Page 128 of This Shattered Star

“But it’s a beginning. These shadows—the darkness, it is not a curse, Eloise. It’s always been yours, the root of your magic. Just like mine is fire—light. She thought it was poetic when she created the both of us.” The barest whoosh of air escaped through his parted lips in a short sigh. Almost a laugh, but too sad to sound like one.

“I’m sorry. You have every right to be angry. About all of it.” He shook his head slowly. “We won’t leave without you. But he’ll come looking for you soon.”

“There is nothing beyond this forest. Everything was ravaged hundreds of years ago, there is nowhere else to go.”

“Do you trust me?”

Apprehension slid down my spine, cold and slimy. Just hours ago, I believed I could.

But now, I didn’t know him. Not truly.

His eyes bored into mine in a way that felt as though he reached into my very soul to read its contents. “What does your heart tell you?”

“I stopped listening to it a long time ago. My heart tells me nothing.”

Kodhan wrapped a hand around my wrist and tugged me to his chest.“Liar.”

Fire erupted. Not a single tree in the surrounding area was spared, bright orange flames licking down every trunk and root until scorching heat stuffed itself down my throat.

His fingers pressed into the flat part of my wrist, and he bent down to whisper along the shell of my ear. “We are standing in the middle of a burning forest. You have no means to escape.” Embers flickered over his shoulder in emphasis. “But your heart beats steadily. No jumps or stutters. You are not afraid, little viper.” Despite the heat, I shivered as his breath fanned the length of my throat. Fought against the wobble in my knees while his lips ghosted over the spot right below my ear, near the column of my jaw. “You know I would never hurt you.”

“You were our mission,”Theia said.“Let this next one be yours. Come with us. Take back what is rightfully yours.”

“It’s been an age since I’ve felt blood on my wings.”Brannon’s long, spiked tale lashed out, nearly missing a burning tree. “And I quite miss the taste of vengeance.”

Kodhan’s voice filled my head next. Though it felt different, clearer. Like we stood in a room with four doors and he’d nailed all of them shut except for one.“I told you once that I will always find you. And I meant it. There is no place for me other than by your side. The stars themselves could devour the world we walk on, and it wouldn’t matter. I know we will be together in the next. In every timeline, in every life, I am yours.”

A single breath shuddered through me at that. My soul trembled with it.

“I swear, I will not fail you again,” he said out loud. His oath wound around my heart and branded itself there.

The choice was mine.

I could return to Aedreath—the kingdom of lies—powerless still, save for a few measly shadows most would mock or claim as a bad omen from the gods. Maverick was a smart man. He must’ve already had countless doubts. If Kodhan spoke thetruth, and I returned in my current state, he would easily link me back to them. To that goddess.

What lay between us would not save me from his wrath, not anymore.

Not if his devotion was already placed somewhere else.Withsomeone else. And had been for hundreds of years.

Not if what lay between us was nothing but a means to an end.

Or I could follow my allies.

Those who’d fought alongside me. Secrets or not, they risked their lives so that I could complete all three Starlight Trials and cross the Veil. The proof of it already lay in the moment Theia pushed me from that watchtower.

I could seek the truth they claim. The magic I’d desperately hoped for. Without the weight of a crown.

“I’ll go with you.”

Kodhan’s brows lifted with hope.

“On one condition.”

“Anything. Name it, and it is yours.”

“I want to go back to Aedreath.”

Protests bounced simultaneously between my temples and across the trees. I held up a hand, silencing both words and growls alike.