That night, the hallowed wind woke me.
I opened my eyes to a cracked balcony door and a slow creaking, but I remembered never leaving the door open.
The cold swirled inside Cyrus’s room, rushing across my skin. This breeze attempted to clear the cobwebs already gathering inside my brittle chest, reminding me that life kept moving forward even though this pain felt like death.
Cyrus’s room faced the lighthouse. The beam cut through the fogged glass of the door, reaching for the bed like a motherly hand wishing to rock me back to sleep to a place where it didn’t hurt anymore.
Only hours before, Cyrus and I confirmed our marriage in the eyes of Sacred Sea, while also proving to the coven we were each other’s match. Each time the events from the night flashed through my mind, Stone’s face appeared at the heart of it like the lighthouse beam.
I want Stone, my cold heart cried. I want my husband.
Right now. Right now. Right now.
And a cry escaped me. I shoved my face into the pillow to suffocate it until it softened, faded, and died away. Behind me, Cyrus slept soundly on his stomach, facing the other way. My feet touched the floor, and I walked toward the back door to close it. But where was Cyrus’s watcher?
I turned slowly, colliding with wide, fearful eyes from the opposite side of the room. Cyrus’s watcher was tied to his chair, a gag around his mouth, dark figures standing around him. I ran to Cyrus, but arms wrapped around me, yanking me backward and pinning me to a chest.
A hand came over my mouth.
“Hi, darling.” A whisper in my ear.
My eyes closed, relief breaking through me. Instead of pushing him away, I was hugging his arms against my chest.
“Are you going to be quiet?” Stone asked. I nodded against his hand.
He turned me until I was looking into black eyes. I’ve never felt so whole than in these moments when I was looking into his black eyes.
His hands instantly came over my face. “Are you all right?”
I shook my head, my every breath shallow, and his face fell.
“Do you want to come with me?”
“She doesn’t have a choice. Grab her and lets go,” a figured whispered from the corner of the room.
Stone grabbed my jaw, forcing me to face him again. “Do you want to come with me?”
“Yes,” I whispered, clinging to his coat and nodding.
“All right, one more thing before we leave...” Stone’s words drifted as he ripped himself from my grasp. I spun in place, watching his back as he stalked around the bed and to the other side. Then he snatched Cyrus from his sleep and pinned him to the wall by his throat like a picture frame. Like Cyrus weighed absolutely nothing even though they were the same size.
“Wake up,” Stone said, veins popping and muscles flexing in his arm. Cyrus’s eyes were already wide open, his hands gripping Stone’s at his throat.
He looked at me, then back at Stone again.
“Do you know who I am?” Stone asked.
Cyrus nodded.
“Good.” And Stone released his throat and swung a right hook into the side of Cyrus’s jaw, sending him to the floor.
“Aw, fuck. I told him not to do that,” Beck groaned.
My hand flew to my mouth.
Cyrus lifted himself up, pinning his back to the wall and looking up at me, his lip bleeding. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at me, shirtless and in a pair of athletic shorts. He watched as Stone wrapped me in his coat, took my hand, and guided me out onto the balcony, where a bag was already waiting.
Once we were outside and back on solid ground, Stone was quiet with one hand shoved deep into his pocket, the other carrying the bag. He led me off the property until we were farther down the street.
The rest of the Heathens walked ahead of us, but Stone stopped, dropped the bag on the street and unzipped it.
“Stone, what’s happening?” I asked, having not heard a word from him since we left Cyrus’s bedroom.
He still didn’t answer, handing me shoes, a sweatshirt, sweatpants, a jacket. I was trying to slip them on over my pajamas as fast as he was handing them to me. His silence was scaring me.
“Talk to me,” I pleaded.
He bounced to his feet and came inches from my face. “I can’t!” he seethed in a whisper. “I’m so sick over it, I’m afraid to speak, Adora. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you. I’m afraid I’ll lose you. I’m afraid to bloody blink because if so, everything may come crashing down inside me and explode around me, and I’m afraid that if that happens, it’ll scare you away for good.” He looked away as he tried to calm his breathing. Seconds passed, and then, “We know how to defeat the Shadows, and we need your help, so let’s get on with it.”
“That’s not fair. We both knew this could happen.”
He looked at me in disbelief. “It is quite simple, darling. The pain between what could happen and what did happen is much larger than one imagines. I could lose a finger tomorrow. I could die. I could fuck ...” He let it die, either unable to finish or knowing it was wrong. “You can prepare as much as you’d like, but the way I feel at this moment is not from an event that could’ve happened.”
We stared at each other until our breathing became steady.
Then he turned his eyes away.
“They threatened me,” I told him in a whisper. “They know how I feel about you, and they’re using it against me because ... you are my weakness.” Stone was facing the opposite direction, gripping his hip bones and hanging his head, but I knew he was listening. “Stone, I told Cyrus about us before the bedding ceremony. He knows. I told him everything, and that you are my husband. He respected that as much as he could through it and he will continue to do so because he is a good man.”
Stone turned, his gaze swinging to me. Surprised. “You told him?”
“Yeah.”
He exhaled, relief crossing his features as his arm dropped to his side.
“Thank you,” he said.
This mattered to him.
It wasn’t that he wanted Cyrus to know who I belonged to. Stone wanted me to be honest, to be better, to do things right this time.
His posture relaxed a little. “Are you warm now?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Stone snatched up the bag, and we resumed walking in silence.
Half an hour later, we were staring at the underground spring in the Forbidden Cavern. It was surprisingly warmer in the cave, and the spring was black and depressing. Light from the gas lamp reflected off the spikes hanging from the ceiling, and water droplets dripped from their ends. A plop ... ... plop.
“What are we doing here?”
Beck began to shrug out of his jacket, sparing a glance at Stone, who was standing behind me. “There’s a broken sapphire at the bottom of the spring. Romeo here thinks you’re the only person who can get it.”
I turned to face Stone. “Why would Romeo here think that?”
“Because,” Stone scratched the back of his head, “it says so in your mother’s book.”
My mouth fell open. “You stole my mother’s book?”
“Let’s discuss my thievery another time, shall we?”
I was just glad I hadn’t lost it. At least I had a chance to have the book in my hands again. “And then what do we do once we get this broken sapphire?”
Stone’s eyes darted to Zephyr. I turned to Zephyr, too.
Zephyr was looking past me at Stone, then his bright neon green gaze jumped to me. “After Phoenix melts it back together, we will set it in your chain, and return it to where it belongs on Bone Island.”
A disbelieving smile graced my face. “It can’t be that simple.”
Stone’s hand came over my shoulder. “Do you want to help your town or not?” he asked me, and of course, I want to help the town.
I glanced over at the spring. “How far down is it?”
Beck shrugged. “About ten to fifteen minutes down, another ten back.”
Panic started to pile inside me. “I’ve never held my breath that long. Maybe thirteen minutes at most,” I said, shaking my head. Then I turned to Stone, my voice turning into a whisper. “I can’t do this.”
He dropped his chin to his chest. “That’s ridiculous. Of course, you can.”
Mom’s nightmare flashed in my mind. I remembered how it felt to drown, for your lungs to fill up with water, and the fear of never being able to take another breath. “Stone...”
His gaze circled around at the Heathens. “Listen to me,” he said, taking me and stepping us off to the side. “You can do this, all right? You were born to do this.” His hands came over my head, and he smoothed my hair down, eyes drifting over my face. “Do you honestly believe I would let you go on the slightest chance something could happen to you?”
“You have too much faith in me.”
“And here I thought you could hold on for as long as it takes.” Stone grinned, taking off my jacket with a lift in his brow. “You disappoint me, Adora Danvers.”
“Just swim straight down,” Beck interrupted. “You won’t be able to see anything, so just swim straight, arms out in front of you until you reach the floor so you don’t hit your head. If you enter by that rock right there by the wall, that’s where the broken sapphire is scattered.”
Within seconds, I was removing my shoes, my sweatshirt, sweatpants, leaving on the pajamas I had been wearing underneath. The other Heathens just stood on the sidelines, watching, bored. How were they bored when I was freaking out? “And what do I do once I reach the pieces?”
Beck turned to me, his expression blank. “You pick them up.”
I dropped my head to the side. “That’s it?”
“Then you bring ‘em to the top,” he answered, a sardonic smile.
I stood on the rock, looking down at the black waters that didn’t hold my reflection. As all other times beside the spring, my chest began to ache with grief that wasn’t my own. It stirred inside me, and I found myself sad and longing for something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Stone came up behind me. “I’ll be here waiting for you. Very impatiently.” Dazing off, I nodded. “Adora,” he said, turning me around. The other Heathens were staring at the two of us with scrutinizing gazes. “Ignore them and look at me,” he demanded. I blinked back at him. “I’m not the only one who has faith in you. Your mother believed you could do this, too. I found the message in the book. You’re the only one, darling, and if anything happens, I’m coming down there to get you.”
“You? You would drown.”
“Fine, I’ll send Beck.”
“Are you going to kiss me?”
“No,” he said. “You need something to fight for to get back to me.”
And I made sure Stone’s smile was the last thing I saw before diving into the spring.
The water was surprisingly warm and so black that it didn’t matter if I had my eyes opened or closed. As Beck had said, I kept my hands out in front of me, descending deeper and deeper.
And the deeper I delved, the more Circe consumed me.
I felt how scared she was, seeing her husband hold her under in the spring. A man she was supposed to trust not to ever hurt her. A man who was supposed to protect her. This was how she died, my heart cried. He drowned her in this very spring.
It didn’t take long before these black waters morphed from her struggling against her husband’s tight grip, fighting for a breath, into the moment Circe was running down the shore under the moon during the witching hour, Hedera’s hand in hers. Only her and Hedera, how it was always supposed to be. And then I was feeling what she was feeling. I was standing as her, seeing Alec across from me, and feeling the warm, hopeful smile stretching across my face.
And this smile is too soon and shouldn’t be there, not yet, because anything could happen. It all could be taken away, but I can’t stop smiling because he’s smiling, and we’re almost there.
I swam deeper, trying to keep up with Alec, trying to hold on to this moment. And we’re running, my heartbeat like a clock in my ear, teasing me, rushing me. Until I’m crashing into his arms.
“Oh, Circe,” he whispers, holding me close, his mouth coming over mine. And I taste him and his warmth spreads through my body. He pulls away only to scoop Hedera into his arms. He spins until he’s facing me, then grabs my hand and walks backward with a smile that melts my heart. “Are you ready for an adventure?” he asks. And this isn’t how it happened, but this is how it should have happened. And before I know it, we’re climbing into the Wistoragic, the stars reflecting off the ocean waves, on our way to Bone Island.
This wasn’t their love story.
This was the ending Circe imagined as she was dying, an imprint in these waters. Their happily ever after. This is what she thought of, and I was watching it until she fell unconscious and my fingers touched the bottom.
My fingers scraped the bottom until it pushed against a small rock. I picked it up easily from the floor. Then the next, collecting all the pieces I could find, sweeping back and forth to not leave any behind. My feet lay flat on the floor, and I pushed off, propelling myself back to the top.
It was more difficult with only one free hand to move me up through the water. About halfway up, my lungs began to burn for oxygen, and my pace had slowed. My heart began to race, panicking, as I choked on a bout of nothingness. Trying not to drop the sapphire pieces, I swam faster.
The spring became a coffin, six feet under and suffocating, inky waters as dirt.
I didn’t know how much time had already passed, and all I could see was black. All I could feel was this burn, this pressure squeezing my insides.
Stone’s smile crossed my mind.
“You are absolutely fierce,” he whispered.
I kicked faster. Harder. And just before the black abyss took me, two hands hooked under my arms, and pulled me right out of the water, laying me on a rock. Water spilled out of my mouth, and I coughed, squinting my eyes as he moved hair from my face.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
And then I was up, wrapping my arms around Stone’s neck, pulling him to me, my chest caving and rising uncontrollably. Circe didn’t get her happily ever after, but maybe, just maybe, there was still hope for us.
Stone kissed my cheek, then my lips. He dropped his forehead to mine, stroking my wet hair. “I’m so proud of you,” he said with a smile. Oh, that smile.
“There were four pieces.” I dropped them into his palm.
Phoenix approached, and Stone handed them off.
“I told you, man,” Beck said. “I don’t think there’s a fifth.”
While Phoenix moved them around in his palm, we all watched with anticipation as I wrung water from my hair.
“No, one’s fucking missing,” Phoenix whispered, disappointment curving around every word. He lifted his golden eyes. “There’s a fifth somewhere.”
Julian turned in place, scanning the cave. “Spread out and start looking. It has to be here.”
Shivering, I wrung the water from my clothes as much as possible before slipping the sweatshirt over my head, the sweatpants over my pajama shorts. We all spread out, and as I started to help look for the fifth piece, a figure emerged from the shadows near the bend.
It took me a second to understand who it was. “Alice?” And then I remembered how she’d betrayed me, and the hot breath of anger blew under my skin like a simmer. “You have a lot of nerve following me.”
“I know you’re angry with me, but it was for your own good,” Alice said, taking another step closer. I looked around, and the Heathens surrounded, watching carefully, caution and confusion passing over their faces. “I couldn’t have you leave with Stone,” she continued. “I couldn’t let you go to Norse Woods. I needed you to stay close to me, Adora. Only you were able to gather the broken pieces from the spring.”
I looked for Stone. He was staring at her, furious, as he paced toward me.
He didn’t stop until he was at my side, a hand wrapped around my arm.
“I’m only trying to help you,” she said. “That stone is very special. It can save your mother.” My jaw snapped shut, and my eyes darted like bullets between hers, finding a hole in her sentence. If it were true or not. “Yes, Adora. That sapphire, once pieced together, can bring your mother back. But I need you to trust me, and I need you to hand me the broken pieces.”
I took another step back, closer to Stone. “I don’t have the broken pieces.”
“Sullivan, who’s this?” Julian asked with a cock of his head.
“My maid. Alice.”
“I know who you are,” Stone whispered, as though he was still thinking. “I should have seen it.”
“Seen what?” Phoenix asked. “Stone, what the fuck?”
“Your name isn’t Alice, is it?” Stone said, his spine stiff with anger. “You were once Celia. This is why you wanted to come here all along—for this sapphire. And you know of this sapphire because your name isn’t Celia, either.” He pulled me closer to his side, his grip tightening around my arm as if someone were about to snatch me from him. “Now, how long has it been since you’ve been called your true name, Lacie? Certainly much longer than I’ve been alive. Or dead. Whichever way you want to put it.”
The woman smiled, and horror consumed me.
I stood frozen, staring at her, unable to comprehend that she was the same woman from the story of Alec & Circe. After all these years ...
Stone’s expression closed up, hardened. “Lacie. Celia. Alice. Very clever. Were you the one who taught Circe anagrams?”
Her mouth twitched. “Look at you, Stone. You’re a completely different person.”
“And you found the nerve to speak to me. Afraid of a grain sack, are we?”
“What is happening ...” Phoenix whispered under his breath.
The woman extended her hand. “Adora, get your pieces so we can be on our way.”
Stone’s hand slipped down into mine, and he turned to face me. “I know you want to save your mother. I know how important she is to you, but think about all the people who’ve died, and all the people who could die if we don’t finish this.”
“This is your last hope,” Alice countered.
“One is missing. We can’t save her without the last piece,” I challenged.
“I have the last piece.” She held up the necklace hanging around her neck, the pendant attached to it. “We have everything we need.”
Julian laughed. “What exactly is stopping five Heathens from ripping that stone from your neck and just walking away?” he asked. “You do realize you’re not only outnumbered, but you’re out muscled, too. You are out … everything.”
“Are you so sure about that?” Alice clutched her necklace. “If I remember correctly, your source of magic has halted, but mine can end your life slowly and painfully one by one.”
Zephyr looked at Julian. “Can one fifth of the sapphire do that?”
“Yes,” Stone confirmed. “Yes, that sapphire can absolutely do that.”
Oh, I could kill her, I thought. “If you harm any of them, I will kill you myself.”
“I am immortal, child,” Alice said, beginning to rub the pendant, whispering an incantation.
We all exchanged glances, worry written on all of our faces.
Then a guttural hiss escaped from Beck as he fell to the side, clutching his stomach. His palm caught the cave wall, and he used it to support his weight as he groaned in agony.
“Stop!” Julian barked as he and Phoenix rushed to him, and Zephyr moved in on Alice just as Beck collapsed to a knee, waves of anguish moving across his face as he cried out. His big blue eyes went wide in their sockets, blood vessels popping inside them.
“Alice, please!” I cried.
Beck’s screams, the Heathens’ cursing, it all seemed to go on and on. And just when I thought Beck was about to be taken away from the world, the moment dissipated, like fog on a cold, fall night.
Five shadows had appeared and surrounded Alice.
They rippled, moving like waves, closing in on her.
“No,” Alice chanted, stepping back, trying to get away from them.
Stone took us back a step, away from the Shadows, too.
Then Alice’s expression was ripped away, all the color draining from her. Her eyes were stretched open, her mouth agape, like the skin of her face was hung. Instead of a scream, all that came out was a gurgling sound.
Not a second later, she collapsed to the floor.
In that moment, I could have sworn the Shadows turned back to look at me. In their transparent shades of blackness, I saw Circe. She was in all five, like a shattered mirror, her movements delayed.
And then the Shadows floated away.
Behind me, Julian and Phoenix helped Beck back to his feet.
I blinked, looking up at Stone. “The Shadows ... They didn’t want her to stop us. They wanted us to finish this.”
And Stone planted a foot on her chest and ripped the chain from her neck.