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Raziel lay beside Anaria in the leaves, her dress pulled up to her waist, and they were inspecting the black mark on her side…which was enormous, the wicked bolt stretching all the way down to her knee, wrapping around her abdomen.
“Zorander,” she breathed, yanking her dress down, both she and Raz staring up at me like I was an apparition. “My gods, it actually…worked.”
“Fuck.” Raziel climbed to his feet then helped Anaria to hers, his face ashen. “It actually did.”No collar. I frowned at the band of pure white on his neck, its starkness a shock against the rest of his dark tan skin.
No collar.
That meant something. The absence of the iron was vitally important, and yet I couldn’t get the memory to surface, couldn’t quite grasp why that white line was so significant.
Then Anaria was molded around me like a glove, and we tumbled backwards into the bed of leaves, her arms wrapped around my neck so tight I could barely breath. She pulled away long enough for me to see she was crying. No, laughing.
No…both.
“You’re alive.” She cupped my face between her hands. “Oh my gods, it really worked. You’re really alive.”
“Of course I’m alive.” We struggled upright, Anaria still clinging to me as if she couldn’t bear to let me go. “What else would I be?”
I couldn’t make sense of this, but instinct told me something—everything—was wrong with this scenario. Anaria was soft and warm in my arms. My best friend was a few feet away, staring and staring at me as if he’d never seen me before. But the hair rose on my arms, alarm tightening my gut.
What forest was this?
I was in Caladrius, I remembered that much. I’d marched across this realm a hundred times. Had traveled north of the mountains, across both the southern seas, all the way to the western edge of Varitus. But I had never been here.
The ancient smell was arboreal, rich in history, yet completely foreign.
Except for that vague hint of jasmine and amber that seemed to line every leaf, every bud, every draft of humid air. “Where are we? Is this still…Caladrius?” Even as I asked, I knew I had to be wrong.
Caladrius was dead, and this place…was very much alive.
Anaria blinked, sending fresh tears spilling down her lovely face, and I reached up to brush them away.
Reached up and froze.
The thin line on my arm was a torrent of black running from my wrist into my sleeve, but somehow, it went further. The mark ran all the way to my aching, thundering heart. I felt its powerful presence seeping into me, deeper than flesh and bone, far more permanent and everlasting.
These marks were eternal, like our bond. I didn’t know how I knew that…I just…did. Like the information was etched permanently into my soul.
“The flatlands of Solarys. We’re in the flatlands, Zor.” Anaria’s tentative smile was half regret and half apology. “How much do you remember? About these past days?”
I shook my head. I’d been marching my men west, heading across the wasteland toward Tempeste. To dethrone the Fae King and take back his lands. We’d almost reached the city when…when…I reached and reached for what came after, but there was nothing.
Nothing but an empty place where memories used to be.
“Tell me where we are, Anaria.” The order came out harsher than I meant, my voice tinged with fear and desperation, Anaria shaking in my arms. “Because these are not the flatlands.”
A big hand curled around my shoulder and squeezed.
“She’s not lying, Zor. Three hours ago, this was all a barren wasteland. But the Oracle, after all her bullshite and games, wasn’t lying about the magic. Anaria did it. She brought this entire realm back to life.”
Anaria nodded, but the shadows in her eyes told me there was more, and I wondered if I wanted to know the rest.
“You did this?” She nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving mine.
She was so fucking close, her lips parted, just an inch from mine. I ached to kiss her, but…I glanced up at Raziel, braced my shaking hands on her waist and gently set her aside. She was his, which meant she’d never be mine.
Anaria was Raz’s and he deserved to be happy. “I need a minute, I think, to wrap my head around this.”
Anaria closed the space between us and kissed me anyways.
