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Before I can catch my breath, Farron’s hands are on my shoulders, my neck, my ribs.

I close my eyes, prepared for his scolding, how he knew I couldn’t do this⁠—

“Good attempt. But listen, I don’t think the rocks are the way up. You’re relying on your briars when⁠—”

“No, I’m not,” I say, pushing his hand away from me. “The rocks are too fragile for my briars.” I stand on shaking legs and stagger over to the first floating rock. “Again.”

28

Farron

Rosalina falls again. And again. And again until the sky blazes orange. It will be night soon, and we are no closer to reaching the Gardens of Ithilias than I’m sure Ezryn is to lighting the forge.

I watch her carefully. Her palms are bloody, and there’s a gash above her right eyebrow. Dirt streaks her skin, and her fine silken clothing is ragged. Tears stream down her face as she crawls out of the briars that caught her at the last instant. She strides toward the rocks, slipping on the very first one. I notice the clench in her jaw as she forces herself up.

“She’s tenacious, I’ll give her that,” Jack says. “Bright…that I’d question.”

“She has hope,” I say lowly.

“Well, this is certainly a leap of faith.”

A leap of faith.

Jack keeps talking. I stop listening.

A leap of faith. No. That’s not what this is. Not what this is at all.

But for a man who’s spent his life hiding away behind facts at every opportunity, I know something about leaps of faith. In fact, I’ve taken a few myself.

I walk to the edge of the isle and look down. There’s heaven and earth and nothing else.

“Are you sure about this, Farron?” I mutter to myself. A smirk appears on my face. “No,” I answer. “But that’s what makes it a leap of faith.”

A frustrated scream carries over the wind as Rosalina hits the ground hard. She didn’t even make it far enough to have her briars catch her this time. She staggers to her feet, limbs trembling, but wears an expression of rageful determination.

“Time to try it my way,” I whisper. Then I turn fully to my mate. “Rosalina?”

She looks to me, her hands on the first rock.

I smile at her. Then step off the isle.

29

Rosalina

Iblink.

Farron was there…and then he…

No. No, it’s not possible. Farron wouldn’t.

But he did.

He did!

An inhuman shriek tears from my throat. I drop my satchel and lunge toward the space where Farron was standing a second ago. He stepped off. Just casually walked backward as if he were beginning a stroll, not plummeting through the open sky.

Jack is rolling on the ground, clutching his stomach, and laughing. I want to scream at him. Want to rewind the last two seconds. Want to tear the sky toward me like a piece of paper.