With the smoke from the fire still in my nostrils, I ran to the Reverie. I ran through the clearing where the Veil used to be and found myself at the cliff beyond the trees, where we had once upon a time stood together.
I opened the pouch and let Hecate’s ashes out.
“Hecate . . . Mother . . . I know this won’t bring you back. But I hope it can give you peace. Thank you for keeping me company. I will make it the rest of the way on my own. Well, not just on my own.”
I thought of South and the prince and even Cinderella. It would be our fight.
“It’s not fair for me to keep you with me. It’s time for me to set you free.”
My mother’s ashes re-formed, and her silhouette hovered over the cliff.
“Goodbye,” I said.
The tears began to come. I could hear cheers in the square: “Long live the Queen; the Queen is dead.”
More tears fell. I had never imagined having the Entente return from the grave. I had never imagined having to fight them either.
I had heard so many wishes. But it occurred to me that I had spent most of my life thinking of only myself, my mission, and what I had lost.
I had not thought about what it must have been like for Hecate, being bound to me all this time. This half life in a pouch around my neck . . . My letting her out only for my company and amusement could not have been any life at all.
“I wish you were alive; I wish you were wholly here with me. But since you are not, I wish you your freedom. I wish you peace.”
I wish I were alive too.
I looked up. It was Hecate’s voice.
My heart leapt. I had waited and hoped and dreamed of knowing what Hecate was truly thinking all these years, and she could not or would not tell me a thing until now.
But she wasn’t just sharing her thoughts with me.
She was making a wish.
My heart caught in my chest. Hecate had made a wish. And my power—my half power—was what could make my mother whole again.
I lifted my wand, closed my eyes, and granted it.
The ashes remained hovering in the air.
I sighed. I turned back toward the trees and began to walk to the Veil. It had been too much to think that I could have her back. Happily Ever Afters weren’t for the Entente. I had known that all along. And Hecate’s wish was the same as my own. And my wishes never, ever came true.
I heard the crunch of footsteps in the leaves behind me.
“You always were impatient,” Hecate said.
Her words filled my ears and my foolish heart. I turned around to see something I never thought I would see again.
Hecate, in the flesh.
“You’re really here,” I said as she put her arms around me.
“We were always together, even when we were far apart,” she said.
“Oh, Hecate. Hinter is a mess. I tried to do what’s right. Have I taken the correct path?” I asked, knowing she knew for sure.
“What we do has consequences. Being a Fate means caring about everyone, not just the Entente. It means caring about everything in the Hinter and the Queendoms and beyond. It means that what you do matters. And what you undo matters. You did what you could, and now the rest is to be seen,” Hecate said.
“I wish—” I began.
“Be careful what you wish for,” she interrupted with a loving look.
When she’d said those same words all those years ago, I’d thought they were a warning. Now, as she smiled at me, I saw what they really were—a promise, finally fulfilled.