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Chapter 79

ASPEN

The heavy crown upon my brow melted, searing down my spine in molten rivulets that pierced my skin, burrowing into the depths of my being.

Silver wings tore free from the open wounds, unfurling wide as they lifted me from the cavern’s depths. I soared, desperate. Searching.

Searching for light.

But there was nothing. Just an endless stretch of darkness—vast, absolute. Not even the blink of a star to guide me through the abyss.

I flew without aim, circling the chasm in an endless, aching spiral.

Where was it? I had to find my light.

They couldn’t take it.

My light, my light, my light ? —

I awoke to a different kind of darkness, my hands reaching for a ghost.

But she was never there. There would be no lingering trace of cinnamon, no stray red hairs on the pillow.

No, this room had never been hers.

There was no warmth above me, no cage of limbs I could wrap around.

It was the only way. The only way to ensure it.

But I’d never forget the way she looked at me that last time.

I hadn’t been able to take it.

Fucking coward.

I’d shut my eyes, counting her freckles from memory. When I opened them again, she was gone.

They would kill her. They would kill them all.

No.

She was safe. Deyanira was safe. Theon was alive.

They were all safe. I had made sure of it.

That would be enough.

I would make this world worthy of her, and then—I would find my way back to her.

Even if I had to crawl through every fucking lifetime to do it.

Even if I had to rip apart the Divine myself.

Iris Virlana got to be happy.

Iris Virlana got to see the world.

Iris Virlana got to live.

On every path.

I begged for sleep’s release once more, praying for the sun.

It was the only place I could still hope to find her.

It had to be enough.