Page 222 of The Iron Flower

The Western Realm has fallen. Everything has shifted to the East—both the flow of refugees and the coming war. And Yvan and I are potentially the head of the spear in that war.

Weare the front lines.

A tear slides down my cheek even as something tough and jagged as the Spine rises within me. Yvan reaches up to gently wipe the tear away with his thumb, his eyes blazing.

“I love you,” I tell him as the rest of the room falls away into insignificance.

He pushes his fingers back through my hair and cups my head in a way that speaks of a sudden, covetous fervor. “I love you, too.” He pulls me close and encircles me with both his arms and his wings.

We cling to each other, his heartbeat sounding against mine. I close my eyes, and for a brief, blessed moment, we’re the only two people in the room.

“Wait for me,” he whispers.

I nod against his tear-slicked cheek, and it’s impossible to tell which tears are his and which are my own.

“Yvan Guriel,” Commander Vin says, her tone filled with urgency. We both turn to her. “We need to remove you from the Western Realm.Now.”

Two gray-clad Kin Hoang sorceresses step forward, and my heart pounds against my chest. Yvan and I cling to each other.

“Where will you take him?” I ask, imploring.

“Somewhere safe,” Commander Vin assures me. “Somewhere isolated, where he can train. We cannot tell you where that is, Elloren Gardner. You must understand.”

In case the Gardnerians find me. In case I’m the wrong point of the Prophecy after all.

I look to Yvan, tears falling. “So, this is goodbye, then.”

He reaches out to stroke my hair and looks at me intently, as if he’s trying to memorize my face. “Be strong,” he says, both of his warm hands on my face now.

“I will,” I promise through my tears.

And then Yvan brings his lips to mine one last time and sends his fire through me with such force that the heat still blazes through me even after he breaks the kiss.

He gives me one last impassioned look, then gently pulls away and turns to the Vu Trin. “I’m ready,” he says.

The Kin Hoang fall in around him, and I watch him leave through a sheen of tears, his back decidedly straight, his wings freed, as he strides into the glowing blue haze of one of the cavern’s many exit tunnels, the Kin Hoang following close behind.

And then he’s gone.

* * *

I’m crying in earnest now, hollowed out.

Jules Kristian’s arm comes around me, and I fall into him.

“Did you know?” I cry into his tunic.

“No.”

I shake my head back and forth against the rough wool on his shoulder, then look up at him with disbelief. “I don’t know if I’m equal to this.”

Jules meets the gravity of my stare. “You will be. In time.” He smiles ruefully. “You did wish to be cleverandpowerful.”

I bark out a futilistic laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“You have to be careful what you wish for, eh?” he says.

I nod, drawing comfort from his kind words and gentle humor in the face of all this.

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