Kai’s grip tightened, but I shook free. Wind scoured the grass, pressing the blades flat. Bursts of purple lightning zigzagged around us. Overhead, the storm brewed like a livid, inverted whirlpool.
“Harlowe,” Kai shouted. “We should wait here. We have to stop Vick before he gets Amryssa near the tree.”
I studied the empty clearing. We’d beaten Vick, but Amryssa wouldn’t be safe until Zephyrine accepted my sacrifice. Then my friend would become a useless hostage. Vick would have no choice but to let her go, his mission to stop the nightmares fulfilled.
Amryssa and Kai would be safe. So would everyone else. I only had to buy their futures with mine.
“You stay here.” I smiled, trying to ease the sting. “Keep Vick away. I need to talk to Zephyrine.”
Kai’s brow creased, but he had no way to know there was another way. One I meant to take.
“Please.” I shouted over the ear-splitting shriek of the storm. “Just trust me.”
His gaze clouded with doubt.
A knot gathered under my sternum, so constricting I could barely breathe. This was cruel.Iwas cruel, weaponizing his love for me like this. Somewhere inside me, those wings began to beat, heavy and thrashing. Part of me was trying to break away, to stay with him.
For a moment, I actually considered it. He stood so still amid the storm, just like when I’d first laid eyes on him. Only now he didn’t look like a monster. Not even like a prince—not in those plain clothes, with his hair frothing on the wind. He looked like...
Just a man. A shepherd’s son. One I’d married. One I loved.
“Are you sure?” he shouted.
I nodded. Even though I absolutely fucking wasn’t sure. But the need to save Amryssa beat steadily inside me, a guiding star.
I couldn’t look at Kai another moment without collapsing, so I turned to face the fevered storm. The tree loomed, stealing my attention.
The buzz in my teeth spread into my skull.
The strangest part was, it was familiar. It felt like the dagger’s inhabitant, multiplied by a billion.
I took a step, then another. I glanced back once, but now Kai had his back to me. Vick stood at the clearing’s edge, Amryssa anchored at his side.
My breath hitched, but Kai would handle them. Already, Vick trembled in the face of the nightmare’s fury. Meanwhile, Amryssa strained toward the tree, soundless pleas coming from her mouth.
Kai set off toward them, straight-backed.
“I love you,” I murmured. The wind snatched the words, and I dared to imagine it would deliver them. Whirl them around,polish them to shining, then plant them in Kai’s ear, once I was gone.
Come, Zephyrine commanded, inside my head.
I turned to the tree and did as the goddess bade. One foot in front of the other.
Above me, the nightmare raged.You are nothing.
You’re wrong, I answered.
You are worthless.
Fuck you, went my reply.
I erected a wall inside my mind, piled the bricks of my love for Kai and Amryssa atop it, then mortared it over with curses and refusals. The nightmare couldn’t have me. Not right now.
When I reached the tree, I passed through some invisible barrier. All at once, the wind’s grip loosened and died.
Apparently, the storm had an eye, and I’d found it.
I pushed my tangled hair from my face and ran my fingers down the oak’s rough bark. Its trunk was massive, wider than my arms could span, and a jagged split ran down the middle. Purple light emanated from within.
