father intended it as a wedding gift. My mother told me he spent countless hours holed up in one of his studies crafting it.” Kal draped the material delicately over the closed lid of the trunk. “It’s as light as lace, yet stronger than iron. Father wanted something that looked like a gown but functioned like a piece of armor. He created it to embody the way he saw my mother. Lovely and unyielding.” A rare, nostalgic smile played across Kal’s lips. “She hated it.”

Felíne started. “How could anyone hate such a gift?”

“Oh, she loved him for making it. She wore it on their wedding day. But my mother wasn’t a typical lady. She didn’t delight in frivolity. Gowns were too cumbersome to wear while wielding a bow and a blade.”

Ah. Felíne didn’t imagine the last Bladesinger of Ilistaar maintained her reputation by fighting whilst gowned. She traced the elegant cut, close-fitting bodice, and rippling skirt. “Well, I think it’s exquisite.”

“I thought you might,” Kal replied with the ghost of a grin. “I’m giving it to you.”

Felíne gaped. “Oh…no, Kal, I couldn’t possibly.”

His gaze heated. “Yes. You could.”

Her throat swelled, thick with emotion. “But it’s your mother’s. Kal, this gown is priceless. You should give it to someone who…the woman you…”

Felíne couldn’t finish the sentence. The woman he loved. One he could marry.

Kal shrugged, as though the matter were simple. “My mother is dead. The garment is mine. I’d like you to have it.”

She wanted to accept it. She wanted to hold him and kiss him and tell him she’d never been more honored by such a gift. “It’s too much,” she said instead.

The shadows played along Kal’s features like old friends as he faced her. “Tell me you agree with me,” he said suddenly. “Tell me you believe we can find a way out of this curse, and I’ll take it back.”

Felíne’s face crumpled. “I can’t do that. I won’t lie to you again.”

Kal’s fingers flexed. “If there were another way⁠—”

Felíne pulled his hands into hers. “There is no other way, Kal. We tried, but we are out of time. Millions of people will die if I don’t go back.”

“I don’t care about millions of people,” he said, expression inexorable, tone resolute. “I care about you.”

Tears threatened. If only she could be so selfish. “My fate⁠—”

“Fuck that fate!”

Felíne flinched. The heaviness, the helplessness she felt devoured her.

“Fuck that fate,” Kal said again, but soft as a velvet rose. He took her face in his hands and touched her lips with his. They were warm. “You’re mine,” he breathed, the intoxicating scent of honeyed bourbon spilling from his declaration. “From the moment I first saw you in that garden, painted in moonlight, surrounded by jasmine, I knew you were mine.”

The air fled Felíne’s lungs.

“Please,” Kal pleaded. This powerful, fearsome, hardened warrior begging her nearly unraveled the very fabric of Felíne’s resolve. “Please tell me you believe we can find another way.”

Felíne choked on a sob. It was too much. The silverskin gown. The weight of her responsibility. Kal’s confession. “I am so sorry,” she rasped, tears flowing freely. Because even if his plan worked, even if the King of Asteros fell, if the Fates were freed, and all oppression were lifted, the shurii would still be blighted by a goddess’s curse. Felíne would still be the Prima, faced with an immutable prophecy. Her future would still not be her own.

And so Felíne did what they both knew she would always have to. She turned away, leaving Kal with his shadows, the burn of her refusal, and the broken fragments of her heart.

Chapter 57

A GOOD PLAN