Page 64 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

“Oh, aye. His choices are his own.” Ara offered me a sad smile.

“I only meant that some of us have a hard time letting go and believing actions over words. Words can be so tempting, you see, so beautifully spun that you can’t see the lies within them—or perhaps it’s the hope that blinds us.

It’s hard to tell, really.” Her expression sharpened.

“Though, don’t mistake my understanding for forgiveness.

He’ll die for his actions, and the Goddess will deal with him accordingly, but I still understand that in this situation, Adonis is just a hurt kid wielding the blade in the hand of a dangerous man. ”

“I can’t sympathize with the monster who tore apart my family, who terrorizes those of us left and two entire kingdoms. He hurts people.

He hurt me . I still hurt, and I fear I always will—yet he lives.

He’ll always live, and I’ll always be running…

always fucking running, hiding until the day he finally kills me too. ”

“Ara.” Alden’s whisper was too distant, too quiet.

“And the kingdoms…” I continued. “Goddess bless them. The people of both Ravaryn and Auryna take the brunt of his hatred. War after war, death and terror and famine, for what? To watch the bodies pile up and the death toll rise? He doesn’t simply want power. That much I know.”

My back hit the wall, and my vision snapped back into focus. I hadn’t realized I stood, but I’d backed myself into the cave wall on numb legs. My heated cheeks were wet, and I wiped them with the back of my hand, my breath hitching.

They all stared with wide eyes, shoulders sagging as though the weight of my pain had become too heavy for them to bear. My mouth opened and closed, unsure what to say or how to explain away what I’d just unleashed on them.

Broken. My cheeks grew hotter, the flush creeping down my neck and chest, my fingers fidgeting where scars should have been. I’m broken, and they see every jagged piece.

I simultaneously wanted to burrow in on myself and crawl out of my skin, anything to undo the last few minutes. This was the first time I’d truly met two of them. They’d think I was mad and bloodthirsty, a damaged byproduct, unworthy?—

“I’m so sorry, love.” Ara staggered forward, her throat bobbing as she took both of my hands, not noticing my flinch at her touch.

She brought my hands to her mouth and kissed them, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“I’m sorry we can’t be there, my sweet one.

I wish we could. I wish we could take this pain from you and shield you from it.

You were never meant to walk this path alone. ”

I swallowed hard, tugging my hands from hers, on the verge of crumbling, but I couldn’t fall apart in front of them. I wouldn’t.

They were my family, but they weren’t my haven. They weren’t the arms I wanted to fall into, or the hands that would hold me together.

My haven remained in another realm, and my heart ached for him. More than wanted, I needed Rogue, and Alden knew it, sympathy bleeding from his eyes as he stepped up behind Ara to wrap an arm around her waist and tug her back.

“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry he took Rogue from you, for everything he did to you, and I’m sorry I can’t be there. I miss you both more than I can say.”

“I miss you, too.” I winced when another crack shot through my heart. The thought of leaving him here felt an awful lot like losing him all over again, and I wasn’t sure I could survive it a second time—I wasn’t exactly sure I survived the first time.

“May I?” Vaelor asked, standing with his arms outstretched.

Blinking back the burn in my eyes, I nodded, and he pulled me in, laying his cheek on top of my head. “He may have torn our family apart, but he can’t tear apart the love that still lives in you. That is your true strength, Ara. Never forget it.”

I released a shaky breath and wrapped my arms around him in return, squeezing my eyes shut.

“It’s not wrong to feel what you feel: anger, sadness, resentment.

All of it. You hurt deeply, because you feel deeply, and that’s never a bad thing.

” His hug tightened ever so slightly before he held me at arm’s length, his hands on my shoulders.

“But in time, you must decide who holds the power over your peace… You? Or him?”

His silver gaze was the mirror to my own, but steadier, stronger, surer, and his certainty bled into me bit by bit.

“Don’t let him win,” he whispered.

The air vibrated with unspoken determination, and suddenly, it was painfully clear: doubt had no place in our world.

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat, standing taller as the distinct awareness that this was my father washed over me—but somewhere deep in the forgotten corners of my heart, the little girl I used to be trembled.

She was still there, trapped on the edges of battlefields, longing for the days when Evander’s arms had meant safety and nothing more, when his bedtime stories were the greatest adventure, second only to the times we’d sneak off into the flower fields with treats and books.

She hadn’t understood why he changed or what she’d done to make him stop spending time with her. While I knew it wasn’t my fault, nor Evander’s, she hadn’t, and that ache lingered.

I eyed the cave entrance, imagining the sheer enormity of what lay beyond it and the souls inhabiting the shadow of our world. Was Evander one of them, wandering in the faraway distance? Or maybe he hovered nearby, sensing my presence?

“Do humans pass through the veil when they die?” I asked.

“Yes, every soul comes back to live with the Goddess,” Vaelor answered, his head tilted, brows furrowed. “Why?”

Because not only did I need to speak with Evander one day, Vaelor was here, which meant Mother needed to be as well…in the far, far future. Though I didn’t voice that. Instead, I asked, “Why am I here now? Did I die?”

“No, my child, you are not dead,” Iaso answered.

Iaso?

My eyes snapped up to find a deity. If Iaso was unnaturally beautiful, an otherworldly being, this woman was a goddess.

My breath left me on a whoosh, my jaw falling slack.

The Goddess.

She was Iaso, identical in every way, except her eyes.

They weren’t eyes. In the sockets sat the sun and moon, glowing as such.

Her skin was dark and smooth, her cheeks speckled with stars that shimmered as her lips curled in a smile.

Much like Iaso and Calypso, her hair was breathtaking—a halo of coils that framed her face, each strand a delicate spiral.

“Goddess?” I breathed, staggering to my feet.

“Yes.” She strolled closer, the blue-black silk swaying around her legs as if she were underwater, her feet bare, toes encircled with rings.

She looked and moved as though she danced among stars, yet she bore the same knowing look as Iaso, and my brain had a hard time differentiating the two. The Goddess was real. I hadn’t doubted her existence, but she was walking toward me .

Me.

A regular person.

This was the woman who created the realm and everything in it…and she spoke to me.

Had she known my soul before I was born? She must have. She had been the one to bless me with the magic of a storm bringer—she’d blessed every storm bringer. Why?

She clasped her hands, tilting her head to the side.

“I didn’t mean to come here.” The words fell from my lips, my mind reeling. “I don’t know how or why.”

I looked upon the face of the Goddess, but it felt as though I’d stared at her face a hundred times, because it was Iaso’s…or Iaso’s was hers. All but the eyes.

She smiled again. “The mortals have long speculated upon the purpose of places like what they call the Silver Hollow. They claim it to be my bath, but no. I’m certain I was seen emerging from those very waters once or twice a millennium ago—every legend has its roots in some seed of truth—but it is not simply a bath.

The pools, like the one you passed through, are rifts in the veil. My trapdoors, if you will.”

“But why?—”

“I called you here. The blood you spilled granted you passage, but it was my will that pulled you through. My apologies if the means were a tad…alarming.”

Alarming? I released a half-hearted laugh, my hand rubbing my throat. Alarming was an understatement. Torturous, terrifying, and life-threatening were more accurate. “But why?”

“You need my assistance.” Before I could inquire on exactly what I needed, she continued, “Though, you cannot stay much longer. Time passes differently here, and a soul awaits your return.”

“Rogue,” I breathed, palming my chest. I couldn’t feel him anymore, and I doubted he could feel me, either. I hadn’t been worried before as I’d only been here mere minutes, but if time passed differently…

Did he think I died? My wide eyes snapped to hers, dread gnawing at my insides.

“He is still there, my child. Your bond remains, though it could not pass through the veil with you, but…” Her eyes lowered to the pool, then a subtle smile tugged at her lips, and she extended her hand, plucking a glowing strand from thin air.

My mouth fell open when I followed one end of the strand into my chest, the other disappearing into the water.

She inspected it before her eyes lifted to mine, a curious gleam twinkling in her orbs, the sun blazing too bright to stare into. “I’ve never seen two souls so intertwined.”

“What is that, if not the mate bond?” Vaelor asked.

Brushing off his question, she released the strand, and it faded from existence. “To love is to sacrifice, is it not, my child?”

I nodded slowly as understanding dawned on me. It was the evidence of my blood oath to Rogue—my sacrifice. “Does that mean it worked?”

The corner of her mouth tipped up, her moon glowing in its socket, the stars along her cheeks swelling as they, too, brightened and twinkled. “Yes, a thread was woven, but not into the pattern you intended.”

I blinked at her. “W-what?”