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We stared at each other across the road. Instead of fighting or kissing, which could have closed the distance between us, I walked away from North’s Place and him.
The time for pretenses was over. So was the time for allowing others to decide my life and tomorrow.
Lumi matched my speed, quietly waiting until alone before halting me with an unnaturally cold but seemingly solid hand.
“V, you leaving and living a long and boring life was the one thing me and that man could agree on.”
“Like I ever wanted boring.”
“You always wanted to leave though.”
“How about you tell me what you know instead of what to do? Have I not earned your trust?”
“It was him I could never trust, not you.”
“And now I’ll have to live my whole life with the memory of killing you.”
She flinched away. Such a living reaction. My heart squeezed. She was here but she was dead.
“I’m sorry.” She swallowed. “So sorry I ever blamed you—I broke the curse on my powers by wanting to kill more than anything else.” Her feelings mixed with mine, memory fragments drifting through the bond. Someone held her down. Terror and anger swallowed her, as she welcomed death if it meant taking her enemies down with her. “I could no longer bear to see you sohappy,” she whispered, voice breaking.
“I wasn’t happy,” I said, but her memories leached away the anger. “I put on a front for you—all I wanted was for it to be like it’d always been.”
“V… we allchange. Look at you. I barely recognize you. You’re stronger than I ever knew. Stronger than me, bending instead of snapping.”
I pulled her luminescent shape into a desperate hug. “I always thought you the strong one. When you died— When I killed—”
She placed a hand on my cheek. “Let’s be strong together.”
Pressed close, feeling her inside me and in my arms, I quietly asked, “Why did you do it? Dress like a priestess. Attack him. Why couldn’t we have all worked together?”
She sighed. “Joined forces might be unbeatable but divide and conquer is the oldest tactic there is, especially when all sides are more powerful than your own. The cost of trust too high. My way the prince would have died. There would have been evidence and witnesses leading it back to Ealhswip and her cult—I gathered enough while I watched over Helia. The needed questions would have been asked of Morovara. I saw one impossible chance and could not let it pass me by.”
“You should have told me.”
Lumi stepped back with a hand on each of my shoulders, shining eyes seeming to see into my very Spirit. “And would you have listened to sense?”
Was her plan the more sensible one? Yes. Would I have listened? No. “That doesn’t mean it was the right way to go.”
She nodded slowly. “Now we do it your way, V. Together.”
I turned toward my Tal—the rivers and bridges, bones and temples, whorehouses and gambling dens, the leaning apartment buildings, and mud streets.
When planning the meeting between her and Dimitri, I had wanted to bring something to the table. They all thought they could do it alone. I planned and plotted. But neither was my strength.
Mother taught me kindness. To listen and join people together.
I’d watched neighbors’ children for a smile. Danced for a meal. I had looked to others for answers. Along the way, I had lost faith in my own ideas. But I did not need fancy invites or their approval.
I would not give up before I’d even tried.
We had three days to make a difference. If I could be convinced to fight for this place, anyone could.
We walked into the night. Two girls, one alive, one dead; one solid, one hovering. As we passed, people stopped and prayed. Dropped to their knees and whispered of the coming Goddess and the dead walking.
My skin itched, screaming for me to hide from the many eyes, but we would need all the advantages we could get. Belief mattered. Ealhswip had shaped the story for too long. The people flocking to the street were not collateral damage. It was time we took back Tal.
I channeled the princess I had been imitating and strode proud, still in the borrowed priestess’s robe, telling them to listen to the high priestess, reject the bloody drawings, and choose kindness when they could.
