Page 51 of The Arrow and the Alder

“A lder, please come back to me…I love you,” Seph wept, arms trembling as she struggled against Evora’s blade. Her words seemed to fill that chamber of death, and an unnatural stillness followed.

Alder stopped twitching. The symbol upon his thigh faded, and it was his thigh. Human skin—not stag or depraved. His face was his again, his bare chest rose and fell with a slow, deep breath, and the little branding on his skin flaked away, like ash.

The Fate screamed.

A bolt of green light shot out of her hand and struck Alder square in the chest. Alder’s eyes snapped wide open, in surprise, in pain—pain that knifed through Seph’s heart—and he fell still.

Seph knew he was gone.

No …

She screamed and, in a burst of strength, she shoved Evora back, jumped to her feet, and ran at the Fate. She didn’t care that this creature was a goddess and she a mere mortal. No, Seph was fueled only by despair—but she’d only made it three paces before the Fate waved her hand, and Seph was knocked aside by a punch of air.

Seph landed hard on her shoulder, wincing and writhing in pain, but before she could climb back to her feet, an invisible force lifted her into the air. She hovered there, sobbing, with her toes just brushing the floor. She didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. To survive. To her right, Serinbor lay on the floor, unmoving, a handful of bone-masked kith dead or unconscious all around him, while Evora struggled to stand.

The Fate stopped before Seph, her expression void. “You stole my pet. I had such high hopes for him.”

“You monster .” Seph’s voice broke.

The Fate cocked her head to the side. “Monster, am I? Shall I remind you why my sister cursed you all in the first place? You had everything in the world, and it wasn’t enough. You wanted more. You wanted to be us . And so I am here to give you what you have always wanted. You no longer need to answer to Demas or Ava. I will be your god, and I will let you pursue whatever your heart desires, little star. There are no limits to your passions, under my rule, and if you give me what I want, I will let you keep your life in my new world.”

Seph wasn’t really listening to the Fate, not anymore, because her mind was still hung up on something the Fate had said: Whatever your heart desires, little star .

Heart of a star.

When she framed it this way—and not with the lens of her actual heart—everything suddenly made sense. The Fate had told Seph to pass on her burden, but it was her burden, given by the other Fates, for this reason. Because she was the only one who could carry it.

The one who would not take it for herself.

Seph looked at Alder’s lifeless form, and her heart shattered like the glass dome above, leaving its fragments all over everything. Tears burned in her eyes, blurring his beautiful body—a body that would never rise again. His strong arms would never hold her, his lips would never kiss her, and his eyes would never look at her again in the way that her grandpa had looked at her nani.

Hot tears spilled down her cheeks, and Seph’s shoulders shook with grief. She had not believed herself capable of loving anyone like she loved him, and he was gone.

Gone, when they’d only just begun, and he’d taken Seph’s heart with him.

Suddenly Seph knew what she had to do. She had Alder to thank for that.

“All right,” Seph said, resolved.

The Fate cocked her head to the side, staring at Seph with those soulless black eyes.

“I will pass the light to you,” Seph continued in a trembling voice.

The Fate’s lips slowly curled into a smile. “I knew you could be reasonable.”

The invisible force vanished and Seph dropped to the floor like a brick. She caught herself on her hands, coughing and wheezing for breath, and glanced over at Alder again. Her chest constricted painfully, but she pushed herself to her feet and walked toward the coat, stepping over broken glass and stone, around bodies, while that pile of glimmering fabric filled her vision.

She recalled all those times in the woods, sneaking around with her bow, trying not to get caught. All so that she could survive.

But there were some things, Seph realized, worth far more than surviving.

Saints give me strength, she prayed silently.

Seph stopped beside the coat and gazed down upon it, at those glimmering enchantments that slid across the surface like water. They seemed to flare a little brighter at her proximity. As if the saints were answering her, reminding her that this was and had always been her task, and hers alone.

Another tear leaked over Seph’s face as she crouched down and clutched the fabric in her hand. “I will see you soon,” she whispered to Alder, to Rys, and to her nani.

“What was that?” asked the Fate.

“Nothing…” Seph stood with the coat. She didn’t look at the Fate as she slipped her arms into the sleeves, and she cast one last glance at Alder’s handsome face before she pulled the coat over her shoulders.

A breath.

And light exploded.