Page 20 of Gift from the Wing

So instead, with a heavy heart and soft touch, I lead him back through the ward, taking his memories with every step. I transport us to his cottage while the Memoria stone continues to do its thing and I walk us until we’re in his kitchen.

Mindlessly, he begins preparing his kettle for his morning coffee, followed by his tea fix. As the light between the stone and him grows dimmer, I step back until I’m out his door, where I lean my forehead to the old wood and collect myself as the light fully fades out.

This is the way it must go, Orien.

Go see the boys.

Pushing away from his door, I take the steps down two at a time and hurriedly make my way before he notices me and comes outside.

Taking a moment for myself, rather than transport, I glance around. I gaze at the trees that’ve changed so much over the last couple hundred years, the grounds that are greener, trimmed to perfection. The boys have come here their whole lives, but now that this is their permanent residence, their energies alone have already started shaping the land. They don’t even recognize the changes yet, but their solidarity, their love for one another, has made the bond in the land blossom right alongside their own.

I’m so proud of them. They haven’t the slightest clue.

As my eyes take in the shimmering surface of the pool, my gaze grows hazy, and I pause my steps, allowing the vision to surface for me. I wasn’t expecting one last vision on my last day, but it’s a welcome distraction. Sometimes the sight gives me gifts rather than disappointment.

“Corentin, my boy, may I have a moment with you? Maybe some breakfast. I need to talk to you about some things.”

I sit silently in my mind as my heart races and bile collects in my mouth. Playing out before me is a vision that can go one of two ways.

One we have the conversation and everything changes.

Not for the better.

If he accepts my invitation, I must tell him all my plans. Everything that’s to come. He’ll rally his brothers together and instead of my life being the one to end today, he’ll lose both Tillman and Draken in battle. That starts the chain reaction of Caspian’s and his downfall. Willow will make it to Elementra but as a slave, and she’ll never have her true Nexus. Her soul will rot away until she’s nothing more than a weapon.

The fate of the realm will be decided.

Or the second scenario, he declines, and everything stays how it is. The carefully laid out plans, my acceptance of my death, Willow’s future. Their future. It all stays guaranteed as long as he rejects me.

As the vision releases my mind, my body shakes uncontrollably with a pent-up rage that burns hotter than the sun. How? Why?

“Answer me, Elementra,” I demand.

“Today is the day of days. Many have a choice to make. Every choice will change the path. This is Corentin’s. His decision will warp every choice made from this moment forward. Much will be determined today, Seer. Stay on the path you’ve planned for now.”

She shoves me out of my mind when I attempt to push for more. She doesn’t allow it. For the first time in many, many times I’ve called on her, she doesn’t answer, leaving me to make the decision on my own.

Closing my eyes, I breathe through the turmoil waging war within me. It’s a brutal battle that I’m not confident I’ll win. The walls are closing in around me. The deep regret I’ve felt over the years lying to my family, how I’ve had to keep the boys in the dark, how Willow only gets the partial truth of everything.

My poor sister. How last night at dinner, I had to pretend everything was fine. I unlocked their memories for a short time so we could talk freely. Then when I took them back again, I spent hours laughing with her and my Brethren-Nexus because I knew it was our last moments together.

It’s too much to sacrifice now. I’ve come to terms with what must happen. I’ve accepted I will have to love them all from the beyond.

The last two-hundred-plus years can’t be for nothing.

“Uncle Orien, you good?”

Turning on my heel, I force a small smile on my face as I take in Tillman. Dressed from head to toe in E.F. gear, it’s obvious he’s preparing to start his morning workout then hit the academy.

I take him in from head to toe and let a genuine smile creep out. He’s truly the much, much larger version and well, male version of my late sister. Fuck, how she’d be so proud of him.

“Oh yes, I’m fine. Just stuck in my head, that’s all,” I say with a chuckle as I tap mytemple.

“Uh, I know how that is. You’re here early today.”

“Duty of the realm calls, so I’ll be gone for…a while. I wanted to come see you all before I left.”

“A mission? Where? Do you need backup? Me and Cas can join,” he says sternly but also enthusiastically.

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