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The forest filled with flowers,

And yet as far as I’ve been,

As far as I’ve seen,

Nothing, nothing,

Is as beautiful as you.”

She laughed a little sob and then kissed me, pressing me close in a tight embrace. “Oh, I have missed you so!”

“I’ll not part from you again,” I said. “I promise.”

We soon remembered that we were standing there kissing and swooning before both Ofelia’s motherandthe king of this realm. We parted, collecting ourselves—but tears rolled down Soleil’s face. The Shadow dog whimpered and wiggled in Marisol’s arms until she shifted the creature into the arms of the god. Soleil smiled a little bit as he pressed his creation against his heart. But there was heartbreak in his eyes.

“Soleil?” Ofelia asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I asked you to teach me about love,” he said, his voice pinched with emotion. “I wanted to learn how to be a human, and I—what a fool I’ve been.”

Marisol stepped closer to him, her hand against his shoulder. She looked him in the eyes not like a cowering subject, but as one friend to another. “What do you mean, dear?”

He set down the dog and let it scurry back to its napping spot on the beach. Soleil wiped at his eyes, his lips trembling.A bit speechless, I offered the god my handkerchief, which he accepted with profuse gratitude.

“Sacrifice,” he said tearfully. “Thatis what love is. Ofelia, you were willing to stay here below so no one else was trapped. Marisol, you sacrificed the sun and life and freedom, so that you could be here with your daughter.”

Marisol wrapped an arm around Ofelia, beaming down at her. I could only imagine the strength of the bond they had formed over this long year together.

“And Lope,” he continued, “you had the chance to live in the world above, to go anywhere... but you gave that up. You gave that up so you could see Ofelia again.” He clutched his hands to his breast. “I have kept you for myself. I am—I am no human, try as I might to fool myself otherwise—”

“You’re more human than so many,” said Ofelia. “Far more than my... than my father.”

“Exactly.” Soleil shut his eyes, as if remembering something painful. “I... I do not wish to be alone. I fear it. But hoarding you for my own, when you could be above, feeling real air and real sunlight upon your face...”

The twilit king seemed to come to some conclusion. He placed his hand against Ofelia’s cheek. “You’re free to leave,” he said. “All of you.”

My heart skipped.

Ofelia was shaking her head. “No. No, I won’t leave you, you’ll be here all alone—”

“I have my Shadows,” he murmured. He gestured around him. “This whole world is thanks to you. It’s not the same;I’mnot the same.” The god pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I will be all right, dear one.”

Marisol’s hands were clasped together as in supplication. “Are... are you certain about this, my lord?”

Soleil nodded, even as tears fell. His blue-green-golden eyes aligned with mine. “My heart, itaches. How do you bear the pain?”

“The pain you feel—that is love,” I said. “True love changes you. It leaves a mark upon you. Even if no one can see it.”

He was quiet for a moment, sliding his hand over the place where his heart should have been. His shoulder shuddered with breath. “Then... maybe I am human after all.”

The god bent down, meeting Ofelia eye to eye. A proud, brilliant smile brightened his face like sunshine. “Oh, Ofelia,” he said, his thumb brushing her freckled cheek. “You have fulfilled your promise to me. You have taught me how to love, just as you said you would. What a beautiful curse! What a tragic gift!”

Ofelia threw her arms around him, weeping. “I don’t know what to do! I cannot bear to leave you, and yet—”

“Your world calls to you, my dear one,” he said.

“But—but I will miss you so,” she whimpered.

An idea struck me. The same solution we’d had whenOfelia and I had been separated. I reached into my satchel and procured the small hand mirror.