“I can feel it,” Tal murmured, taking her hand. “It’s…it’s so big. There’s going to be so much water, Jae.”

She nodded.

“You’ll never be thirsty again.”

She made herself nod, but couldn’t smile. She’d endured the desert once, and a lifetime of thirst before it. She’d do it all again, resign herself to a lifetime of thirst and sunsickness, if it would keep him at her side.

“And now I…,” he prompted, but he was already eyeing the edge of the cliff.

All Jae could do was nod.

“Then it’s time,” he said yet again.

She could barely hear him over the sudden wind. He was right, it was time, but it would never be time. She’d never be ready for this, never be able to let him go.

He tugged his hand away from hers, stood, and held his hand out over the abyss. Their shared blood dripped down, and the magic in the Well flared and roared, roiled. Jae stood to join him, pressed up against him shoulder to shoulder, and could see that the Well’s surface had grown choppy beneath them. The sky was suddenly so cloudy and dark that dawn might as well never have happened.

Tal shuffled forward an inch, toes resting at the very edge of the cliff, and took a deep breath. He cast one long look at Jae, smiling with an expression she knew too well hid what he was really feeling. They were so closely linked now that she felt it, too. Despite the brave face, he was terrified, not ready. He’d never be ready, but—

He fell forward, body lurching into motion. Jae screamed, couldn’t stop herself from reaching for him. Her hand caught his, the magic surged, and the wind threw the wispy ends of his hair back toward her face. He was moving too fast. She couldn’t stop him or let him go.

They both fell. The wind whistled and shrieked around them, the energy they’d built flaring. It reached for them, and Jae grabbed it on blind instinct—

They broke the surface and stopped. The water should have killed them both, shattered their bones before it drowned them, releasing their energy into the binding, but instead Jae was dry and terrified and still holding Tal’s arm. A bubble glowed around them, sealing them in, even as the magic battered it, desperate to pull the energy it needed from them.

Jae. Tal’s mouth didn’t move, but she heard him in her mind anyway, felt him clutching at her. Stop this, let it go, let me go—

I can’t, she told him, clinging now as he tried to pull away. If he pierced the edge of their bubble, that would be the end, he’d be lost.

Let. Me. Go. He stared at her, but she could only make out his eyes. It was nearly pitch black under the surface, the only light the dimly glowing magic around them. Not enough to see by. You have to. This is my choice. Jae—

Tal, please—

This sets me free. It’s my choice, my free choice. You have to let me do this.

She clutched at his hand, even as he tried to yank it away. But he couldn’t. It was too hard to move in this strange, suspended bubble. She pulled him close instead, arms wrapped around him, head on his shoulder.

Please let me go, he said.

Then she felt it. He was scared, yes, but he was determined. He was so sure. He’d always protected her, and the other Closest at Aredann—this was simply more of the same, Tal being Tal. It was his gift, his choice, and even as scared as he was, he wouldn’t change his mind.

Goodbye, Tal told her.

She released her grip, let him drift. Goodbye.

His last thought was I love you.

The bubble burst—shattered, more like, sheets of water cascading in, driving them apart, as the magic pulled at them both. For a moment, she tried to balance the magic, the water, and the binding between herself and Tal. If the magic took half of her, half of him, maybe that would be enough to restore the binding, but she and Tal would be left too weak. Neither of them would be able to swim to safety, and she wouldn’t be able to control anything anymore. She’d be alive but useless, ruining Tal’s gift.

He believed this was the right thing, and he believed in her.

She clawed toward the surface, shoving the magic away from her. It sang in her mind as it found Tal instead, the binding restored and the Well flooding with energy and water as the clouds burst. Jae broke through the surface at last.

Rain pelted her as she tried to drag herself toward the nearest shore. The water she’d called was here now, and more was coming. The Well was sealed and bound once again, Tal’s gift enough to hold it for now. The binding wouldn’t last forever unless the Curse was broken, but Tal had given them enough time to get that done.

When she finally reached the muddy shore, she was barely able to drag herself out as the muck pulled at her, her clothes soaking and dragging her back. She found herself near the staircase and crawled up until she couldn’t move any more.

Eventually she’d follow through on her promises, make sure the world was grateful for Tal’s sacrifice. But today she couldn’t walk any more, couldn’t move, couldn’t think. She curled up on a wide stair, barely sheltered from the wind and rain. Too exhausted to move farther, she lay there, cold and miserable, her tears mixing with the rain on her face as she mourned.

There was something strange in the air. Elan was sitting a short distance from where Jae and Tal were perched at the edge of the cliff, but he was still close enough to watch. Close enough to feel. His skin tingled, hair standing up, as the sky went gray above them. The wind picked up, clouds growing out of nowhere. He shivered, colder than he’d been in years.

So this was what magic felt like. Not quite natural, but not quite wrong, just as if there was suddenly more in the air around him. He hunched over, trying to catch his breath as the strange energy pushed him down, oppressive and heavy. He didn’t know how Jae could stand it, unless it felt different to control it.

In the distance, Jae and Tal both stood. The wind whipped at them, hard enough that Elan imagined them staggering away from the cliff’s edge—but instead Tal leaned over it. Elan held his breath, unwilling to imagine what Tal must have been feeling as he looked down.

Tal fell forward.

Jae followed him.

Elan shouted toward them, knowing it was too late, his voice lost in the howling wind. The clouds burst, and the bizarre feeling around him vanished like a morning haze. The world felt suddenly in focus, the magic back wherever it needed to be. The temperature dropped sharply, lightning laced the sky, and the clouds had grown enormous above him.