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Epilogue
Tessa
As I rode through the mists, a white comet streaked overhead. I tipped back my head as the horse carried on. Even through the heavy darkness, the comet lit up the sky. It would have been a beautiful sight if not for what it meant.
Kalen’s warning from his mother rang in my ears. The comet meant the gods were returning to this world, but I’d already suspected as much. By stabbing Oberon with the Mortal Blade, I’d somehow destroyed the necklace too. And in doing so, I had released the God of Death’s power. Herfullpower. She would return to her body now and fetch the other gods.
Andromeda was coming.
The knowledge of it clogged my throat with bile, and that ever-present rage rose within me like an iron fist. Anger at myself, for being the cause of it all. Anger at Oberon, for not telling me where he’d hidden the necklace. If I’d known he had it in his armor, I never would have gone near him with that blade. I would have held back, knowing the magic of it turned everything into ash.
But what I would have done didn’t matter. Because it did not change the truth. The god was free, and I could not take it back.
The next few hours were nothing but a blur of exhaustion, pain, and guilt. I needed to rest, but I had to reach Kalen and the rest of the Mist Guard before something terrible happened to them. And so I hunkered down on the horse and held tight to the reins. Once I made it back to camp, I would rest. Kalen would hold me against his warm chest and tell me everything would be all right.
We would find a way to fight the gods.
The thought of seeing him was the only thing that kept me going.
Hours passed before I finally reached camp. I leapt off the horse and raced to the remnants of the fire, only to find no one there. Broken chains littered the rocks, and ashes were piled on top of the logs. I knelt and pressed my fingers to the charred wood. Completely cold. They’d been gone a while.
Frowning, I glanced around for any sign of them. Had they gone after me and Oberon? It made sense. That would be the first thing Kalen would do once free, but I would have passed him on my way here.
I paced the small camp, wracking my brain. Someone had freed Kalen and the others from their shackles. And then they had…what, exactly? I knew Kalen. He never would have gone anywhere without trying to track me down. Had he gone in the wrong direction?
I sat hard on the rocks. I needed to find him. I had to tell him about the necklace and the comet and…
His words echoed in my mind.
She made me vow to stop it from happening, and to kill anyone who brought them back. I’m to look out for a white comet in the sky.
I sucked in a sharp breath. Kalen had made a vow to kill whoever caused the comet—whoever brought the gods back to this world.
I’ddestroyed the necklace. I hadn’t meant to, but…I’d held the blade. It was me. I pressed a trembling hand to my chest and tried to catch my anxious breath. Darkness crept into the corners of my vision.
“He’s not here,” I whispered to no one but myself, “because he’s seen the comet, and he somehow knows I destroyed the necklace. He thinks he’ll have to kill me.”
And he wouldn’t be wrong. It had been an accident. A horrible, cruel accident. One crafted by the God of Death herself. Kalen’s vow would force him to kill me, and he knew it. And so he’d run the other way, likely with the help of the Mist Guard. He might have needed them to knock him unconscious to stop him from coming after me.
The second he laid eyes on me, he’d be compelled to shove his blade into my heart. There was nothing either of us could do to prevent it.
I slumped against the boulder, my exhaustion so heavy that I could no longer fight it. What was the point of trying? I’d destroyed the necklace and lost the only man I cared for…all in one horrible, brutal day. I had no idea what I would do next. It all seemed achingly impossible to me now. I was wounded and so very, very alone.
And so I gave in to sleep.
Instantly, the blood-soaked, comet-filled world dissolved. That familiar dream forest surrounded me, where chirping birds and whispering crickets sang a song of life. It was an aching reminder of what we would lose if we did not find a way to stop this.
I waited in the tall grass, expecting Kalen to step out of the shadows at any moment. The hours passed and still I waited. My heart ached, but I did not give up, even though I knew deep down that he would not search for me here.
He would stay away. Even if he wanted to come, he wouldn’t. It was too big of a risk. He could not kill me in my dreams, but he might be forced to try. The vow could make him interrogate me or press a blade to my neck like before. It could make him terrify me, or even trick me, into telling him where I was.
Kalen would never forgive himself if he did any of that to me. Not now, not after everything that had happened between us.
When I awoke hours later, I did not feel better for the sleep. The mists still hung heavily around me, and I had no one but Oberon’s horse to stand by my side. I couldn’t return to Endir, not now. Kalen might be there.
Leaving the camp behind, I wandered to the base of the mountain and pushed out onto the sandy beach. Overhead, the comet trailed through the sky, leaving behind a streak of pure, brilliant white. But other than that, the sky was black. The mists had thickened here now, and even the sparkling sea was hidden under a blanket of darkness.
Kalen was gone. I was alone. And I had nowhere in this world to call home.
“As long as dreams remain, so do the stars,” I whispered, staring out at the mist-enshrouded sea.
But there were no dreams, and there were no stars. Only night and chaos.
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