Lina rose from her position across the fire and ventured off into the woods toward the stream. Bri’s ears strained, listening to the sound of her footsteps until they faded into the distance. Their argument echoed in her mind. They were two unstoppable forces circling in opposite directions, and yet, here they collided. Lina had plans for her court, and Bri only got in the way of them. Bri had a destiny of her own making too, but being pulled into Lina’s orbit felt unparalleled, the gravity around her too strong for Bri to resist. There was no one like her. She was fierce but tender, powerful but soft, and so devastatingly magnetizing that being with her would be worth a broken heart, so long as Lina was the one to break it.

Bri let out another frustrated sigh, listening for Lina’s footsteps but not hearing her return. Her senses heightened. It shouldn’t take that long to relieve herself. Bri sat up, rubbing her hand in her eye socket. She grabbed her boots and shook them in a practiced way from her weeks in Swifthill. When nothing scuttled out, she yanked them back on and headed off in the direction of the stream.

The scent of moss and dewy leaves filled the air but the sound of sniffing made her halt. Lina sat leaning against a tree trunk, her bare feet submerged in the winding stream. She glanced over her shoulder at Bri and the moonlight gleamed off her tear-stained cheeks. Hanging her head, Bri walked over and sat beside Lina. It was the deepest sort of pain, far worse than the sting of a blade—knowing she’d been the one to hurt Lina.

“I’m sorry,” Bri whispered, leaning into Lina’s side. “I was scared and . . . I didn’t mean any of it.”

“Me too,” Lina echoed, swiping her knuckle under her eye.

Bri pulled off her boots and slid her feet in the cool water beside Lina’s. What appeared to be once a small creek was now a rushing stream, eddies of cool spring water rushing down from the High Mountains hovering in the distance.

“We knew it would end,” Lina murmured, sniffing again and clenching her jaw as if trying to stop the tears.

That soft pained sound broke Bri. She slowly lifted her hand and wiped away Lina’s tears, placing a kiss below each of her eyes. “Maybe in another life, you could have been mine.”