Page 101 of Hearts Lost

ALOSERIN

EPILOGUE: OFFICIAL

“Something’s changed,” Arryn says.

She tilts her head up and narrows her eyes at the ceiling of the world, where two distant glowsoft orbs send their dim illumination down across the rows of dead trees. It looks dark and depressing and cold. Just a typical day in the Outer Ring.

“Do you feel it?” she asks.

All I feel, I think to myself, is fucking frozen.

“Maybe,” I offer. “What does it feel like to you?”

Arryn shrugs beneath the folds of her massive cloak. “It’s like— something in the air. There used to be something out here, something like a bite on the wind. Like the taste of metal in the back of your throat.”

I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I don’t want to be rude. Over the past few weeks, I’ve actually started to like this madwoman from the Worlds Above.

“And now it’s different?” I ask.

“It’s gone,” she replies.

She spins in a circle, still staring up at the ceiling of the world, and then turns back to me. Her breath rises like smoke from her lips.

“I think the Kingdom of the Summer closed the hole in the barrier,” she says. “The one Elanerill and I fell through. I don’t think it’s here anymore.”

If she’s right, that would mean the Kingdom of the Summer is aware of the portals between our worlds. Which would probably imply they’re also working on those portals. I shiver.

“That’s disturbing,” I offer.

Arryn gives me a strange half-smile, then turns toward the World’s End pub. I walk beside her, our feet falling in unison on the frozen crust of the path.

“How is he?” I ask.

Arryn shrugs again, then brings her mitten to her chest, as though reminding herself of the heart magic that connects her to Rowan. Wherever he is.

“He’s fine,” she says, after a moment of hesitation. “I get the sense that he’s… waiting.”

I snort. “Just like all of us.”

Arryn turns back to me, and I can see the crease between her eyes even beneath the shadow of her hood.

“Have you found anything yet?” she asks. “Has anyone found anything?”

I shake my head. “Nothing that I can support with actual evidence. Just a growing list of suspicions.”

Arryn makes a sound that’s almost a laugh.

“In the royal court,” she says. “What a surprise.”

I realize I’m smiling. It’s easy to forget that the woman who traded her heart for Rowan Sans Evenworth, of all people, was once a member of the Royal Court of the Kingdom of the Summer.

“You would know all about it,” I reply.

“I would,” Arryn agrees, kicking at the ice beneath her feet. “Who’s the latest suspect?”

“King Galan’s social coordinator,” I reply.

Arryn lets out an actual laugh.