by the tears I find in her gaze. One of them slides down her cheek as she smiles at me.
“All of my life, I searched the darkness for a light, yet I could never find it.” She holds me tighter, her arms wrapped around me like a warm blanket. “It’s because you were my light, Corvina. But now I have the chance to be your light.” Pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead, she whispers, “Let me guide you through this darkness.”
I thought I had no more tears to shed, but realising what my mother is saying, my eyes fill with them again.
The Dark Fae Queen is going to sacrifice herself to bring the others back.
“I love you,” I tell her, hugging her one last time. “You will always be my mother… Thank you.”
Narah closes her eyes and lets out a sigh of relief as if she’s waited her whole life to hear those words. She spreads her arms and I move back, watching as the ashes lift off the ground around us and whirl around her. They turn into black rose petals that flutter over the bodies of my fallen loved ones, making them glow, and I feel each of their bonds returning to me. First Pitch, then Zander, then Gage and Jonah. Each of them, including Izora and Ambrose, stir awake and my heart is once more made whole again. As the flowers return to Narah and cover her entirely, I just catch the smile on her face before the wind carries her spirit off into the night sky.
Tears stain my dirt-covered cheeks as I think about Narah and what she sacrificed for me. I will never forget what she did in her final moments. My mother loved me in her own, slightly messed up way, but it’s because of her love that my mates and friends are alive again. For that, I will always be thankful.
I light the black candle and Izora lights the white one at its side in front of the academy. Thousands of other candles surround the building and one by one they light up for all our fallen, for everyone we have lost.
I returned to the academy where all the fae and shadowborn from the war came and told them the war was won, but the Dark Fae Queen had died. Many cried, many bowed to me, and everyone shared the same sense of loss and joy that we were safe. One of Izora’s mates suggested we find a way to say goodbye, to mark this day, and these candles will forever stay alight; lit up outside the academy grounds like the stars in the night sky.
The Enchanted Forest will never forget.
This is our way of saying goodbye.
I step back into Zander’s arms as I cry, and he gently rubs my back as my mates all step around me, touching me somewhere for comfort. For a long time, we stand like this as I say my farewells, knowing my mates will keep me safe.
“Vina, look,” Pitch whispers.
I pull away from Zander, watching in awe as dozens of wisps float around the candles. They bounce from candle to candle as we all watch and I almost smile as three wisps come to me, flying around my body as my guys step back. I look over to see three other wisps doing the same to Izora and we smile at each other.
“I think they want to take you somewhere,” Sage says, stepping in the middle of us. “You should always follow a wisp. The gods send them after all.”
I float my hand above one of them and nod, knowing Sage is right. It was a wisp that brought me to the academy. I wonder where they want to take me now.
“I will be back soon,” I tell my guys, knowing this is a part of my story I have to do alone. Two wisps stay at my side and one moves to float in front of me as I follow it through my people and to the forest. I look back to see Izora following her own wisps somewhere else in another direction. So we aren’t going to the same place it seems.
I follow the wisps for a good half an hour before reaching a clearing in the forest. On a glowing black rock lies the crown Narah had for me in her mausoleum, and surrounding it are dozens of other wisps, each floating together like they are dancing to a song only they can