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Chapter
Fifty-Seven
KAI
Ispent hours anguishing about which room to pick. Cora and her monsters claimed the highest towers were ideal for protection, but those towers were where the king resided and where I had . . . where he hurt me over and over again. Bile gathers in my throat when I think about staying in those rooms, so I tell Cora I can’t stay there. I expect her to be annoyed, or at least for her monsters to be, but they all look at me in understanding. Somehow, that only makes it more real. In the end, I select a room as far away from the king’s as possible, on the opposite side of the castle and a few floors down. I convince Grimus that we can watch the other side for threats, and he admits it’s smart, even if we’re less protected here. When Rook reminds the minotaur that we won’t be without protection and we are strong, he relents, and we settle in.
Somehow, the echoes of my past still reach me.
Despite my monsters holding me close that night, they can’t fully chase away the nightmares. When I awake for the second time from a brutal nightmare of the king punishing me, shadows surrounding me to keep the worst at bay, I give up on getting any sleep. There is too much to worry about.
Rook offers to get up with me, but I reassure him that I’ll be fine. Still, as I meander through the castle, his shadows remain at my heels, following in case I should need him. My heart grows fluttery at his support and care, and I welcome the shadows as I pad across the cold, stone floors on bare feet.
I’m not sure where I’m going until I find myself there. These chambers used to belong to the king. I know them well. I suffered in them. I’m not surprised my feet carried me here, but I am surprised to find they weren’t the only ones to do so.
On the balcony I once leapt from is a figure. She glows, so I know who she is immediately. I step toward her slowly, knowing she can sense me and I won’t startle her. Cora is radiant in this low light, her beauty only highlighted by the wind in her hair and the fluttering hem of her dress.
When I appear beside her, no words are exchanged at first. She simply reaches for my hand, and we stand side by side in the tower I once fell from. The Dead Lands still burn in the distance, the fires untamed with the magic it feeds on. The orange and red illuminate the kingdom in a ghastly light, but despite that brightness, that isn’t what catches my eye. It’s the lights from the Shadow Lands, outside of the town boundaries, where small fires and tents are set up.
“The hunters are amassing their army,” Cora says in explanation.
My heart throbs painfully in my chest. “Are there many?”
“Enough to fight a war,” she admits. “Many joined because of their hatred. Most joined out of fear of repercussions if they didn’t.”
“That means we have a chance to convince them not to fight,” I reason. “We can ask—”
“Fear is a heavy motivator, Kai. You know that better than most,” she whispers with a painful glance at me. “Fear is stronger than hope, and all we have had for so long is fear. Theyare preparing for a war, and that’s what they’ll have. I hoped to avoid this, but . . .”
“You couldn’t have known the outcome, Cora,” I tell her gently. “You freed the lands, but there will always be those who cling to their cage when they know nothing else.”
She sighs. “A lot of people, a lot of monsters, will die,” she rasps. When I hear a sob catch in her throat and see tears trickle from her eyes, I tug her close and wrap my arm around her. “I wanted to change our future,” she whispers, “but we are only repeating history.”
She turns into me, letting her tears out, and I cry with her. She needs me, and everything in me says that Kaito saved me for a reason, that I healed for a reason.
I was meant to be here for Cora.
For the first time in our lives, I am the one who stands taller, weathering the pain for her as she breaks.
“Let it all out,” I coo. “Let it out, Cora, and when you’re ready, we’ll make it better together.”
“Promise?” she croaks into my shoulder.
“Promise,” I answer.
My eyes catch on the flames in the Dead Lands, on the magic there. They dance, sparkle, and burn.
Oh, how they burn.
Chapter
Fifty-Eight
KAI
War is strange.
We all know it’s coming, we can feel it on the crisp early morning air, yet I find myself smiling at Cora’s mates’ antics. I eat, although I don’t taste the food I force myself to consume, and I shower and dress like it’s a normal day, but it isn’t.
