Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to Libba Bray. This fanfic is similar to my other story "A New Beginning", and ends the same, but getting to that ending is slightly different. Hope you enjoy!

Gemma POV

After three days of crying in bed, I decided that I could not spend my life locked away, no matter how tempting it was.

I had to accept that, however painful, Kartik was gone. I would never hold him, kiss him, run my fingers through his hair or listen to his strong, steady heartbeat. I would never see him smile or look into his beautiful chocolate eyes. Never again would I hear is strong laugh made everything seem like it was going to be okay. The strong arms that kept me safe were no longer there, and the loving voice that whispered reassurance in my ear was forever gone. I was alone.

Not totally alone, I still had Felicity, Ann, my brother, father and grandmother…but life did not feel complete or right without someone special to share it with. These past few days, all I have been thinking about is what our love was like, and what it could have been. We could have fought society's norms, had children of our own, and grown old all with the security of knowing that we would never be without each other.

But now that dream was only that, a dream. A dream that I needed to wake up from. He would not want me to lie here, reminiscing about what we could have had and now never would have. He would want me to be strong, and I was not going to disappoint. I knew I would never, ever love another the way I loved Kartik, but for him, I would try to be happy – no, happiness was not likely. Content was much more realistic, and even that would be a stretch.

I would do as my father wanted, no matter what that was. It did not matter. If that meant getting married, I would try to be content, and to endure being with someone else who I could never truly love.

That counted as trying, right?

Meanwhile…

Kartik POV

I had heard her crying, even from the realms, and it had broken my heart. I wanted to jump out of this incarceration and run to her, but the tree had brought me into itself. I could feel the wind blowing my – it's branches, the soil around the roots and through the bark itself I could see the animals that had fought and died on the plains here around me and this tree that was my prison.

I could sense a presence coming toward me. No animal had ventured close to me, being able to feel that this was no ordinary tree. I was surprised at who it was that came toward us, the tree and I.

I could see my brother standing over me, his eyes hooded under the dark sky. He now looked exactly as he did before that fateful day last June. The brother that I had known and loved was back, and now we were being separated again.

He kneeled down in front of me and placed his hand on the nearest tree root, closing his eyes. Suddenly, a great gust of wind came, and with it I felt myself fall forward, out of the tree and landed on my hands and knees on the ground. I looked around me in wonder, and then turned my gaze to Amar, a sad smile on his face. I leaned forward and grasped him in a tight hug, and held onto him for a few moments, tears streaming from my eyes. When we parted, I was not the only one crying. Abruptly, the roots and branches that had held me so tightly now latched onto him, and I then understood what had happened.

Just as I had sacrificed myself for Gemma, he had a deal of his own with the Winterlands. Just as quickly as I had gotten him back, I was now to lose him again, with no going back this time. This was the end. He looked at me with that same, sad smile.

"Go to her, brother." He said softly, and with a shuddering gasp, he was gone. Stolen by the Winterlands, forever bound here in this place of sadness.

But I was not. I gathered my strength and stood up, turning away from the tree and walking back in the direction of the garden.

When I walked into the garden, I saw the Gorgon and all the other creatures that had helped us win the battle standing together. They all looked up at me, unsurprised.

I walked away from them with a nod, going forward to the portal to my world. I was not ten paces from it when I heard the wind calling, swirling around me. Wait, it called. You sacrificed your own life for the Priestess…for that, you shall be granted any wish your heart desires…Choose wisely, for the magic cannot and will not be undone…Make your choice.

This was simple and yet so impossible at the same time. There was only one thing that I craved above all else.

"I wish to be with Gemma, forever."