Page 157 of His Darkest Desire

“You should never have made the choice for me. You should’ve talked to me, Vex. You should’ve asked me what I wanted.” She reached up and wiped away a tear. “Because I would have chosen you. I would have stayed with you. What good is freedom when half of my heart is still imprisoned?”

Kinsley sniffled, and the cold air burned her nose. “I’m not going anywhere. So your plan to send me off isn’t going to work.”

She turned in place and surveyed the forest, wishing for a glimpse of glowing red eyes in the shadows. Once, all this forest and much, much more had been his. In the fading daylight, she could see the dark waters of the loch through the trees, reflecting the cloudy sky, and she could just make out the hazy forms of the hills beyond the distant shore.

It wasn’t quite the same as gazing upon this land from the top of a wizard’s tower—or while soaring through the sky—but it was her first real look at it.

At what he’d lost.

“You didn’t lose me. No matter how hard you try, you can’t lose me.” Kinsley raised her voice to a shout, willing it across the planes. “Do you hear me, Vex? You’re stuck with me. I’m going to haunt you for all eternity if that’s what it takes.”

“Kinsley…”

That low, gentle whisper sent a chill down her spine, but the sensation had nothing to do with fear. She spun toward the voice.

Three wisps, their forms indistinct, hovered at her eye level. Even though they were diminished in this world, she knew each of them at a glance. More tears blurred her vision.

“It’s only been a day, but I’ve missed you three so much,” she said through the tightness in her throat.

The wisps flew closer, brushing her cheeks with little tendrils of faded ghostfire, and she lifted her hands to touch them. That familiar tingling sensation wasn’t nearly as strong here. Even though they were with her, touching her, it was like their essences remained elsewhere.

“These ones have missed you too,” Flare said.

Echo nuzzled her shoulder. “It is so quiet without you.”

Shade settled on Kinsley’s hand. “Sorrow wanders our halls.”

Kinsley blinked, and tears spilled down her cheeks, the winter air making them burn even more. “How do I get back?”

“These ones know not,” Shade replied softly. “For wisps, it is natural.”

“If I have this magic in my blood, if I’m a realmswalker, shouldn’t it be natural for me too? Shouldn’t I be able to go back if that’s what I want?”

Flare’s light dimmed further. “These ones know not the ways of such magic.”

“Nor whether you’ve power enough to cross again,” Echo rasped.

Kinsley had hoped it would’ve been easy to return, that her magic had been unlocked and she’d be able to make use of it consciously. That she would see Vex again and be back in his arms. But that flame of hope sputtered out.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the only hope she’d harbored. It wasn’t the only way to be reunited with Vex. Just the fastest.

“How…is he?” Kinsley asked.

All three wisps dwindled.

“The magus is but a shadow,” said Flare.

“More than a shadow,” Shade corrected. “A void, swallowing light and leaving only darkness.”

Echo brushed her cheek. “You are his light, Kinsley.”

Kinsley closed her eyes against the agony their words roused in her heart. She hated this. She hated that she was helpless to comfort him, to be with him.

I can give him something.

Hope, though, was a dangerous thing. How often had she clung to it only for it to be wrenched away? Hope could make you feel like you were on top of the world and then snatch the world right out from under you.

But hope could also sustain you through the darkness. Even if it was as small as the flickering flame of a candle, it was something. Something that could warm Vex through the long, dark nights to come.

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