27. Kayan

TWENTY-SEVEN

Kayan

" A lana! This is insanity." I appear in front of her as she storms down the corridor beyond the grand hall. Behind her, she has left the Sunborne fallen and broken.

"I am stopping it," she says, "Now, with my power, I can defeat him, Kayan. I can end this and stop Finn from?—"

"End it and be left with what?" I want to shake her, but I can't take hold of her. My voice softens. "Alana, please." I move closer to her. "Look at me." I smile, doing what I can to drag any warm, comforting memories of our time together to the front of her mind.

"I am looking," she says. "And I see a dear friend. The only person who ever truly stood by me."

"That's not true. You have friends, Alana. Rosalie. Briony. We love you."

A look of sadness flickers across her face, but she visibly shakes it away.

Alana moves past me and continues in the direction of the roof. She pauses for a moment, her shoulders shaking. She grips the sides of her head, then inhales sharply. "It's all coming true," she says.

"What is?"

"The visions." She sighs again, and for a moment I think she's going to cry. "There is no point trying to stop it, Kayan. Whatever is destined to be is going to happen. Everything has led here." Her brow furrows. "Perhaps I'm not seeing the future. Perhaps I am creating the future."

This time, I do try to grab her hand. She jumps as if a jolt of static has run through her body. "Alana, you are not creating this. But you do have the power to stop it. Use what you've got to fight Finn, but don't hurt anyone else. Please..."

"I think it's time for you to go now, Kayan." She blinks at me with wide eyes, but there is no warmth in them. "I love you, and I miss you, but now it is time for you to leave. Whatever your purpose was here, you've failed. And I do not need you anymore. Go and find Rosalie or go back to the spectral realm you came from." She turns away, looking down at the gold and purple magic in her hands. "Just don't stay here. There is nothing for you here anymore."

"She is right." Eldrion's voice makes me spin around. We have not come face-to-face since the night he held me over the castle and sent me plummeting to my death. He strides towards me and stands close to Alana's side. "There is nothing for you here, spirit." He wraps an arm around her waist. "Your time is over."

Can I really leave her with him?

I back away.

Is this how it ends? With Alana by his side with his evilness inside her?

"Maybe Maura was right," I hear myself whisper.

Alana's back stiffens, but she does not turn around.

"Maybe you really are a monster."

I shouldn't have said it, and I know I shouldn't. As I appear in Raine's chambers, and Maura looks up at me from the armchair by the window, she knows instantly that something is wrong.

"What is happening?" she asks quietly. Raine is still sleeping, and the baby is in its crib.

"You need to leave now, Maura."

She looks at Raine, then at the child. "We can't leave, she is not well enough."

"Alana took the Sunborne's magic. She plans to use it to fight Finn, but she just flooded the entire city."

Closing her eyes, Maura presses her lips together. She is not surprised, just resigned.

"You hurt her. We all have. And I'm worried that she is becoming blinded to what is real and what isn't, that she'll give in to the need for vengeance instead of the need to protect the kingdom."

"Kayan, my dear." Maura stands up on thin, fragile legs. "That's already happening."

I dip my head and bite down on the sickening sensations that are swilling in my gut.

"All right. We'll leave. Thank you for warning us."

"Where will you go?"

She tilts her head to the side, then sighs. "I don't know, Kayan. Where should we go? We have no home now. Where is safe?"

"I know a place." The thought forms almost at the same moment it leaves my mouth. "Rosalie."

"Rosalie? The fire fae?"

"She was bought by a lord by the name of Cassius. He has her holed up in a large mansion outside the city, but he..." I swallow and look away. "He recently passed away, and Rosalie inherited his wealth."

"He passed away?"

I meet her eyes, and in that moment I know she sees exactly what I did. "He was hurting her."

Maura does not respond, simply nods and strides over to the bed. "Tell me how to get there, and see if you can steal us two horses from the stables. And tell Pen. He's strong enough now. He's in the room down the hall."

I flick my wings, blue light casting shimmering shadows on Maura's face.

"Kayan?" She looks up at me as Raine stirs in the bed. "Thank you."

"We are kin," I tell her. "I will fetch the horses, and I will accompany you to Rosalie's mansion."

"You do not wish to stay with Alana?" Maura asks, helping Raine to sit up.

"Alana is not here anymore, Maura. She's gone." I close my eyes, picture Alana one last time, the way I knew her then, and brace myself to leave her forever.