Page 70 of Kiss of Smoke

This way,they told me when I asked.Follow the hedges.

I did as the trees told me, eventually climbing over the hedges and hiking up a steep ridge.

On the other side of the ridge, the sea came into view. The Veil shimmered like the auroras just above it.

Carabosse and Aurora fluttered gently in the breeze, lavender leaves glistening like jewels. I climbed down carefully into the grove, my heart in my throat as I remembered my last moments here.

There were small crimson flowers in the grass, gleaming like drops of blood. In a way, I was still here with them, too.

I approached the entwined trees slowly, just standing under their canopy for several long moments, and finally reached out, closing my eyes as my palm met bark.

I felt nothing but sleepy tranquility radiating back at me.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes when I opened them, and smiled up at what had once been a murderer, and my friend.

“I’m glad you’re resting,” I told her truthfully. “And I’m sorry that you suffered under the Accords.”

I would never be able to forgive her for her crimes, but I could understand her. If Robin, Jack, or Gwyn were almost beyond saving—what would I do to help them?

Anything. I would do anything for them, and in that, I thought that Carabosse and I had common ground.

But if I filled in the report, and was honest about the fact that I had not arrested or killed the worst of the Unstained Souls, but given her a reprieve, then that fact would not stay quiet for long.

Other Fae wouldn’t understand the pain Carabosse had gone through, and what had led her down this path. I had seen what happened to the girls Brightkin had trafficked—and knew all too well that what had happened to Aurora was monstrous.

I thought that being a tree, forever rooted in one place, might be punishment enough for her…and that it would also give her the quiet ending she deserved, the life with her daughter that had been stolen from both of them by the Fae.

But my kind wouldn’t see it that way.

One of the Garda would read the report, find out what I had done… and the rumors would spread that I had helped the Ghosthand.

They would demand my resignation from the Garda. They might even try to bring Robin down with me.

Then they would come out here with axes, saws, and fire.

They would rip these trees out by the roots and give them the painful death they thought Carabosse deserved.

My lips twisted, and I touched the tree again. Despite what she had been, I couldn’t allow that to happen.

“You don’t have to write it down.”

I whirled around, and found Robin standing in the shadows of the grove, almost invisible in his black suit. How long had he been there?

He stepped forward and took my hand, sliding the moonstone ring back into place on my finger. I’d been feeling its loss, and something in me lightened to have it back in place.

I knew he would’ve taken it from Ioin’s body after killing him.

“Who else knows about this?” I asked quietly.

Robin adjusted the ring, but didn’t let go of my hand once it was settled. “Just us. To the rest of the Garda… this is just a tree.”

I looked up at him, searching his blue eyes.

Two held the secret, and the only other person who had witnessed what I’d done was dead. I knew Robin understood the pain I would feel not only at cutting down these trees I’d created, but that the pain would be equally emotional as physical.

“I shot her,” he said slowly, gazing into my eyes. “And she fell into the sea. Aurora jumped after her.”

I nodded, turning the story over in my mind. “She was out of her mind. Every witness can attest to that.”

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