But it was too late, the tunnel was closing faster than I could get to the opening. I met his stare as a tear slid down his cheek. Then he was gone. I was back in the tunnel. I screamed and crashed to the tunnel floor on my knees, sobbing so hard my bones rattled. I slammed my palms on the floor—and it vanished beneath me.

I was free falling again.

CHAPTER FIFTY

EVEREST

I thought waiting eight hundred years for my wife to return to me was going to be the worst part. Nothing in my mind could’ve possibly been worse than the waiting. Nearly three hundred thousand days of waiting. More than ninety-five hundred months of waiting. Over seven million hours of waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Endless, relentless waiting. That was the hardest part. Until now. Never could I ever have imagined that letting her return to the past, our past, right after I’d gotten her back would be harder than the waiting. Yet there I was, staring at where I’d thrown her into the Seelie tunnel trying not to fall apart.

You waited eight hundred years for me. I can’t leave you now.

Her words were going to echo in my mind until she returned. The sight of her sobbing would haunt me until she stood before me again. I took a deep breath and choked on the lump of emotion burning in my throat. A broken sob ripped its way free. I bent over and braced my hands on my knees, silently willing my body to hang on a little longer. It wasn’t getting the memo, though. I was slowly slipping off the edge of the cliff. Those first few centuries without her were unbearable. It felt like I’d spent all my hours crying for what was stolen from me. For what I’d lost. For how empty I’d felt. I hadn’t even realized just how numb I’d grown since, how cold my soul had become until this moment thawed me out. Now the pain and grief built to an inferno determined to swallow me in its flames.

“Father?”

I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut. Tears spilled onto my cheeks. My control snapped. Eight hundred years of pain grabbed me like an anchor, dragging me to the ocean floor. My ass hit the ground with a thud that rumbled through my bones, yet I felt nothing. I pulled my knees up and buried my face between them, chasing for oxygen my lungs so desperately needed.

“Father?” Auryn’s voice was even softer than it was a moment ago and much closer. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders as she settled in beside me, the only tether to keep myself afloat. Her chin rested on my shoulder as she held me tight. “She knows now?”

I scrubbed my face with my hands, wiping the tears from my eyes. “Yes, Auryn⁠—”