Page 174 of To Fight and To Fold

Vaelen nodded. "Once we have a lead, yes. Since she knows you, maybe she's more likely to reach out, or to let you find her. Thea can go with you, help you avoid Evergale. We do not want them getting a hold of Carissa."

Aaryn thought maybe Evergale were the ones who needed to avoid Carissa, if her dragon's breath was so deadly. If she was so deadly.

You are too. Just in a different way.

"Thank you for making her a priority."

"Well, of course. She's one of ours." A pause. "Runa, too, you know."

"I know," Aaryn whispered, as if someone might overhear their conversation, though there was no one around except for Thea and Vaelen's dragon, whose soft snores ruffled the grass. Starspark was nudged up against her, twitching in his sleep.

Runa had almost chosen Evergale, keeping their plan a secret for so long.

And Aaryn had chosen Thea—and therefore herself—over Rolim, over Carissa. Over all those people Carissa had killed in reaction.

"What will happen to her?" Thea asked.

"Nothing. To be heartless is to mirror Evergale," Vaelen added. "Without Runa's warning, we would have lost more lives. She made her choice when she warned us. When she fought for us. She helped protect the school, you know?"

"She made the right choice," Aaryn told Vaelen, and believed it. Aaryn wished she would've chosen it about a sun's rise earlier, but one couldn't change the past.

The magic in her tingled as if to argue.

"I'm glad you think so," Vaelen said.

"What's next, then?" Thea asked, the same question lying in wait in Aaryn's mind.

"I think… I was a bit foolish," Vaelen said, expression suddenly grave as she warmed her hands and stared into the fire. "I grew comfortable here, like everyone else, and we thrived. We thrived so much that I forgot the purpose of coming to the sky in the first place. But I've been reminded that Evergale will not stop until we are gone. Until their secrets are kept safe in our unmarked graves. Until they bury us with the memory of one of their own."

Her words made Aaryn's stomach tighten with nerves, with fear. Aaryn took Thea's hand, threaded their fingers together.

Anger rose in her all over again. How dare Evergale—Jarrick—take what didn't belong to them? Magic from the Tethered, for a purpose they still didn't know. Timberscale. Skymore. All for some plot to hit the druids where it hurt most: their people. And why? For nothing more than greed—than payback? For Astrid, who'd left of her own damned accord?

Is that all there was to it? Revenge?

Vaelen's attention dipped to their linked hands and Thea squeezed tighter.

"Here, I encourage us to share our burdens with one another." Her gaze leapt to Aaryn, knowing and daring and—Aaryn looked away. "But it's rather hypocritical of me to ask those around me to share without doing so myself. So I'd like to ask a favor. It goes beyond us. Beyond druid or Evergalian or Skymorian or Timberscalian."

"Vaelen," Thea breathed with such reverence in her voice it drew Aaryn's attention back to them, to the conversation the two of them seemed to have without speaking at all.

"It's time, Thea. And we can't do this alone. It's why we came up here in the first place."

Thea's hand shook around Aaryn’s. "Oh, my skies," she whispered.

"What is it?" Aaryn asked.

Thea turned to her with a grin brighter than the flames before them. Smoke trailed into the sky over their head, and beyond it, the coral and tangerine awakening a new day, new possibilities, and yet unbeknownst to her, new adventures.

Over her shoulder, Starspark blinked, then sat up to train those bright green eyes on her.

Thea laughed in such delight it made Aaryn's chest tight with affection. Sparks popped from the fire, and she said, "We're going to wake the Great Dragon."

EPILOGUE

"Try not to forget a burden's easier to carry with four hands."

Carissa nodded to herself at the memory, the motion sticky and disjointed. "Vaelen's right," Carissa murmured, wiping the rain out of her eyes.