Page 40

T he next night, Theo was sitting on the other side of the gate. A thick rope was tied tight around his waist again at Sebastian's request.

While he placed his palms in the green and tried to replicate what he did the other night, the others sat in the snow chatting and keeping his sister's company.

He tried to tap into the heartbeat again but today it wasn't happening. Nothing sprouted or stirred for ages.

"Sebastian, I..." He trailed off as he saw Sebastian and his sisters talking.

"I think you're a celestial nymph," he told Luna, passing her a book. "Theo told me you like stars, so I figured you may enjoy this either way. This details the techniques nymphs use to read the stars more accurately." He got a melancholy smile. "A friend of ours, Henri, was a celestial nymph, and I bet he has some other helpful things you may like. I'll make sure to collect some for you. He would've loved the idea of passing them on."

"Thank you," Luna said, cheerly, flipping to a page and skimming. "A celestial nymph. I always thought I was strange, but it's comforting to know there are others like me."

"I'll introduce you to some of the others in the kingdom later if you want." He looked at Coralie, and Theo could see the anxiousness in his posture. "This one is for you."

"What is it?" she asked, looking at the notebook skeptically.

"My notebook from when I was learning to hone my powers with my mom. I have a feeling you're a water nymph like me."

"Why do you think that?" She cocked a brow but didn't shut down the idea immediately.

"The things Theo's told me about you and your love for water dwelling creatures." He hesitated. "You have a koi fish, right? I'm willing to bet you brought it with you. A water nymph wouldn't leave their pet behind."

"It's in a jar in my room," she said quietly.

"Well, I have room in a fountain for him to stretch his fins if you like."

"That's probably a good idea." Finally, she took the notebook and stared at it. "Why are you helping me?"

"You're important to Theo, so you're important to me," he said simply.

All Theo's previous frustrations washed away in a flood of joy as he watched the people he loved getting along in the snow. I want to get this right so I can see them all together in every season.

His palms grew hot and then green thorny stems sprouted out through the space between his fingers. Soon, a small bush with pink camellias and white roses sat in front of him.

"Sebastian!" he called excitedly. He turned to show him, but he was alone. In fact, the entire kingdom was gone. Instead of a gate, there was just a wall made of braided green vines. He jumped to his feet and whirled around in a panic. Nothing but tall dense grass and trees appeared in the other directions. "Sebastian? Girls?"

"They can't hear you here," a low, imposing voice said.

He turned to see the being of white again. "You can speak?"

The being tilted its head and the white drained away, revealing a beautiful androgynous man with reddish brown skin the color of clay. He had long black dreads hanging down to his waist. His body was wrapped in a white cloth with edges that looked like they had been ran through a pool of rainbow watercolor paint. "I do. I can't talk to you typically but here we can speak."

"Here?"

"Between life and death. In the corners of shadow and moonlight.

"Right," Theo said slowly, not really understanding. I don't feel dead so it's likely fine . "You're the veil, correct?"

"Correct." He walked close to Theo and looked into his eyes as if assessing him.

"Should I call you Veil?"

"You can," he said, barely listening. "You have your mother's eyes." For the first time his stoic face broke into a warm smile. "How lovely."

"You knew my parents?" he asked, trying to not show how nervous he felt to be speaking with a spirit.

"Of course," he said plainly, then stepped back. "You don't know your connection to me, do you?"

"I know I'm a nymph and I'm one of your children. I'm doing my best to learn more. Can you tell me how to end the curse?"

"I want to share your truth with you first. If after what I show you, you still want to save them, I will help you. Deal?"

"Deal," Theo said without hesitation. Whatever it takes, I'm going to figure it out for them. For Sebastian.

Veil waved a hand and the plants parted, showing the kingdom from another time. There was no snow, but the greenery was all wilted and dying.

Theo followed Veil to the top of a grassy mountain side. After walking a ways, Theo was brought to the mouth of a cave ,hidden on the side of the mountain he would've missed it entirely if Veil hadn't guided him.

He furrowed his brow as he looked around. "I think I've been here before."

"You have," Veil said, nodding for Theo to follow him into the same cave Sebastian and Theo would hide away in a decade later. Inside was a man and woman in a heated argument. "Watch and listen."

Theo quickly pieced together who one of the people was.

The man before him was Sebastian's father. He looked like a much older Sebastian with dark hair and golden eyes that reminded Theo of embers. He glared at the woman before him with pure hatred.

The woman who glared right back was strikingly pretty. Her skin was the color of sand dunes, her long curls were the color of black dahlias, and her rich green eyes matched the leaves of cedars in summer.

"What have you done?" she snapped. "You had a kingdom that wanted for nothing. This place stayed in the grow season all year round and you still demanded more. Now the heart is cracked because of your greed."

"If I harness its power, my rule is solidified indefinitely." He held out a chunk of white crystal that had a fading red light in its center. "Show me how to use it. There has to be a way to make the lands prosperousness mine to control. I want to dictate which areas go into the grow season and for how long."

"I can't," she said through gritted teeth.

"Wynter, this is not a request. Have you forgotten are arrangement? You do what I say without question and I leave your brother alone."

"Wynter?" Theo said softly to himself as he realized he was looking allegedly at the one who broke the heart and cursed this place. His stomach twisted as he looked closer at her face. Just as the king looked like Sebastian but with darker features, Wynter looked familiar. There were subtle hints of his own face in hers, and her voice sounded vaguely familiar as if he only heard it in memories he couldn't quite reach. "Is what I'm seeing really the truth?" he asked Veil softly.

"It is." Veil held his arms behind his back and watched emotionless.

"Even if I wanted to help you, I can't," Wynter went on. "No one can except the veil itself. A gift from the veil is just that. A gift. Because you disrespected it, this place will now follow the same seasonal cycle as the rest of the veil. It will be a period of decay for a while, but everything will go back to being stable soon. You should warn everyone and beg them to forgive you for their temporary hardship."

The king smiled and snapped his fingers. Guards entered the cave, walking through Theo as if he was made of air and descended onto Wynter. She fought but the group overpowered her. They wrapped her in magic chains that drained her energy, and she dropped to her knees.

"You're the one that broke it as far as I'm concerned." The king knelt and gripped her hands so tight she winced. "You will either teach me to wield it, wield it for me, or fall for your crimes. Your choice."

"I can't teach or do the impossible."

"Then give me you."

"Not this again." She scowled and rolled her eyes.

"With you by my side, and the offspring we'd have, the heart won't be necessary. You will be my heart. The land will provide and take at our discretion. Our children will dominate the veil for generations."

"I already told you I won't be with you," she said coldly. "I am no more your Chosen than your current queen. I don't wish her fate on me or anyone else."

"You think you're too good for me?" the king bellowed.

"I know I am."

Rage flashed on the king's face and he reared back one hand and slapped her hard across the face.

The crack echoed off the walls and Veil, who hadn't moved this whole time, flinched.

Wynter let out a shocked laugh and shook her head. A bruise was already forming on her cheek. "Hurt me all you want. My answer isn't changing."

"Have it your way." He held her tight, and his palms ignited an angry orange. Wynter's anguished screams traveled up to the stars.

After what felt like ages, the flames finally went out. Wynter's arms were red and blistered. Her body shook with pain, but she still glared up at him as she spoke.

"You have kept me here working for you under threat and I have given in out of desperation time and time again. But I am done. The veil gave this gift to the lands to a queen worthy of it before you were even a passing thought in your parents' minds. You have failed to live up to her in every regard. You're lucky the veil didn't smother out the heart ages ago. Breaking the heart is just the manifestation of your greed and incompetence." She held her head high. "Do what you want, but I love the veil more than I fear you and I won't go against its wishes. If it wanted you to keep the heart, it would still be alive or it would replace it."

The king got to his feet and yanked her up with him by the chains. "Take her to be persuaded." He gripped her face hard and smiled down at her. "When you change your mind, call for me. I may be willing to offer mercy if you beg."

Wynter spit on his face.

Before they saw the repercussions, the world blurred like ink in water and soon Theo was standing among the crowd in front of the gallows. A knot formed in his stomach as Wynter stumbled forward. Her legs were weak, her eyes drooped with exhaustion, her light brown skin was black and blue, and her curly dark hair was a ratty, tangled mess. Her hands arms and shoulders were scorched with terrible burns that made her look raw to the touch.

Theo's heart ached for her he took a step forward, but the veil stopped him with an outstretched arm. "You can't change the past. Just watch her."

"I didn't do it," she said, her eyes tearful. Her voice was a weak rasp compared to what it was when she confronted the king. "Your king did this to you. I would never hurt my home like this. I'd never disrespect the veil like this."

Their screams only grew louder. The crowd was emaciated and full of malice. Various calls about how she was always deadly and dangerous were screeched out.

Her eyes went from fearful to full of rage. "Fine, suffer with your king then." Her eyes glowed magenta and she snarled as she spat the curse to the king.

As the final words about accepting his chosen mate was uttered, the king waved a hand dismissively.

The floor gave way. Her neck snapped. A bright light shot out across the lands.

Theo couldn't look away as people screamed and turned to run as the light washed over them. One by one they all froze in place. The king turned to stone and soon Sebastian would be cursed to carry the burden of his father's actions. But behind the fleeing chaotic crowd, Theo witnessed something he doubted anyone else saw that day.

Wynter fell out of her body.

Her physical body was still on the rope, but a version of her sat very much alive on the ground below. She was made of opaque shadows that reminded Theo of the blue hour right before dawn. Instead of the dirty clothes she was hanged in, she was wrapped in a black fabric with edges that glowed a faint orchid purple. Her hair was no longer matted, and all her burns were gone.

She stood staring at her own corpse in confusion as the first of countless snowflakes fell from the sky. A cyclone of snow swirled in front of her and then Veil appeared. As soon as she saw him, she smiled and leapt into his arms.

At first Theo thought it was simply a nymph seeing the spirit of the veil that made her elated, but then Veil leaned in and kissed her like she was the stars themselves. Another gust of snowflakes came, and they vanished together, still locked in a kiss.

"You loved her?" Theo said softly, glancing at Veil next to him.

"I did." For the second time, an emotion flashed across his face as he smiled to himself. "I still do."

The world churned again, and they were both in the veil by Theo's home.

Horrible growls and barks came from a distance, and Theo knew what this night was.

"I don't want to see this," he said. He was going to tell veil to take him back but then he heard it. His mother's voice came through the trees.

He followed it and what he saw made his stomach drop. She was pleading with the plants like he vaguely remembered, but standing in front of her was Veil.

"Please save him." She looked up at him pleadingly from her knees clutching Theo's lifeless body. "We did everything you and Wynter asked. We raised him as our own. We love him as our own." Life faded from her with every passing word. "You said we could call in one favor from you for taking him and this is my favor. I don't care about my life. Just save our son. If not for us, for Wynter. And if not for her, then do it because you owe him for bringing him into this world."

Veil was stoic in the past, but he reached down and placed a hand over Theo's bloody chest. There was a bang as a lightning bolt shot from his palm straight into Theo's teen body that jolted. His wound was sealed shut with the glowing green scar he would carry forever. A second later, he took a ragged breath as he came back alive.

The moment his mother Ophelia heard him breathe, she smiled, then collapsed onto him with utter relief. A few moments later, she passed on.

Veil took Theo, laid him in some foliage, then carried his mother to his father's side in a bed of red poppies and spider lilies. Kneeling next to his father was Wynter. She shook with heavy sobs as she caressed his face.

"I believe it's best we go," Veil said, holding out a hand to her.

"Did my brother suffer?" she asked in a soft voice.

"No. He went quick and his soul is with Ophelia like he wanted." He petted her head. "You'll see them again later."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking back at Theo who was glowing among the leaves and vines. "I don't want him to remember this," she choked out. "He doesn't need to remember this."

Veil went back to Theo, placed a finger on his forehead, and as he lifted it away, a wisp of white light came with him. He clutched it and it dissolved into dust. "His memory will be fuzzy. He may still remember some of Ophelia's words but that's the best I can do. Erasing death is difficult."

"Thank you," she said holding his arm. "Let's just watch him a little longer before we have to go."

The world blurred and they were back in their own time where they first started their conversation.

Theo stood there stunned. His heart banged in his chest and bile rose in his throat. Anger, confusion, and sadness tangled together.

"Are you my father?"