Page 45 of Curse of Thorns
I bite my lip, eyebrows pulled down low.
“If you knew how much anger he held about his brother’s death, about his place in his kingdom... How he didn’t trust anyone, not even his closest friends... Well, you’d understand how him being here with you, trusting you with information about the mission that will affect his entire future, his legacy, when he’s kept it from everyone else...” She tilts her head. “It paints a pretty clear picture.”
“It’s... not just me.”
“The old Rev would have trustedno one.”
“I didn’t know the old Rev,” I say. “I only know the one that’s here now.”
“Exactly. Because you’re the reason for the change.”
I shake my head. “You’re over-romanticizing this. It’s... strange, and... I don’t know. But it’s just friendship. We’re allies.”
“He trusts you. Way more than he trusts anyone else. He forgave you for the gravest of sins. How? Why? The only thing that can make me justify that is love.”
“He didn’t forgive me. How could he?Ihaven’t forgiven me.” My stomach sinks.
Your gravest sin. Your deepest seeded flaw.
This becomes the soul’s new quest.
I purse my lips as something new occurs to me.
What if she’s right? Not about him loving me but about him forgiving me. It seems impossible because... how? How could he forgive me for that? I wouldn’t forgive me. Ihaven’tforgiven me.
But if it’s true—
“Maybe you should ask him.” Kari slips away as Rev comes closer, his gentle eyes pinning me in place.
You have completed your quest.
What if Rev doesn’t belong in the Schorchedlands because, though he’s not perfect or too pure, he has achieved the entire purpose of that dark place. What if he faced his own deepest flaw—his hatred of me—and beat it?
What ifforgivenesswas what Rev needed to achieve redemption according to the magical bylaws of fae-hell?
I swallow. If this theory is right, not only am I amazed he’d forgive me but... I am, once again, ruining everything for him. If this theory is right, then I’m the reason Rev can’t enter the Schorchedlands.
