Page 43 of Blackwarden
A sob escaped me as the first of my tears streamed over my cheeks. He was there again, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me away from the wall and into his warm arms. Why? Why couldn’t he break these rules just this once? For me?For himself?
“We need to go.”
I was too lost in my grief to realize he had led me over to the mirror, facing me with his usual confident posture. I swallowed past the lump that was lodged in my throat, past the fear that weighed like a block of ice in my stomach.
“This won’t hurt you...” he hesitated, taking both my hands in his. “And you won’t remember anything on the other side.”
“Wait, what?” I said too loudly, a flash of panic spiking my heart rate. “What do you mean, I won’t remember anything?”
“It’s for your own good, Rosalin,” he said sternly. “If you can’t remember what you had, you can’t miss it.”
I pushed away from him, glaring with as much fire as I could muster as I balled my hands into fists. “I don’t want to forget. I’ll forget you, won’t I?”
He looked down at his feet. This wasn’t a question hecouldn’tanswer. This was one he didn’twantto answer.
“Keres. I don’t want to forget you,” I said, refusing to back down. “Please, don’t do this.”
“This isn’t what I’ll look like, Rosalin. I’m Dark Fae, in every sense of the term. I am made of shadows and darkness, I’m terrifying.”
“Keres, I’m begging. Please.”
“I’m the monster in the mural. Everything you know of evil.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to forget you.”
He shook his head. “Ineedyou to forget me.”
I shook my head as I glared at him, tears making it hard to see his face clearly. Why? Why would he want me to forget? Had I done something wrong? All manner of memories flooded my mind. My sister’s name. Bastion’s face. The book of fairy tales. My parents. Sharing apples from my neighbor’s tree. The night I’d shared with him.Him.Everything. It would all be gone.
Would I even know who I was?
“Please, Rosalin.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have to.” His voice cracked; anguish carved into his expression.
My heart sheared in half.If he didn’t have to? Dragging me to the Unseelie Court where I wouldn’t remember who he was or what he’d been to me? WhatImeant tohim. He had no choice but to take me and here I was making things harder by begging for what I couldn’t have.
I couldn’t stop a sob from breaking free, and I buried my face in my hands. Would I remember how my heart broke before I stepped through the portal? How I’d regretted pushing him away?How I’d spent so much time confirming there was a curse when I should have spent more time figuring out how to break it?
How could I forget?
Shadows built around us, filling the room with wispy black smoke. The mirror, which had been dark a few moments ago, glowed a faint blue as the shadows continued to swirl around our legs.
“It’s time, Rosalin,” Keres said, his voice shaking with emotion as he reached his hand out to me one last time. “Come.”
I wiped the tears from my cheeks before glaring at his hand. It was the first time I didn’t want to take it. When I glanced up at him, my heart broke all over again as his throat bobbed.
This is what I had volunteered to do. I’d volunteered to be the sacrifice to the Dark Fae in Renee’s place. To be taken to the Unseelie Court. I reached for his hand. I cherished the warmth of his skin against my own. I tried to be brave. I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for whatever would happen next. He tucked my hand under his arm, tight against his side as he led me to the edge of the mirror.
When I opened my eyes, we stood before a shimmering pool of liquid silver that pulsed and rippled out from the frame’s edges. Unlike other mirrors there was no reflection, just undulating colors as Keres’ shadows seeped through the surface. A sudden spark of fear lanced through me as he tugged us closer.
“Keres, I...” I whispered and he pulled me through.
Chapter 22 ~ Bevgyah’s Blackwarden
Keres
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I collapsed at the guard’s feet after pulling Rosalin and myself through the portal. I didn’t have the energy to hold myself up any longer. A second guard collected her limp form into his arms and carried her away. I hoped he couldn’t hear how my breath hitched with fear. I wouldn’t have been able to stop him if I tried. I knew where he was taking her. The same place all the other maidens had been taken, and I wasn’t supposed to care.
