Page 97 of Daughter of the Dark

When her well emptied, it was Reyes’s power that filled it up. It was his love that gave her the strength to push her blood deeper into the earth, beneath the generations of anguish and into the core of the land where Supay’s own heart was buried, hardened and blackened, seeping through the earth and into the caves and rivers and sea, the tendrils of it spreading to divide and consume. There were pieces of it in the daggers she had made, in the homes of those privileged enough to afford it, across the seas in the hands of those who shunned her people.

Himaya was nothing but a vessel waiting to be filled, and the curse a vessel waiting to be shattered. With more pressure, Solana could destroy it all.

But she saw the drying of Reyes’s well, what it would mean to give more of herself over to her fate, and she yanked her hands away. The world around them burst into life. Screeches of the suffering pierced her ears. The circle of her friends was closer than before, their ragged struggle breathing down her neck.

To end this, Solana would have to give the ultimate sacrifice. She would have to die, and entwined as they were, Reyes would die with her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Reyes scrambled to pull Solana’s hands back into his grip. “No,” he said, his fingers viselike around hers, unbreakable and unshakable. “This isn’t how it has to be, Solana.”

But Solana shook her head. She refused to have his blood on her hands, to know that her love had guided him straight to death’s bed. Reyes’s hands once again found her face, the pads of his thumbs wiping away the tracks of tears on her cheeks.

“From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew this would be the end of our story. I would die a thousand deaths beside you because I love you. This is not your choice, or a burden you will bear.” He slid his hands back to tangle into her hair. “It is mine. Release me,” Reyes begged, sorrow and relief in his voice. “It’s me or you, and I refuse to live in a world without you in it.”

“I can’t do it,” Solana choked out.

“Yes, you can. You must.” Reyes placed his forehead against hers. “Together,” he whispered.

With that final word, he closed his eyes and shared with Solana the memories he had collected of her. The version of her he saw was fierce and determined and beautiful. A flurry of power that radiated through every smile she gave and soul she touched.

There were mundane memories and simple moments filled with so much admiration it hurt to witness. Hopes and dreams for their future once all of this was over. It was those images he chose to see in his final moments. It was the hope for her happiness that was worth dying for.

Solana would have died for it, too.

Around her, the world continued to fall apart. The strength of her people waned with every strike, every wound, every death. They were all willing to lay down their lives for this, for her. They had all lost so much and they would lose more—everything—without this sacrifice.

But the pain was unbearable, even as Reyes pulled her into his arms, as he used every point of contact to pour what remained of his gift into her, as he guided her toward life one last time.

A firm touch landed on her shoulder. Warmth seeped from the point of contact into her chest and deeper, into her well. She recognized the shape of Oskar’s gift like she recognized the shape of his face.

Another touch landed on her other shoulder, this one bright and evergreen like Cora’s eyes. A hand on her head, and Suri’s gift pushed into her with a kind of blunt force that matched her personality. They poured their strength into her, her fight becoming their fight. Their gifts becoming her gift of life, of a second chance.

With it, she felt for the familiarity of Reyes’s blood and soul and called for his sister. Among the thousands of souls, one answered. A small muki appeared before her, and she saw and felt with her mind’s eye how it recognized Reyes. Beside her, his strength faltered.

“Isa,” she heard him whisper, the name as reverent as a prayer and a wish. Solana touched the strand of the curse that tied her to the land and burned it to ash. Isa’s body washed away in a cloud of tiny stars, her relief and gratitude lingering like the scent of a rich perfume.

Reyes’s hand tightened over her shoulder, another push of power, of love, and then Solana sought Sami’s and Nikolas’s and Masimu’s threads. She didn’t take the time to call them to her, simply gathered their tethers in a hand and breathed a sigh of relief when they burned away. They were free, at last.

Finally, Solana reached deep to the root of the tethers, fingers curled around the heart of Supay, and lit it on fire with the strength of the hope of her people.

The fire spread and spread, a crisp red brighter than the sun that left behind a trail of ash in its wake. It flowed over and through each of the muki, through every person born and nurtured by this land, whose roots were planted wide and deep. It reached into the core of Supay and the himaya sprouting from it. It neutralized and destroyed and remade what once was cursed into something new.

Something free.

The weight of Solana’s responsibility lifted from her shoulders between one breath and the next. The thud of bodies and the cries of victory pierced the air. But it was the heft of Reyes’s body that dragged Solana down to the ground. The sand cradled them. The smoke of dying fires swirled with a harsh breeze. Through it, the first rays of the true sun peeked through.

“Reyes,” Solana whispered, her lips close enough to his to touch with every exhale. “Open your eyes, Reyes. Stay with me.”

She dropped her forehead to his and breathed deeply as the sounds of swords clashing rent the air. How easy it would be to sink into death with him. How delicious a final rest would taste. This world needed her no longer, and she had nothing left to give.

“I told you I was useful.” Reyes’s deep voice washed over her. She jerked back in shock to find him smiling that familiar, lazy smile, the dimples in his cheeks on full display.

“Gods, Reyes.” With a laugh, Solana threw herself onto him. He let out a sharp exhale and laughed with her, the sound bright and alive and the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. His hand slipped to the back of her neck, and his lips found her forehead, then her cheeks, her jaw, her neck. Quick, desperate kisses that marked her soul for life.

“If you’re done, we have a king to find.”

Solana snapped her eyes up and found the remnants of battle strewn around her. Shards of metal littered the ground, and himaya swirled in the air like ash. The stones in their blades had bled out from red to black, nothing but bits of earth once again.