The Rise of Fortune and Fury (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 5)

“What else is on your list?” I ask my sister.

She opens her eyes, rolling her head to give me a lazy sort of smile. The sun is warm on our skin, our bellies are full, and the sound of the waves lapping at the bay shore is relaxing. “Greatest things about being out of the Underworld?”

I nod, rolling on my side to see her.

Zora lets out a tiny sigh, eyes roving over the cloudless sky for a moment before she brings her gaze back to me. “The openness. Just endless sky and earth. The caverns in the Underworld are huge and I never felt constrained until I got here. I can fly up thousands of feet, and the only thing I’d hit my head on is a cloud.”

“I can’t even imagine living in a place without sunlight,” I murmur.

“Amell sometimes simulated it for me with magic,” Zora says with a fond smile. “But he didn’t do it justice now that I’ve seen it.”

“What else?” I ask.

For the next half hour, Zora tells me all the things she’s come to love since we helped her escape. It includes, among other things, cotton sheets, orange juice, croissants—of course—hot running water, the sounds of city traffic, the television show Schitt’s Creek, although she readily admits she doesn’t get some of it, Chris Hemsworth, bubble gum, body lotion, good hair products, and Chapstick.

When she throws her legs over the side of the chaise and pulls out a tube of Chapstick from the little bag she’d brought to the beach, I laugh. She rubs it on her lips before tossing it back in the bag.

Zora crosses her arms across her thighs, leaning slightly toward me. “Want to know the biggest conclusion I’ve come to?”

I push up to one elbow, nodding.

“I’ve seen enough to know I don’t ever want to go back to the Underworld.”

It’s not her words but her tone that has me sitting up, planting my feet into the sand. Our knees almost touch. “Why would you even think about going back?”

Zora looks out over the bay. “I don’t want to assume that you want me to stay. I’m grateful for all you’ve done, but… I’m really not sure what you want with me.”

My hands snag hers roughly, causing her head to whip back to me. “You’re my sister. My twin. When I brought you out of the Underworld, it was forever, Zora. Your home is with me now. Well, me and Carrick.”

“Until you die,” Zora points out.

“And then Carrick will take care of you,” I assure her. Carrick had promised me long ago that he’d get her out of the Underworld if I died before we were able to. I know he’d make her life good after I was gone.

Zora’s expression turns troubled, and she shakes her head. “I don’t know how to be a sister. I don’t know if I say the right things. I don’t know if I’m likable.” Zora pulls her hands from me. “In fact, I’m fairly sure I’m very unlikable. I don’t even really like to be touched, Finley, and I hate small talk. I only know to trust myself. I don’t understand the relationship you and Carrick have, and it’s not that I don’t understand it… it seems odd, weak, and overbearingly complicated. Affection makes me uncomfortable, and I don’t like talking about things much deeper than burgers, because I’ve never talked about deep things before. I have nothing to offer you at all.”

I take in a breath and let it out, not attempting to take her hands again. “You have the world to offer me, Zora. You’re my sister, and I love you. I need nothing more than for you to be here, safe and happy.”

“I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help against Kymaris,” she says, worrying at her lower lip with her teeth while ignoring my statements of sentiment. “I didn’t do well at all today.”

“Your magic is what we’ll focus on,” I assure her. “If you can create wings to fly, your magic is powerful, Zora. We’ll get it figured out, but it might take time so don’t get frustrated. God knows it took a while for me to figure mine out.”

“But your magic is from an angel,” Zora points out with a hard look. “Mine is from a deranged Light Fae prince who is twisted dark and evil. I’m not sure that’s something we want to mess with.”

“Maybe not.” She makes a damn good point. “But we’ll be careful and test it slowly. Regardless, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I didn’t bring you here to help fight. You don’t even have to be anywhere around when this goes down. We can have you stay in Faere with Nimeyah or I bet you could even stay here in Semper Terra.”