Page 134 of The Arrow and the Alder

And like those orbs, this one split into two.

The other two Fates. Why they were here, why they were moving through the heavens to speak to her, Seph had no idea. She was supposed to be entering her next life, but this was…

Wake.

Seph’s consciousness aroused fully, and she gazed upon the vastness of the heavens surrounding her.

It is not time for you yet, child of light.

It took a moment for the words to have meaning.

But…I completed the task,Seph thought, hoping they could hear her as she heard them.I did what you needed me to.

Yes,they replied,and because of you, the light has been restored and our sister stands in judgment before Demas where she will answer for her defiance. But it is not time for you, Josephine Alistair, and so you have a choice to make: Human or Kith?

Seph was having a difficult time holding on to a thought. They kept sliding through her fingers as she tried to grasp them.

Another chance at life? A choice to be kith or human?

Seph thought of Alder.

She saw his face and his smile, she saw when he’d finally overcome the evil inside of him.

When the life left his eyes.

The Fates were being generous with her, offering her a second life, but right then, Seph just felt weary, and she couldn’t imagine a world—kith or mortal—that did not have Alder in it.

Ah. I see.Only one of the sisters spoke this time.She mourns the wayward prince.

The wayward prince.

Herwayward prince, who’d been bound in guilt and regret. Who had wanted to spend the rest of his life making it right, but he’d sacrificed that life for hers.

Because he had not wanted to die a wayward prince; he’d wanted to live and dierightly.

Seph’s thoughts became a solid thing, as did her resolution.

Would you give my gift to him?Seph asked.

The two bright stars pulsed.

Alder wanted so desperately to live rightly,Seph continued.He carried so much pain over his past, and he gave up that life for mine.

Again, those bright stars pulsed.

Give him a second chance at life,Seph persisted, bolder this time.His people need him. If Light has truly been restored, let him be the one to show Weald the way forward. Let him have this opportunity to be reborn.

Her words were met with silence.

As you wish,they said finally, in unison, and then the light winked out.

Seph opened her eyes to broad daylight streaming through the open oculus above. A cloudless blue sky nearly blinded her.

No.

This was not what she’d wanted at all. She’d thought the Fates had granted her wish, but here she was. Alive.

The dome still lay in ruin, but it was no longer clouded with mist or shadow. Everything was crisp and bright and pleasantly warm, and a pair of birds chirped as they darted past in bolts of red and yellow. Vines climbed up the pillars impossibly fast, wrapping affectionately around them while a rainbow of blooms burst forth. The air even smelled like Alder, like trees and fresh blooms and thunderstorms. A drapery of moss fell from the shattered dome and grasses sprang from the floor and rubble, as though a forest had just taken over everything, and if there was evidence of Massie’s bone-masked kith, Seph couldn’t see it. They were either gone or buried in green. Shedidspy Serinbor, however, curled upon the floor with a blanket of grasses covering his form, as though he were sleeping.

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