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My heart twists again as I think of what I aiano I will miss all the days ill never have, all the ive me

I open my mouth I mean to tell my sister I’m sorry, sorry I couldn’t save her in the mountains, sorry I didn’t listen to her, I didn’t tell her more often that I loved her I am ready to say a thousand words

But I say none of thelow encircles Violetta The pillar vanishes She sucks in a deep gasp of air, then falls to her knees She is alive I can even sense the beating of her heart, the life that it gives her, that per color to her skin and light to her eyes She shakes her head, then reaches out to grasp my hand as I kneel beside her "What happened?" she murmurs She looks around Behind her hovers the shape of Moritas, waiting patiently for o," she says, her fingers wrapped tightly aroundle to draw in my next breath All around me, the threads of darkness once tied to round, and when I try to push against them, it feels as if each had pierced my flesh, a million hooks in a million places Death has already come for me

"I can’t," I whisper to her

"What do you"Here, letone of her ar to liftof the threads, and I cry out as pain lances through ain with Moritas"

Violetta’s eyes widen She looks at the looe of Moritas silently watching us Then Violetta turns back to me Now she understands "You traded your life for mine," she says "You came here for me"

I shake oal fro the world I spentin order to make it happen I wanted to live I still want to live

But I don’t want to live as I had

Violetta grabs o!" she cries "I eak, dying You are the Queen of the Sealands, you had everything ahead of you Why did you do it?" Tears swell in her eyes They are the same as our mother’s, sad and kind

I s forVioletta’s hand off ht, little sister, it’s all right"

Violetta turns her face up to Moritas in desperation "Give her back," she says A sob distorts her words "Please This is not the way--I am not supposed to live Let her I don’t want to return to the mortal world without her"

But Moritas just stays silent, watching The bargain is done

Violetta cries She looks back down atme to her I reach out and wrap ether My strength wanes; even the act of hanging on to Violetta seeo Tears roll down , and I hold on to Violetta tighter I will never see the surface again Will never see Magiano again I can feel , and I am suddenly afraid

Fear is your sword

"Stay with ainst , one I haven’t heard in a long ti to her ere s the banks of an Estenzian canal, a story about a riverMoons," she whispers "Do you re, and I pulled Violetta through the fields of great golden grass that spanned the land behind our ho her, but I just giggled and pressed a finger to my lips We made our way across the expanse until we reached a sharp outcropping of rock that overlooked the center of our city As the sun threw purple, pink, and orange across the sky, we crawled on our bellies to the very edge of the rock Sparks of color and light danced on the city streets below It was the first night of the Spring Moons, and the revelers had started to appear We looked on with delight as early fireworks lit up the sky, bursting in great explosions of every color in the world, the sound deafening us with its joy

I rehter, the e casually held hands, the unspoken feeling between us that ere, for a rasp

"Sisters forever," Violetta declared, in her tiny, young voice

Until death, even in death, even beyond

"I love you," Violetta says, hanging fiercely on to ainst her, exhausted "Violetta," I e, delirious, as if a fever had wrapped e, faint and ethereal, froer be sure I a to ask her

Tears fall froer hearsmaller My lips can barely move