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Nedra

The plague wasgone. The crucible was broken. The necromancer was dead.

“It’s over,” Grey said.

I looked down at the body of the governor.

Grey pulled me into a hug. He pressed my head into his shoulder, and all I could do was thank Oryous that we had both survived. But slowly, the rest of the world bled into our circle, like the blood staining the iron floor. Governor Adelaide’s eyes were still open, watching us. Ernesta stared straight ahead, emotionless. The Emperor woke up, whimpering and covering his face to hide from the gore.

Grey let me go. His hands were sticky with the blood from my back, but he didn’t seem to care. The cut was deep, but nowhere near deep enough to cause more damage than a scar.

“It’sallover,” Grey said again. His eyes drifted to my crucible.

I clutched it, staring at him.

“You destroyed Wellebourne’s,” he said. “You can destroy this one, too.”

I closed my eyes. I could sense my revenants throughout the castle. They had fought for me. Some had families to go back to at the quarantine hospital.

I opened my eyes. But rather than look to Grey, I met Ernesta’s blank gaze.

Letting go of my revenants meant letting go of Nessie.

I clutched my crucible in my hand—my hand made of flesh and bone. Unbidden, my father’s voice filled my mind.

I want to keep you with me always,he had told me as we journeyed to the bay and my new life.But I know I have to let you go.

It wasn’t just my sister. There was something of my parents within my crucible, too. I could feel them, faint but there.

“End it,” Grey urged me. “You know it’s not natural to be a necromancer. You know that these...” He glanced at Nessie. “They’re notnormal.Let them go back to their graves. Let them be at peace.”

I moved away from him and headed to the door. Grey tried to pull me back, but Ernesta snaked between us, giving me space as I descended the narrow staircase. I stepped over the corpses of the Emperor’s Guard, my feet smearing their blood, thick and dark, on the stone floor.

My revenants joined me, falling into line as I led the macabre parade through the deserted castle. Cold night air sliced through the open doorway leading to the city.

“Nedra,” Grey called from behind me. I could hear the fear in his voice.

He pushed his way through the revenants to me. “Ned, please,” he whispered. “Don’t do this. Let them go.”

I stopped but did not face him. “No,” I said, my voice strong and loud, puncturing the silence. I cast one last look at him, then turned away. “They’remine.”

My army of dead swarmed me as I descended into thenight.