Page 85 of Reign of Stars and Fire

“What does this mean?” I asked, but like an instinct deep inside, I believed I already knew.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sofia said, trembling with glee. “What once was done, now is undone. It is a tale that undoes everything.” She took my hands. “It unwrites our every step; it unwrites the death of the king.”

She admitted Bracken was dead, but a true, desperate hope to bring him back lived in her gaze.

“Calista,” I said. “Is this true? You wrote a way to undo all the actions we’ve taken?” A way to return to a dreary beginning.

“It makes you stuck with the darkness for all time, Raven Queen,” Calista whispered.

To save Ari, I’d suffer in Davorin’s cruelty, yet this time, never be free of it. To live a song of a broken heart, where Ari survived in a different life, a different fate. But he’d survive. My stomach turned with sick. There was a reason Calista wrote the frightful tale.

Perhaps fate was telling us we didn’t have another solution. To stop Davorin, we’d need to send him back to before he was the lord of hate and war in the hearts of every kingdom. To a time he was the battle lord for a king, and battered his consort.

I rolled the scroll again.

If this burned, would Riot return? Would the court be restored? What would become of Ari and his folk?

Calista swiped her sleeve under her nose when I asked. Emotions she didn’t care to show were alive in her eyes. “Fated crowns were united kingdoms. You unwind that and there is no telling if their paths will ever cross. No curses where beasts fall for kind hearts. No masquerades where littles are stolen and locked in cages. No frozen hearts, and no golden ambassadors to bring the thaw.”

I sat in a narrow chair, studying the parchment. If I did this, it would unravel every life of everyone I knew. The Ferus royals, likely they’d never meet. Valen Ferus lived long before Elise came into existence. If there were no raids on the Night Folk fae, there would be no curse that would bring them together.

If there was peace in the East, there would be no reason Malin and Kase were separated by the cruel festival. There’d be no Guild of Kryv. Perhaps not even a Falkyn Guild. By the hells, Gunnar’s parents would not meet. Would he even exist?

My body grew weak. But on the other hand, Ari would be safe. He’d be free to live, his family would not be slaughtered. He could vow with Ulla, his first love. He could have a life where he was free to laugh and love and make grand maps alongside his father.

He could be happy.

Stefan took hold of my elbow. “Do not consider it, Princess. Too much has gone into bringing us all to this place. Do not slap away the sacrifice of your brother. He gave it all to bring you a new life, one that was safe and whole.”

“But it will never be whole if Ari does not survive because he sleeps and Davorin can reach him,” I told him. “Understand, I will do anything to protect him. Even sacrifice my own life. If I would do that, I would certainly sacrifice my happiness for his.”

“Saga,” Stefan warned.

Sofia bounced on her toes. No mistake, all she thought of was the chance to have Bracken. Even if it meant returning to a time before they existed, eventually they would exist.

Or perhaps they wouldn’t.

Either way, she would not walk this life without him any longer.

It was obvious any concern for the traumatizing impact on others was lost on her in this moment. I did not want this. My chin dropped. Part of me burned in guilt, as though I’d betrayed him.

Gunnar. Eryka. So many lives would be changed, ruined, even wiped from existence. Tears blurred my eyes as I looked to Calista. “Do you know how to wake him?”

Calista winced, blanching. “Time, Raven Queen. Give me time. Don’t do this.”

My heart ached, but slowly, I held out the parchment. “We find another way. This is not what Ari would want.”

“No.” Sofia’s voice quivered. Her eyes were like molten iron, violent and untamed. “No.”

She lunged between me and Calista and snatched the scroll from my hand.

“Sofia!” I screamed.

Stefan and his longer limbs caught Sofia before she made it to the door. He pinned her arm behind her back and they staggered to the floor. Sofia struggled and shrieked.

Stefan grunted when her heel struck his shin. “Play this hand, woman, and you will cause consequences greater than those of Riot Ode.”

“It will save his life,” Sofia sobbed.