Page 258 of Revels on an Angel’s Grave

“Oh, Emmeline,” Dryvius finally said as galaxies swirled through the veil behind him, a glass bridge to some land she couldn’t see reflecting the stars. “You’re smart enough to know that won’t work.”

He said the words as if they were a secret she was supposed to understand.

And with that parting message, Dryvius stepped across the veil, and onto the bridge, dragging Lola with him.

“NO!” Emmeline screamed, the word tearing up her throat.

Roremar’s and Desmond’s agonized yells matched it.

She took two lunging steps, soaring across the line of starfire, her skirt catching white embers.

But before she could reach the veil, an arm latched around her waist, and she was hauled back into a firm, bare chest, the scent of sandalwood wrapping around her.

“Let me go, Roremar!” She fought, the layers of her dress weighing her down.

“No, Emmeline!” he argued, voice ravaged by torment. “You said it yourself, you’re too fucking valuable to all of them. If you go, they’re only going to use you as they have here, and I love you too much to let that happen!”

She spun in his hold, staring up into silver eyes. “I’m no better off here, Roremar! Everyone, everywhere wants to use me. Let me be used this way so Lola doesn’t have to. Let it be my choice.”

“A choice between types of manipulation? Emmeline, that’s not a choice at all.”

“It’s the only one I have. The only one I have ever fucking had.” Tears tracked down her cheeks as every moment she’d been hunted and used collided in her chest.

When her sister was taken instead of her.

When her mother died in her place.

When she finally thought she’d chosen Roremar only to find out Rocarri wanted their bond all along.

She couldn’t let Lola hurt for her, too.

She couldn’t keep them, but she could save them. That was the deal she’d made with the stars.

“You’ve been dealt so many bad hands, Emmeline. It’s so fucking unfair, but you can’t trade yourself because they’ve conditioned you to think someone’s life is worth more than yours. That isn’t how love works, remember?” His good hand tightened in the fabric of her dress, his body tense beneath her hands as he stared toward that veil and the glass bridge beyond, where the Fate’s form was getting smaller with every second she waited.

“Let me get her back!” she cried, heart beating erratically. “I’m never escaping this web no matter who else dies for it, so please, let me go.”

“You are worth a thousand Fates, Huntress. I won’t lose either of you.”

Either of you.

Emmeline’s heart crashed to her stomach.

Roremar wasn’t stopping her because he didn’t intend for her to go after Lola. He intended to go into the Fate Realm without her.

To keep her from being used again.

His voice was frantic, urgent, as he said, “Please, Emmeline.”

And she felt those words for what they were: Another goodbye.

But she’d seen him walk away from her too many times. First atop the Trade House after their fate-altering kiss.

Then, each time she’d pushed him away in Valyn.

They’d only just agreed to stop the games, to stop pretending they weren’t in this together, two halves of one fate, two futures entwined as one as long as the stars had hung in the skies.

Star’s Reign and Star’s Ruin.