Page 81 of What Lurks Between the Fates

Fallon stepped forward, standing between Mab and me as she took my hands in hers. She ran her thumb over the circle on the back of my hand,stroking the Fae mark there delicately, as if she could summon my bond to the surface. Her palm touched the white teardrop of our blood vow, sending a rush of magic through my hand.

“It’s okay,” she said, her hand trailing up the white marks on my forearm. A trail of warmth followed, as if our connection and bond could bring forth the magic I’d suppressed.

I shook my head again. “I can’t,” I protested.

“You can,” she said, touching her forehead to mine. She leaned forward, her eyes spearing mine as my lip trembled. “It is you. It’s the most terrifying part of you, but it’s also the most beautiful. All you have to do is let it out.”

“It’s not that simple,” I said, resisting the urge to look at Mab.

Fallon took my hand, turning me away from her and guiding me out of the throne room. I was vaguely aware of Mab and Etan following behind us, of the fact that Mab allowed us to make our way outside the palace of Tar Mesa.

“She cannot use you for evil if you do not allow it. Knowledge is power, but do you really think anything she does is stronger than you?” Fallon asked, her voice a low murmur. “You have lived in fear of what you are. You have suffered the pain of suppressing yourself to protect the world. When will you learn that you are not our destruction, Estrella? You are our savior.”

My knees buckled beneath me as we stepped outside, the moons shining high in the sky above us. Fallon stepped back with a nod, releasing my hands as I turned my stare down at them.

“I’m not strong enough for this.”

“Then lean on the people who love you. Take what you need from us,” she said, raising a hand. The golden thread Irecognized as our bond thrummed between us, glowing steadily as I opened my eyes to that part of me once again.

I nodded, letting my eyes drift closed as I drew a deep breath in. Air filled my lungs, the scent of the night sky becoming part of me as I tried to sink into that hollow—into the place of rage where I’d gone when the boy had died in Blackwater.

It didn’t feel cold this time. Instead, I was filled with the warmth of Fallon’s words and the promises I hoped she had the opportunity to keep. I sank into it, gasping as the warmth surrounded me, and threw my eyes open to stare up at the sky. The golden threads hung from the moon, dangling from the stars as I looked up at them. I turned my head to the side as I studied them, looking up at the moons and remembering the prophecy of the two moons that had been whispered in my ear.

A gentle murmur. A reminder of two women, standing side by side to give light in the darkness.

I raised my hand, stroking the end of one of the threads with gentle fingers. Coiling it around my pointer finger, I drew it into my palm. I was all too aware of Mab’s eyes on me, of the way she studied me. My cheeks felt wet with tears. Allowing my magic to touch me, feeling it upon my skin, I realized why it had always felt so hollow.

It was abandoned. Forgotten. Feared.

When all it wanted was love.

But how could I have loved it when I, myself, didn’t understand what that love meant? It wasn’t until Caldris made me see. It wasn’t until Fallon stood by me and made a vow to protect one another. It wasn’t until Imelda confessed the truth of my brother, of her place in my life, and witnessing the way she loved Fallon with everythingshe had… and feeling that love extend to me.

I closed my palm, pressing my fingers against it slowly. One of the moons disappeared from the sky, vanishing into the darkness as I watched. I reached up with my other hand as Mab gasped, waving it in a circle and gathering the threads into one mass. I pressed them into my palm, forcing the night sky into darkness. The moon vanished.

The sky faded to black.

Only the light of the fires hanging from the doorway to the palace of Tar Mesa illuminated us where we stood.

“Impossible,” Mab whispered, taking a step toward me.

I turned my stare to her, unflinching, when she stopped in front of me and raised her hands to cup my cheeks. She stared down at my eyes in something mixed between horror and awe, running a thumb through the tears on my cheeks.

“And yet here I am,” I murmured, drawing back from her. I released the threads, tossing them back into the sky so that they could reclaim their rightful place. “Did that give you the answers you were so desperate for?”

“You can see the threads of Fate,” Mab said, her voice filled with awe as she stared down at my hands. “That is how you summon.”

I didn’t deny it, my shock at her knowing about them too potent for me to respond. “You see them too?” I asked with a swallow.

“I see... shadows of them. Whispers on the wind occasionally, but I can never grasp them. I’m not—” She paused, clearing her throat as the closest thing to emotion I’d ever seen from her seemed to clog it.

“You’re not what?” I asked, feeling closer than ever to the answers I wasn’t sure I wanted. I swallowed, glancing at Fallon as she took a step closer, hesitating only so she didn’t interrupt the moment.

Mab clenched her jaw, and I could already imagine the strategy working through her head. How she would navigate the new information.

“A Primordial.”

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