This is a quick recap of Book 2 since it’s been a while. Right after the recap is the last chapter.

Book 2 starts with Ivan being held prisoner at a Seelie temple in Tarshish. Though Seelie, the temple leader, Kala’el, has teamed up with Xanthus. Kala’el has called for a meeting between Xanthus and Queen Alistrina, to discuss peace between the kingdoms. This is all a plot to kill Alistrina so that Kala’el can take over and become the Seelie king. In exchange for Xanthus’s help in killing Alistrina, Kala’el has promised to help him capture Charlotte, using Ivan as bait.

While imprisoned, Ivan is allowed a visitor, a girl named Gwin who is to be his slave. The guard that escorts Gwin inside refuses to leave. He tells Ivan that Kala’el ordered him to stay until Ivan brands Gwin. Kala’el has gotten suspicious of their relationship, seeing as Gwin does not bear Ivan’s Domis marks (slave marks).  Ivan has no choice and brands Gwin. Satisfied, the guard leaves them.

Gwin is working for the Resistance, a group of humans in the Faerie realm who hope to free all enslaved humans.  She gives Ivan a vial of blood that belongs to the Resistance leader, The Great Mother, who also happens to be Charlotte’s mother. With this blood, Ivan can create a potion that will strengthen Charlotte’s human half to break all the bonds with Maris and expel Maris from her body.

When we meet Charlotte again, she is travelling to Gri’ah, one of the minor Seelie kingdoms, with Kheelan and Elena. The Queen of Gri’ah is a good friend of Kheelan’s. He says they will have a chance to rest in Gri’ah and look over the notes Ivan left for Charlotte. One thing Kheelan insists on is for Charlotte not to use her powers. Xanthus will track her down if she does.

While in Gri’ah, Charlotte begins having strange memories of Maris's life. She doesn’t understand why Maris is showing her this now. She also begins to have stronger feelings for Kheelan, who appears to feel the same.

In the meantime, Elena has started reading over Ivan’s research. She discovers that there is a tree in Faerie, The Tree of Life that keeps records of all the lineages. Within this tree is the location of the veil. They make plans to leave for the Tree, but Charlotte is kidnapped by Gri’ahn guards who think she is human, and wish to enslave her. Charlotte proves them wrong by killing each one. It is Kheelan who finds her, and moved at his determination at finding her, Charlotte surrenders to her feelings for him and they kiss—a silent agreement that they will explore their feelings for one another.

Back in Tarshish, Queen Alistrina comes to see Ivan in secret. She tells him that she knows of Kala’el’s plot, but had to come and see Ivan to make a confession. She reveals that Charlotte is the veil. Ivan knows he has to reach her and keep her safe, but Alistrina has one more confession. She reveals that the reason Maris hated her was because she forbid Maris from being with the man she loved: Kheelan. Ivan is beside himself as he never knew of Kheelan and Maris’s relationship. He feels guilty that he agreed to marry Maris, and also that he killed her. He is also worried since he left Charlotte in Kheelan’s care. He leaves Alistrina to her fate with Kala’el and escapes to go back to Charlotte.

Charlotte, Kheelan and Elena make it to Coleck where the Tree is guarded by the Resistance. The humans here are in mourning, and Charlotte discovers that they mourn Gwin’s death.  Charlotte is taken to see Gwin’s body and instantly recognizes Ivan’s branding marks on her skin. Charlotte thinks Ivan has betrayed her and decides she was right to give things with Kheelan a try.

Charlotte finally meets her mother, The Great Mother, who also warns her that maybe she should be careful with Kheelan.

That night, Maris reveals the truth to Charlotte about her relationship with Kheelan. She shows Charlotte a memory of when Kheelan vowed to follow her wherever. Charlotte realizes that the only reason Kheelan cared for her was because Maris was bound within her body.

Heart broken and numb, Charlotte decides not to mention Maris’s revelation to Kheelan. She doesn’t have many allies and still needs his help at getting to the Tree. To avoid raising any suspicion, and still sorting out her feelings, she falls asleep beside him that night. Ivan arrives shortly after and sees them sleeping together.

The following morning, Charlotte senses Ivan’s presence, but he is gone by the time she wakes up. She doesn’t think of it any more as she is called to an emergency meeting with the Resistance leaders. Both the Seelie and Unseelie armies are headed toward Gri’ah, having traced Charlotte’s powers to that location.

During the meeting, Ivan arrives. Surprised at seeing him there after believing he had abandoned her, Charlotte walks out of the meeting. Charlotte’s mother walks out after her, and tells her that she has to talk to Ivan. Charlotte agrees, but Maris refuses to lose Kheelan one more time and wages a war within Charlotte to take over the body. Charlotte struggles, but weakened from the constant battles, she has a hard time fighting off Maris. Ivan arrives and places a seal on Maris that will bind her powers temporarily.

That night, Ivan and Charlotte finally discuss their relationship and decide that though things between them moved so fast, they want to give things a try. They start over, learning the basics about one another to strengthen their foundations.

Ivan shows Charlotte a vial of blood (the elixir that will expel Maris from her body), but he doesn’t tell her what it is yet, fearing that if he does, Maris will emerge when it comes time for Charlotte to use it. Since they need Maris’s blood to get into the tree, Charlotte cannot drink it just yet.

The chapter ends with Ivan and Charlotte deciding to leave for the Tree right away. He tells her they must burn it down so that no one will ever know the location of the veil. Ivan knows that the veil is inside Charlotte, but no one else knows and he wants to keep it that way.

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Chapter Fifteen

Ivan organized a convoy that would travel the short distance with us to the Tree of Life.  No one knew what waited inside, but we knew what was to come outside once I did enter. Xanthus. The anticipation of him clung in the air, the humid materialization of our fear and uncertainties.

Though cloaked, I shivered beside Ivan who listened on as my mother told him of the strengths and weaknesses of our troupe so he could best decide how to split them up. The entry to the Tree, I discovered, was in a nearby series of caverns. The trunk pierced the ground and supposedly ran to the center of faerie. Smart tree to grow underground if it was so important. 

Ivan split us in three groups: those who would travel into the caves, those who would be our breadcrumbs along the way to warn of danger, and those who remained above ground keeping watch. My mother was not to be part of any of these groups. It was safer for her to get as far from Coleck as possible. She needed to spread the Resistance, were we to fail. I wasn’t stupid. Failing was always a part of the equation.

“I see everyone has been sorted,” Kheelan asked, coming up behind us. “Which group am I in?”

Thankfully, my mother was holding my arm. My knees went a little watery at hearing him, and my stomach did a flip into my throat. I hadn’t expected him to stay after… after everything.  I had hoped he had gone.

Ivan stepped forward, meeting his brother before he came any closer. A war of eyes ensued, the temperatures around us wavering, one moment hot, another cold.

“You’ve done enough,” Ivan clipped finally. “But if you wish to help, you can remain at the mouth of the caves and lead the men there.”

Blue eyes alit with a cynical humor, Kheelan chuckled. It was a raspy, low laugh that dried my throat with its wintriness.

Ivan exhaled, his hands tightening to fists at his side. I shifted beside him, feeling his heat overpower the cold. I gripped his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Elena moved to the sidelines between Ivan and Kheelan, touring her eyes between the two men whose postures and tension promised violence.

“I would like to know what you find so amusing,” Ivan asked, his tone tight like his fists.

Arms crossed over his broad chest, Kheelan’s chuckle withered to a grin. I’d never seen that look on him before and it frightened me. That wasn’t my Kheelan. Though a smile touched his lips, his eyes were steeled, devoid of any emotion.  This Kheelan had nothing left to live for.

“This is my punishment, then? You kill my mate and now wish to leave me on the frontlines of battle so I can die too, brother?”

Ivan stiffened. “This isn’t about us—”

“This has everything to do with us!” Cracks of ice splintered the ground beneath us. I could see the torrent of emotions in his eyes, the desire to cry, to rip Ivan to shreds, to die. It was the latter that terrified me. Kheelan unhinged didn’t fear death. “You can’t handle the blame and so wish to see me dead, hoping the guilt will die along with me.”

Ivan bristled, Kheelan’s words playing to the guilt I know he felt. But there was a mission to carry out, and I knew for Ivan, that was top priority. “I may not trust you with my mate, but I trust your desire to keep her alive,” Ivan said. “You won’t let anything come down this mountain, not if you can help it. You love Maris too much.”

Kheelan’s blue eyes darkened, his jaw tight. “She loved me too, but you didn’t care about that when you sucked the life out of her in one breath.”

Ivan made to speak, but Kheelan spoke and cut him off.

“I’ll guard the entryway, Your Grace,” he said and bowed slightly to stress his disdain. “But before that, I need to speak to her.” He turned his eyes to me.

Ivan’s hand grew scorching hot within mine. “Impossible. I won’t break any seals for you to talk to Maris—”

“I mean Charlotte,” Kheelan said coolly. “I want to talk to Charlotte.”

My eyes flicked up, meeting his instantly. A strange panic tangled in my stomach. What did he want with me? Did he mean to apologize?

“Like I said, impossible,” Ivan replied. Taking my hand, he pulled more than led me away. Rapt in thought, he squeezed more with each step, with each thought.

I stopped, halting both of us.

Ivan whirled to me, but boring eyes into mine, he didn’t ask why I stopped. He knew, and the way his face hardened told me he didn’t like it one bit.

“Please, Ivan. None of us know what’s to happen and I don’t want to leave things this way.” Taking my hand from his, I rubbed at my wrist. “He’s your brother, and as long as Maris is within me, he isn’t going to go anywhere. I won’t spend every waking moment running away from him. If I can get some closure in all of this, even an apology, it will make it easier to move on and perhaps forgive myself…”

He looked unconvinced. I cupped his face and moved closer, pressing a light kiss by his ear. “I belong to you, always.”

I shifted back and made to move away. His hands rose to my waist and tightened there, keeping me from going. It was a possessive hold that could have burned through my cloak and to my skin. I could see his memory of seeing Kheelan and I in bed together so clear in his mind and in his stare. But after a moment, his grip loosened.

“I’ll be here,” he said and his hands slipped away, trusting me to my decision.

Turning away before I changed my mind or guilt persuaded me otherwise, I walked to Kheelan. He didn’t watch me approach. His eyes remained fixed on Ivan behind me. It was a battle of eyes and pride that smothered me at center. .

Elena did watch me approach. Her stare was a wary one, but looking behind me to Ivan, she abandoned Kheelan’s side and went to him. However uncomfortable I was that she comforted him because of my decision, this had to be done.

 I stopped a safe distance away, where Kheelan couldn’t touch me. Not again. “What do you need to tell me?”

His eyes lowered to me and for a minute he said nothing. I folded my arms over my chest knowing that when he looked at me, he saw everything we ever did. I was glad for the thick cloak as it hid the goose bumps that prickled my skin at the memories of us.

“What do you think is going to happen when you go inside? Has Ivan told you anything of what’s inside?” he asked quietly, as if scared the trees would hear our words.

I heard the words, and they burned. Not an apology, just his incessant desire for Maris and Maris’s wellbeing. I chuckled, clearly bitter. “I’m sure Maris will be safe enough. I don’t exactly want to die, so I’ll make sure to get us out of there alive—”

“I don’t mean her, Charlotte.”  The look in his eyes softened into a lure I knew all too well now. The one that had me believing he was different and cared about me with genuine affection.

“Don’t,” I said. I moved back, the distance between us no longer enough. “This is a clean break if we let it. I know your intentions in caring for me. I was fooled. We all know that now. Don’t make it worse, and don’t use your words to try and draw Maris out.”

 His face hardened. “If I wanted to draw her out, I’d tell her how I felt about her, but I asked to speak to you.”

I laughed, anger tickling my belly. “Since when have her and I been two separate entities to you? In your eyes, I have always been her. There has never been a Charlotte. When you wanted me, it was her. I don’t exist to you and I wish you would admit that once and for all!”

“Then who is the girl I fell in love with, that cried to me when her mate denied her, when he left her?” He jabbed a finger into his chest. “I was there, and don’t deny that whenever you hated him, I was the one who tried to convince you that everything he did was out of love.” He shook his head. “If I wanted to make you hate him, I would have called to light all of his faults, but I didn’t. Why? Because I loved you, too. Because when you fell in love with me, I didn’t want it to be because I bad mouthed him, or smeared his image in your eyes. You would love me because I was there for you since the start! When I knew Maris was within you, yes it changed things, but I loved you too.  It’s very possible to love two people, Charlotte. You of all should know that.”

His words were a blow to my gut and it clenched my lungs as if a physical punch. “You have some nerve,” I hissed. I felt my powers welling within, but swallowed deeply. I couldn’t lose control, not when we were so close to the end.

His hands lifted to cradle my shoulders, but I moved back before he could touch me. Ivan would kill him if he did. I would kill him if he did.

Fisting his hands, he lowered them to his side. “I loved you Charlotte. I love Maris, but I grew to love you. Just as you always loved Ivan but you loved me. Tell me a part of you didn’t love me,” he said above me. “Tell me that everything that happened between us was only Maris.”

Feeling the truth well in my throat, I swallowed it down. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing I’d genuinely loved him. “I don’t have to say anything to you.”

“Yet you’ve told me everything I needed to know. You’re fooling yourself. What we had, above duty and histories, will always remain.” He snapped his hood over his head, blue eyes boring into mine. “There is no clean break between us. Not because of Maris, but because you don’t want one any more than I do.”

He walked away without another word, abandoning me to the truth of everything he said. There was no clean break between us. We were tangled inside and out. And the further he got from me, the more these chains tightened. Eventually it would strangle one of us.

Walking back to Ivan wasn’t the easiest journey. When he noticed my approach, his aura darkened and I felt my steps heavy. But whether he liked it or not, I walked straight into his arms. Inhaling his scent, I closed my eyes against the gentle gliding of his pulse. “Can we leave right away? Once the Tree is gone, take me far from here. Bind my powers forever and take me away, to the middle of nowhere, where no one knows I exist. Promise me.”

My heart nearly broke when his arms came around me. In spite of everything, he held me close, his hand firm at my lower back. “I promise,” he said, his voice muffled against my cloak. “To someplace only we know.”

I let his promise seep into my soul a moment. Opening my eyes, I shifted back and broke our embrace. “Then let’s finish this.”

 We departed Coleck as a group of over forty.  We traversed the woods, making for the cliffside, where the entrance to the caverns was. As we rode, we lost members who remained behind, taking up their post along the only road that led to the caves. The only other entrance was at the foot of the cliff by water. That’s where my mother was to go. Ivan thought it wiser for her to avoid the roads, seeing as Xanthus would expect us to travel along them. Elena decided to go with her, which surprised us all, though not me. I know it hurt her to know she would never have Ivan again. Ever. In part, I was glad she was going with my mother. I didn’t trust anyone else with her safety.

Reaching the mouth of the caves, we didn’t stop. Everyone knew their roles. I did look back to Kheelan, though.  A part of me needed to see him stay, as if somehow it would sever us. I met his eyes instantly. He nodded once, as if to tell me that I would be safe as long as he guarded the entrance. I hated it, but curling closer to Ivan, I felt safer having Kheelan there, entangling us further.

The clatter of our feet was the only sound heard on our descent. The paths twisted and turned, damp walls trapping us within. We must have walked for about half an hour in limited light, but the darkness made it feel like an endless night.

When running water was heard, my mother turned back to us. “We’re here,” she said, leading us into the last bend in the tunnel and out into a clearing.

It stole my breath away.

In the black expanse, the gravel glittered under the light of the torches like a gleaming path of stars, leading to a massive trunk that stabbed the stony surface above our heads and at our feet. I imagined up above, the tree looked to be like any other of the trees in the forest.

I made to move forward, but my mother held out her hands, stopping me.

She shook her head and threw her torch before us. I gasped when it travelled a small distance before plunging down a precipice. Had she not been there, I would have been too rapt by the glistening stones to notice it was all an illusion.

The small fragments of stone were suspended. Taking hold of Ivan's torch, she walked to the cliff’s edge and aimed the fire to a platform at her feet. “This is the key to get across.”

Ivan neared her and bent down, brushing away the excess dirt on the slab of stone. Elena and I knelt beside him to get a better look at the four symbols imprinted on the stone.

“When the elements align in one, the stones will follow,” he read and looked to me. “You must press your hand with each element to activate the path.”

I fisted my hands. “But what about Xanthus? He’ll know where I am the moment I use my powers. What if you try fire and Elena air. We can get earth and water readily enough…”

 “It says the “One”. That is you. Xanthus will get a reading, but this is the only way. Hopefully everything moves quickly and by the time he arrives, this will be over and we’ll be far from here.”

I swallowed, wholly unconvinced, but he was right. This was the only way.

Opening my palm, I sparked a small orb of fire. Ivan directed me to the proper slot and I deposited the fiery sphere. It hovered over the vine-like symbol. Next was water. Gathering the surrounding humidity at my palm, I was able to whirl a funnel in my palm, and placed it on the wavy lines of water. Earth was simple enough. Calling to one of the floating stones, I dissolved it into dust and sprinkled the remnants on the circular emblem with a cross through it. For air, I simply blew onto the stone.

The second I exhaled onto the last symbol, a slow hum vibrated the ground beneath us. My offerings seeped into the stone. Elena moved my mother from the edge and into the mouth of the tunnel, just in case the ground beneath us gave way. Ivan did the same with me.

The stones spread before us trembled and came together as one in their tremors. Gathering, they formed a path from the Cliffside, all the way to the tree trunk where I could make out the shape of another platform.

“This path is only meant for you,” Ivan said. Before I could protest, he withdrew a dagger from a sheath at his belt and spoke quickly; clearly knowing as well as I did that my powers had just called to Xanthus. “Here, take this. Once at the Tree, it will ask for the final offering, a blood offering. A doorway will open. Go inside, but whatever you do, don’t look for the veil. Just… just get in there, spark a fire and burn it down. And if you happen to see where the veil is, don’t hesitate in using this. I don’t know of the side effects, so I’d prefer for you to use it around me, but if you must, use it.”

Withdrawing the vial of blood from around his neck, he looped it around mine. He cupped my neck at either side and drew me closer. “When that time comes, you will know what to do.”

His words were cryptic, but I accepted that there were things he simply could not tell me. Not with Maris always listening.

“We’re almost there,” he said, and brushing his lips against mine, he let me go.

I had no chance to pull him back into my arms as it was my mother that crashed against me next. She hugged me tightly, her small frame hobbling with sobs. “Please, take care,” she cried onto my shoulder.

I let her cry. I’d miss her too. I told her this, which only made her cry more. Looking to Elena, I motioned for her to take her away. It hurt too much to do it myself. Elena pried her from me gently.

I wiped away her tears, brushing damp strands from her face. “Hurry and go. You need to be far from here before he comes.”

She hesitated a moment, running a bloodshot gaze along me as if wishing to commit my every feature to memory. Deep down we both knew that once she boarded the boats to the next Resistance hideout, we were probably never going to see each other again. A sad smile spread on her lips knowing this. “You were as perfect as I dreamed you to be.”

I nodded, roughly running my sleeve along my cheeks. “Goodbye, mom.”

Hearing the words, she coiled with a sob and turned, vanishing back into the curve of the cave without looking back.

“I’ll make sure she gets there safe,” Elena said, and pulled me into a hug. “Take care of him,” she whispered into my ear, words I knew hurt her soul. Finally, she was letting Ivan go.

Elena released me and moved to him.

She gazed at him a moment.

Ivan’s mouth drew to a thin line, as if struggling to find the right words to encompass a proper goodbye to a friendship of so many years. “I’m sorry...” he said, and nothing more, though I heard his unspoken words clearly within my mind. He was sorry he couldn’t love her the way she deserved, the way she would have liked.

“I know,” she said. Elena wrapped her arms around his neck, trailing kisses along his cheek and neck. My chest locked, and instincts flared to pluck her away, but I forced myself to remain still. I would hold him forever. She was probably never going to see him again. If Ivan’s promise to me was true, we were never going to see any of them again.

She buried her head into the crook of his neck, placing her final kiss there as her tears stained his skin. “Goodbye, Ivan,” she whispered against his cheek, and with one last kiss, she turned and rushed into the caves after my mother.

Only Ivan and I remained. Though having travelled to the Temple of Souls and back, things had never felt so final as they did there.

I turned back to the waiting path. My heart felt to be trying to break out of my chest and my hands trembled, but,

“There’s no time for doubt now. You need to cross,” Ivan said, voicing my thoughts.

Exhaling, I turned and walked into his chest, clutching tightly at his cloak. “You promised me. Somewhere only we know.”

Ivan cupped the back of my neck and rested his forehead against mine, small flames flickering in the silvery cores. His kiss then buckled my knees as he pressed me to him, molding me to his body.

It took every ounce of will to break away from him. But when I did, I moved away quickly, breathless, and didn’t turn back. I couldn’t or I would never cross.

I stepped onto the edge. With my foot still planted firmly on the platform, I tested my next step, tapping the first few stones of the pathway. They were firm, as if a concrete sidewalk. Pressing down, it didn’t budge. I sucked in a breath, and without another thought, bolted forward, my eyes fixed on the Tree.

When within a reasonable distance, I lunged onto solid ground as if the path were giving way beneath me. It wasn’t and I was embarrassed when I tumbled forward and looked back to see that the path remained. I stood and moved to the platform at the base of the tree. There were no doors, not from where I could see.

Kneeling on the stone surface, I brushed aside the dust just as Ivan had done. The symbol was simply a hole within a circle.

With my gaze fixed on Ivan in the distance, I ran the blade across my palm. It burned and I winced, but ignored the pain and squeezed the blood into the hole. It seeped down the small drain until only the crimson stains remained.

A crackling resounded. I spun and shifted back, closer to the path than to the Tree. An arched portion of the bark grew sheer, shaped like a door. Light spilled from within the transparent opening, a warm, golden hue. Looking back to Ivan one last time, I held fast to our promise and walked inside

I entered a foyer first, with branchlike wallpaper. Thin vines ran along the white walls, what I could imagine being all the heredities of Faerie. The golden light came from a gleaming sandy substance that ran along the veins of the Tree.

A creaking sound stole at my attention and I turned to see the doorway growing solid once more, until I could no longer see to the other side. A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. This was it.

"How may I be of service?"

I spun wildly, fireballs flaring in my hands.

A cloaked man, similar to the servants from the Temple of Souls stood behind me. His hands were joined before him, hidden by his sleeves. He didn't move. Had it not been for his voice, I would have thought him a statue.

“Who… who are you?” I asked.

Frozen in place, he replied in a rasped voice, “The one who serves you, the One.”

I swallowed. “You know who I am?”

He was quiet a moment. “Charlotte O’Dean, previously Stokaya. Princess of the Unseelie….” He paused. “Maris Mior…”

The sound of her full name was like a fist to the stomach. Swallowing deeply, I held a hand for him to stop, but he went on, “Princess of the Seelie Kingdom, heir to the kingdom of Hillenia."

He lowered his hood and tilted his head. His skin was bluish and corpselike, much too smooth and frozen to be natural.  Wide eyes were a faint gray, almost transparent.  The same symbol carved on the platform was imprinted upon his forehead.

His hairless brows knitted. "Bound, within the same being? It is an abomination."

His discomfort, unsettled me and I eased away from him, closer to the entrance. I didn’t plan on running, but didn’t want to be too close in case he attacked. “Do you have powers?”

“I was given of the ultimate power with which to serve the One,” he said, without moving. At least his previous anger vanished. “How may I be of service?”

I fought off a sigh of relief.. But seeing him there made things so much more difficult. I didn’t expect to find anyone within the Tree. I couldn’t kill again. Not this person who was meant to protect me.

“I need you to take me to where you keep record of the lineages.”

He bowed. “The Great Room is this way,” he said and turned, leading the way.

I followed him warily. Hands at my sides, I remained alert to the silence, an unnatural quiet that stole at my resolve with each step. Truthfully, I was ready to spark a fire and incinerate the place in an instant. But the closer to the actual location of the veil, the more certain I’d be that it burned first.

The room that followed was equally empty. Looking around, vines were imprinted upon the walls like canvas, though I saw no stairs leading to the many vines crawling above.

The hooded man turned to me. “These are the lineages of Faerie. Which do you desire?”

“None,” I said. “I… I think it best for you to leave. In a few minutes, it won’t be safe for you to be here. I can find what I need on my own.”

“I must remain here,” he said kindly. “I was made to protect the One. As the veil, I am meant to guard your lineage.”

I stared at him, his words not taking root. Heat gathered in my belly, and seemed to light a fire of awareness at my core. “As the veil…” I repeated, all the fragments of thoughts coming together like a puzzle. I shook my head. All of that time, I had been searching for the veil and all along, “The veil is within me?”

He nodded once. “Bound to your life, of course.”

I stumbled back, the room feeling to spin around me. It was no wonder Ivan told me not to seek it out, to burn the tree before I knew where it was, what it was... who it was and why Maris could never know.

Hearing the words, I felt my stomach churn, but I wrestled through the shock. I had to hurry. “I am going to burn this place down, and unless you leave, you will die. Do you hear me? I need you to leave, please. That is an order.”

“I cannot. I am the soul of the tree.”

“Then I’m sorry….” Moving back away from him, I lifted a palm before me. Concentrating on the flames at my core, I whirled a fireball into being. Wriggling my fingers, I lifted it higher, expanding the vines and curls that reached out for the surrounding space as if knowing their duty.

A monstrous scream pierced my ear drums and I dropped to my knees, feeling Maris clutch my throat from within.

“It’s you!” she screeched. “It was you all along!”

I shut my eyes, trying to force her back into the dark hole in my soul, but anger bubbled and her thoughts hounded me. She thought of Queen Alistrina and how it would pain her to see her precious veil fall. She thought of Xanthus finally eradicating me from this body, finally allowing her to live. She thought of Kheelan. She thought of him most of all.

I felt as if hands gripped my spine and squeezed, sending my arms and legs flailing as she broke Ivan’s seals, led by the fiercest of determinations: love.

The hooded man simply stood and watched me, not having been given any orders. I would have if I could talk through Maris’ death grip on my throat.

I clutched my neck, feeling the heat of her rising within me. My fingers tangled on Ivan’s necklace. Clenching my teeth, I yanked it from my throat. If this was what Ivan was telling me, I needed to drink it quickly before Maris shut my throat once and for all.

Just as she tossed memories into the forefront of my mind, I fought against her with memories of my own, memories from when Kheelan confessed that he loved me as well. I replayed every moment I was ashamed of. Every kiss, every caress, every indirect confession of feelings we shouldn’t have had, but did.

The acid corroding my veins paused its carnage, and slowed to a simmering burn.

For that slight moment, it was as if she didn’t exist. As if the fire above us didn’t exist. As if her anger against her mother and against me all vanished. Once again, there was only Kheelan.

She knew Kheelan better than anybody else, and in my memory of his words, of how he looked at me, she saw his truth. He loved her, but he loved me too. We were tangled, and he would never stop loving me… even after promising her that he could never love anyone else.

It was in that second, in that moment of realization, that I felt a part of her die.

In her momentary distraction where I felt the fire of her wither, I uncorked the vial with trembling fingers and drank the blood, swallowing instantaneously. The metallic tasting substance burned as it went down, overpowering the pain I felt with Maris. It was a different kind of pain, the way one is told to press down on a cut to keep it from bleeding. This pressed down on my veins and I jerked back, letting it course through me. It burned to my very heart that began to pound at my chest in double time.

Maris snapped from her heartache with a fierce wave of heat that bloomed from my core. The heat, however, fizzled just as quickly.

“No,” she breathed. “What have you done? What have you done!” Her scream echoed into a distant screech, underscoring my raging heartbeats. The more it thudded, the more I felt her phantom nails dig into my lungs, as if she were coming undone within me. She screamed again, but it gargled as a cold wave shot through me, chasing away he influence to my belly.

In our linked thoughts, I saw that Maris knew what Ivan had done. It was indeed blood, laced with a black magic that dissolved seals and strengthened my humanity. He wasn’t able to do it before since he didn’t know my mother was still alive…

I arched back, a cry stripping my throat as she came apart from my body, expelled through my pores like a burning mist. It scratched my skin, searing each pore as the fog left me. The heaviness of her spirit caved my chest as she held on with every fiber of her magic. A cloud of black smoke hovered above me, black vines reaching out from the mist, screeching and whining.

“I’m so sorry, Maris,” I cried. I did feel a deep emptiness in my soul. I pitied this, pitied this is what became of her life and of her love.

The Guardian reached out a hand, and Maris’s life-force rushed to it like a magnet. I screamed, the final tearing of her life force from my body slicing through my head.

The Guardian looked at me. “Do you wish for me to let the life force go or bind it back within you?”

Under the light of my hovering fireball, I could see her outline in the mist, through the burning tears of blood clouding my eyes. Spitting out the blood from my mouth, I spoke some of the most painful words I’d ever say. “Let her go.”

The Guardian opened his hand and released her spirit. A violent shriek echoed around us, carrying in a gust of wind. With each wave of her scream, the mist of her spread, thinning the more it stretched. By and by, the fog cleared and her scream faded until vanishing into the waiting fireball above.

For a moment, I lay there under the warmth of the fire. It was complete and utter peace… just like the peace that would await me once everything was over.

Focusing on the flames, I spun them faster and faster, expanding them until they clung to the walls. As my heart found its normal rhythm, I focused its beats—my life on the flames. Invisible links tied me to this fire, where I could feel it turning in like circles at my stomach. I heard it within my head, like the whispers of a friend I had known all of my life. It knew me like I knew it. We were one. It was a link stronger than I had ever felt it. This was my magic. Not influenced by Maris. Mine. It was beautiful.

I lifted my hands to the fire. Opening my palm, I sent them upward, toward the dark heavens of the tree. It went up, and up, and up, burning the tree in its ascent. I stumbled to my feet and looked to the Guardian, as above us the tree burned, and the smoke barreled down toward us. He simply nodded once, at peace with my destruction. I would have urged him to come, but I couldn’t give it another thought. Debris rained from overhead.

As I ran toward the foyer, the doorway opened once more. I turned back to see the Guardian lower his hand and his head and stand in the midst of the flames. Seeing him accept his fate, I understood he had to burn and take the secret of who I was to his grave. The ultimate way of protecting the One.

 Rushing out, I screamed, colliding with Ivan instantly. “How did you—” I started, but quickly noticed vines of fire crossing the expanse, forming a makeshift bridge.

“I couldn’t just stand there and wait,” he said, pulling me against him. “We need to hurry, before the Tree falls!”

Forsaking the stoned path, I nodded and took his hand, letting him lead us. We bolted across the flaming path, that though feeling more unstable than the stone path, I knew I was safe.

An explosion roared from above us. The colossal bark had collapsed onto itself, destabilizing the surrounding lands overhead. Boulders tumbled down, demolishing the stone path.

Trusting wholly in my powers, I held a hand upward and suspended the land above. I groaned, the strain on my chest painful, but Ivan mirrored my move and took on some of the burden.

This time we both jumped forward onto solid ground, letting go of our hold on the boulders and our fiery bridge. Both plummeted into the black unknowns, trailed by incessant debris.

We couldn’t stop. Hand in hand, Ivan and I raced back into the tunnels. I didn’t see any guards there. They must have fled, but I remembered coming from the left. When I made to tug us in that direction, Ivan yanked me back and made to go right.

“No, I remember coming from this way!” I said, holding onto him as the ground beneath us shifted. Protected in our shield of gusting wind, he took hold of my forearms firmly.

“I promised I would take you away. No one will be looking for us if they think we died.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but when his words settled on me, could only nod frantically, tears brimming in my eyes.

I let him lead us right.

With the earth crumbling above our heads, we ran a weaved path that terrified me, but I couldn’t doubt, not when the Tree burned, and Xanthus approached, and freedom was so very close.

We reached a narrow tunnel at whose end was an opening disguised by rushing water, Ivan squeezed my hand and stayed close to the wall. “Your mother told me of this passage should we need to get away.”

Pressing against the jagged surface, he motioned for me to do the same. The rushing waters veiled us as we inched out behind the waterfall, creeping sideways along the narrow walkway and onto more stable land.

We climbed a small hill and when on top, kept moving onto higher land. Gazing behind, I gasped. A gaping crater swallowed up the middle of the forest, and more trees and land collapsed into this fissure.

My eyes toured the scene. “What about the others? Are they safe?”

“I sent the guards away once you lit the Tree. I told them you had gone inside and were stuck there as it burned. They were to get everybody out and that I would come for you.”

I looked back to the devastation and my pulse quickened a bit.

“But what of Kheelan? He’ll think we died. He’ll go in there after Maris.”

“I collapsed the tunnels leading to us. With Maris gone, he won’t feel her anymore… He’ll think the same.”

I hoped that was true. I needed it to be true so we could finally be severed. 

Coming up behind me, he cradled my shoulders and stared out the the devastation. “I think he’d prefer it. I killed his mate, twice,” he said, the guilt heavy on his words.

I turned to him and cupped his cheek, the faint traces of his beard tickling my fingertips.

“You can’t blame yourself for this. Maris was unhinged and obsessed, and Kheelan played a role, just like the rest of us. We didn’t ask for these fates. We did what we could with them, and now we are moving on.”

Battle horns resounded in the distance and swallowed the rest of my words. Clutching desperately to Ivan, we turned. Through the void of trees left by my actions, we could see the ocean from whence massive white ships with snow white banners approached.

My heart stilled.“Xanthus.”

As if beckoned near by the coming ships, I moved forward, watching the sails gust and draw them closer. It was my father, come to kill me.

“Whatever you wish to do, I will follow you, you know this,” Ivan spoke, coming up beside me. Silence trailed his words, awaiting my answer.

But another sound, a deeper horn tore my attention to the North. A fleet of ships approached, their sails black and swelling in the passing gusts. The Seelie.

“We need to choose now, Charlotte.”

We did, and it was there, seconds from war, in the middle of chaos that I saw everything clearly.

I wanted to see Xanthus burn. I wanted to see Kala’el dead. I could challenge them both, and hope my powers were enough to destroy them. I could stop time and annihilate them all.

I could.

It would result in me inheriting the Unseelie Kingdom.

Ivan, as Grace, was next in line to inherit the Seelie Kingdom.

We could unite the kingdoms, rule our people as one… and never live in peace again.

The Unseelie were set in their ways and lived by a certain code engrained in them from their inception. They would rather see me dead than embrace another way.

The choice was simple: risk my life, risk losing Ivan in a war that would never end or simply leave them to their war that would never end?

“I’m not fighting them,” I said quietly. “I’m done.”

Ivan turned me to him, meeting my eyes. “Once we leave, once this war starts—”

“Nothing will change,” I told him. “The Seelie will never accept you, knowing we are mated. The Unseelie will never accept me, knowing we are mated. We will only continue living our lives under the constant fear of death, and for what? Those trying to kill us will never rest, and neither will we. The veil is inside of me, and I will keep it safe for as long as I am able. I was given no choice in that, and must accept it. But I have a choice in this, and I won’t fight. The Seelie and Unseelie will forever hate each other, and I can’t live my life stuck in the middle of a never-ending war.”

Gazing at me carefully, Ivan shook his head. A small smile toyed at the side of his mouth, passion and desire darkening his eyes. “Aren’t I supposed to be the wise sage?”

“Not anymore,” I said, my blood roiling with an answering flame that twisted my stomach. His lips met mine, and we sealed our decision.

We reached the crossing of our worlds undetected. The journey was long, but the promise kept us going. Our days were filled with traversing the woods, avoiding towns and main roads. Still part human, I got tired and hungry. It was then I realized that I should have seen Maris’ influence over me. I barely ate, barely slept when she was within me. Now, I welcomed the reprieve of curling into Ivan’s arms and knowing no harm could befall me there as I slept.

Seeing the familiar landscape, the tunneled trees leading back to the human realm, my heart clenched. “It’s almost fitting we should cross here. This was the way we came into Faerie.”  But remembering the guards at the crossing, my pulse quickened and devoured the nostalgia.

“Trust me,” Ivan said, grazing his thumb coolly along mine in sensing my sudden panic.

I swallowed and trailed his steps into the tunneled trees, where in the distance, past an archway of stone was the human realm. I looked to the two stands beside the crossing where I remember the guards standing. There were no guards there.

I turned a narrowed gaze to Ivan, the question clear in my stare. Where are the guards…?

He gazed down at me, a wicked smile curling his lips. “I handled it while you slept.”

I shook my head. Never would I get used to the words, but folding my arm into his, I leaned in closer as we took our first steps together into a life of our choosing, knowing that I too would handle anything to secure our freedom, our safety, our peace. We deserved it.

We had fought, we had died, we had betrayed one another, we had forgotten ourselves somewhere within duty and secrets, and we almost lost it all. But settled into a comforting existence of survival and each other, we crossed the stoned arch, knowing that together, we could survive everything.  

                                                                              ~-End-~

Thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoyed it and really understood Charlotte’s choice. I want to say thank you to all of you who have stood by this story since the beginning. I know it was frustrating waiting for uploads, but thanks for sticking with it. I really appreciate it!