I want to run, but the denial would not last. Why delay the inevitable? I turn and take in the scene as it plays in slow motion.
Their reunion is bittersweet. She’s crying and he’s taking her face in his hands. He hugs her and mouths a thank you to me over her shoulder.
I nod and wait. This is not over until . . .
Their kiss is the final blow. The last cut, severing our link. The heartbreak that follows is physical and emotional. I can almost hear the crack down the center of my sternum.
I grab my chest with one hand and the wall with the other.
What is it Romeo said?
“Thus, with a kiss, I die.”
THIRTY-FIVE
As If Something Is Over
There’s nothing quite as invigorating as finding something you’ve lost.
I draw back from Ky’s kiss. Just look at him. His hair, honeyed cowlicks curling away from his ears. I twist a lock around one finger. He tugs on my hair in response and we both laugh.
Three full days. How fitting. When I believed Joshua drowned, three days passed before he came to life before my eyes in the Forest of Night. Now Ky lives and breathes as himself in my memories again. My Ky. Mine.
“I remember.” The words squeeze through choked, happy tears. “I didn’t even have to touch you. I remember.”
Ky traces the lines of my face. The bridge of my nose. The arch of my brows. “But you want to touch me, right? I mean, come on, who wouldn’t?” He shrugs. Half grin and all.
This is the part where I punch him playfully and we go for a walk. Fingers and souls intertwined. Because, yes, that was a Kiss of Infinity just now. Rare as they may be, infinity seems to come natural to us.
“I missed you,” I say.
His two-tone eyes say everything his lips can’t. “I missed you more,” he thinks, for my heart alone.
The Reflection seems to have faded around us, leaving Ky and me in our own private bubble. Everyone else is a blur. No Joshua. No Lioness or Matron of Munchkins.
Only. Us.
“Em—”
Not yet, I think. Stay. Just a bit longer. The knowledge of who Ky is and, more importantly, who he is to me sparks something deep inside, piercing the darkness in my soul with spears of light.
“Won’t you stay with me?” My heart croons the Sam Smith lyrics. “. . . you’re all I need.” Except it’s clear to see this is love and this will work. With Ky everything works.
“Em—”
I hear the ache in his heart. The urgency behind his thoughts. But I’m not ready for this moment to be ripped away like everything else. Yes, I know this isn’t a scene from Once Upon a Time. There’s no screenwriter to guarantee a happy ending. No loophole every other episode, giving us a way out. As Joshua once told me, “This is real life.”
It appears my broken heart’s mended. I lean into him, inhaling his green scent. Shall we mend the Fairy Queen’s as well?
Ky swallows and his Adam’s apple bobs. He tucks my hair behind my ear. “Em.” My name is an out-loud plea. “Look.” His gaze passes over me then. Our bubble pops.
The room becomes clear once more, the Ozidents ogling us through the eyeholes of their masks. Cages filled with Shadowalkers surround us. A griffin I’d know anywhere as Wren thrashes and sways. Her agony strengthens her as she rips from her restraints and takes flight. She soars over us and lands ten feet away.
To my right stands Isabeau. Watching. Waiting. Expecting. What? She’s yet to place the mirrorglass crown upon her head. Did Jasyn steal it from Aidan? How did it end up back in his possession?
“Will you just stand there?” Isabeau rests her chin on her cupped hand. “Will you not attempt to save him?”
My head whips toward Ky. He’s fine. No one is stabbing him or harming him.
“No, not him, dear.” She gestures toward the griffin.
I look over to find the Mask kneeling beside—
That’s when I see it. A body so still it could be dead. No, not it. He.
And I’m frozen.
I clench my gut. The warmth. The Verity isn’t rejoicing. It’s crying.
Colors flash before my eyes and fade to gray. The world around me tilts. “Joshua.” His name rasps from my throat. I scramble to him. Trip. Someone laughs. A few scoot closer. If they had smart-phones, I’ve no doubt they’d post this on every live feed across social media. They’re Shadowalkers, all of them. I don’t fear those in cages. I’m more afraid of those who taunt and tease, standing by while others suffer.
“Wren.” I touch her feather-and-fur shoulder.
The griffin rounds on me, snaps her beak, and assumes a protective stance over him.
I reach out a hesitant hand, lowering myself before her.
“What are you doing? How can you kneel before her? You are a queen. She should be your servant!” The worst version of myself rages in her internal cage.
I glance over my shoulder at Isabeau. No, I think, returning my attention to the griffin and her charge. A good queen must first learn to be the least before she can become the greatest.
Ky interrupts my silent conversation. “Well thought, Em.” Pride fills the words unspoken.
“Wren,” I say again. “Let me see him.”
She stares through me. With a shake of her shoulders, she transforms. Naked, she falls to her knees. Uncontrollable sobs rack her body. She hides her face in her hands as jeers and taunts sound from a crowd enjoying their show.
My heart wants to wrap her, to comfort her in a way only Joshua could.
I rise slowly, using my frame to block the exposed girl on her knees before me. Then I remove my dress and drape the garment over her like a blanket. I’m in nothing but a thin slip, bra, and underwear now. In my time this might be considered modest compared to what some Walmart goers wear, but here I feel more naked than Wren. Exposed.
But I am not ashamed.
I sense Ky’s presence a few paces back. When I glance at him he’s frowning. But he’s also not surprised. Did he know this would happen to Joshua?
“Yes,” he says in my head. “He caused you to drink my tear from the mirrorglass bottle, which made you forget you loved me. Now it’s his tear you took. The remedy, I believe.”
My hands cover my mouth. With anyone else, this might not be so bad. My bond with Joshua broken and my link to Ky restored. All would be as it should be. But this?
I love you, I tell Ky’s mind before I shut him out. I don’t hear his response, but I don’t need it. He traveled through time and Reflection to find me. If I ever doubted his affection, it wouldn’t be now.
I skirt a sobbing Wren and approach Joshua. When I’m behind his head, I draw him into my lap. He’s heavy. I can manage. Because we’ve been here before.
But we won’t come back again. Not this time.
My lip quivers.
Joshua blinks.
When he looks up at me, my breath is twice removed from my body. His eyes shine, the cerulean more brilliant than I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t bleed. No bruises cover his skin.