A Fire Endless (Elements of Cadence, #2)

by Rebecca Ross

“Yes, Elspeth!” Frae cried, smacking her forehead. She was swarmed by guilt for forgetting to include her new friend.

“Yes. We spoke a vow on this hill, years ago by the light of the moon. He is mine, and should you harm him, you would hold a debt against me that you could never repay.”

“We want to establish a trade there,” Sidra replied. “A place for Breccans and Tamerlaines to meet and exchange goods, as well as share meals and stories. A place where peace may be forged.”

“That is where your brother is. He is the fire and the light of the isle. As long as the stars shine, he will always be with you.”

She went to bed hungry some nights, even though Innes always ensured that Adaira had food. Adaira suspected that her mother wasn’t eating, though, in order to keep her daughter fed.

“I think it is because the curse was created by two people,” Innes said. “So it must end with another pair.”

“If two people from each clan made this boundary with blood and curses, then I believe two can undo it with blood and a benediction.”

Adaira and Torin had lifted the curse from the other two parts of the clan line, and now it was gone.

How ironic to know my enemies made you greater than I ever could.”

But should you forgo it, I will understand and find another.”

“Name me your heiress,” Adaira said. “I want to lead the west.”

oh shit he’s king now

Take my crown and give it to one of your own kind, one who is worthy amongst you. I ask that you permit me to return to my mortal life.”

“It is not a fate I fear,” Jack said. “What I fear is living for an eternity with a wound that will never heal.”

“I don’t want my deeds to be sung of,” Jack replied. “I would rather live them.”

“Your music is your crown, Majesty. If you give it to one of us, you will be stripped of your craft when you return below.” “I am already stripped of it here,”

“And I would rather live a short breadth of days, working with my hands even if they can no longer play a harp, and living with those I love. If you keep me here, I will only grow weaker. I cannot be the king you hope for, as I am incomplete in your realm.”

“My king? Who would you choose among us to wear your crown? Who among us is worthy?”

“Kae,”

“I’ve returned to you.”

“You’ve been gone for one hundred and eleven days.”

“I felt as if half of me had been torn away.

They took my mortality and my body, but my heart stayed with you in the mortal realm.”

“Even if I lived a thousand years in the fire,” Jack said, “I would not forget you. I would not allow myself to.”

“My music became my crown. And I gave my crown away to return to my mortal life.”

I want to write a ballad with you, not in notes but in our choices, in the simplicity and routine of our life together. In waking up at your side every sunrise and falling asleep entwined with you every sunset. In kneeling beside you in the kail yard and leading a clan and overseeing trade and eating at our parents’ tables. In making mistakes, because I know that I’ll make them, and then restitution, because I’m better than I once ever hoped to be when I’m with you.”

“I think that I want to make such music with you until my last day when the isle takes my bones. I think that you are the song I was longing for, waiting for. And I will always be thankful that you returned to me.”