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CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

I DIDN’T SPARE A MOMENT OF THAT HOUR . I ran back and collected Fyrel’s body myself. I tore a piece of tunic from one of our fallen soldiers and wrapped it around her head so Gwyn didn’t have to see the gash the axe had left. I brushed her eyelids closed and let the girl rest in my arms as I made the long walk back to our tents.

My body was numb and my mind empty. I couldn’t hear my thoughts over the screams and metal clanging echoing in my head. I put the young Shade on the small pyres Feron had conjured and Vrail grabbed my arm.

“Don’t do this.” Tears ran down her blood-caked face. “You don’t have to do this.”

Nikolai grabbed my other arm. “Why martyr yourself now? We’re one people. The Elverin stand together, in death too if we must.” His eyes were bloodshot from crying but they were determined.

I shook my head and wrapped them both in my arms. “No one else needs to die.”

“You’re giving us a few hours more at most,” Nikolai scoffed.

I glanced between the two of them. “Then spend those hours together.” I raised a brow. “I think you’ve both been waiting long enough.”

Nikolai cleared his throat, but his eyes widened in shock when he saw the flush of Vrail’s cheeks. He tugged on his hair and stood there awkward and wordless for the first time in his seven centuries. I cherished the laugh and turned to find Riven standing behind me.

“I heard” was all he said. It was all he needed to.

He knew me well enough to know that pleading would only be a waste of breath. A waste of time. I leaned against his chest and let the sound of his breathing calm me. I would need to be at peace to do what had to be done.

“I can come with you,” Riven whispered against my hair. “My brother would not begrudge two deaths.”

My blood cooled. Damien would draw it out and make one of us watch as he tortured the other. I didn’t want to tempt him, not when he controlled a flock of waateyshirak that could scorch through the rest of my kin.

I shook my head and pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “No, you have a promise to carry out.”

A tear cut down Riven’s cheek, but he didn’t take his hand off me to wipe it away. Instead, he pulled me tight against him and pressed a hard kiss to my mouth. A horn blew in the distance, and I knew I only had a half hour left. I wrapped my arms around Riven’s neck and whispered a message I trusted only him with.

“Get Gerarda and Feron. Be ready to strike.” My words shook against his ear. “You’ll know when.”

Riven took a deep breath and nodded. He knew I had my own promise to keep. And nothing was going to stop me from honoring that vow.

“I will follow you to whatever end, Keera Waateyith’thir.”

My lips parted to give him that last farewell. All I had was a fool’s hope that I could undo what another Faemother had done. Faelin herself had told me that I would not survive it. It would drain my gift completely and my life too.

Or many, many small ones .

I spotted Rheih’s supplies. I assumed Faelin was referring to the other Fae when she’d said that, but Syrra had taught me that magic powers were only one kind of gift the Elverin could receive. I pulled out of Riven’s embrace. I had an idea and I had to move fast.

“I don’t think a bowl is going to save you.” Rheih clucked her tongue as I rummaged through the shelves. I yanked the ingredients open, throwing the lids to the ground as I grabbed what I needed.

“If you don’t stop, I’ll be delivering his royal arse a corpse.” Rheih swatted my head but I ducked.

I handed her a bowl. “The green paste. Now, and fast.”

Rheih’s eyes narrowed as I started pummeling cedar and birch leaves in my own bowl.

“How much do we need?”

“As much as you have.”

Rheih whistled and Vrail and Nikolai appeared. I glanced around looking for Gwyn but didn’t see her. Dynara must have left her lying among the injured somewhere quiet. I untied my leather vest, not caring that my entire torso was exposed to everyone within sight. Riven stared as I started slathering the thick paste along my arms.

“Go!” I shouted at him, nodding in the direction of Feron. I couldn’t do everything.

Riven placed his palm over his chest and then his eyes, saluting me as a fellow warrior. And then he was gone.

Nikolai shoved a bowl into my hands. “I think it’s best if you—”

“This isn’t the time to be a prude.” I shoved the bowl back. “Cover the scars along my sides.”

Nikolai swallowed and balled the thick paste onto his palm. It was cool and damp. I spread it thin, trying to cover as many of my scars as possible. By the time we finished, it looked like I was wearing a green tunic.

Perfect.

I walked out of the tent. From the elevation of the hill, I could see the thousands of slain bodies Damien hadn’t even tried to collect. It would take dozens of pyres to burn them all. Vrail sobbed quietly as I walked down the well-worn path the scouts had carved into the hill ferrying bodies back to the tent.

Elaran stood beside the trail and lifted her sword. “ Niinokwenar . Ganawiithir. Mayith’thir, ” she shouted.

Faemother. Protector. Savior.

The words echoed back, again and again, as the Shades lifted their swords for me to walk under. I kept my chin high though it trembled as I passed warriors with broken arms still lifting their swords in salute. We were all Shades until the very end. As I walked onto the battlefield, I saw Gerarda ducking behind one of the rocks Feron had pulled from the ground. She gave me a stiff nod and pumped her fist two times. Riven had given her my message. I squeezed my fist at my side in answer. I was too far away for Damien’s scouts to see it, but Gerarda knew what it was.

Thank you.

In the distance an Elvish horn blew, low and forlorn as the sea slashed across their remaining ship. A smile tugged at my lips, happy to know that Myrrah would see tomorrow. My skin tightened as I saw Damien standing at the top of the white wall. I hadn’t thought he would be daring enough to come himself. But while he would hide during the battle, he would always come to claim the victory. I fought the urge to fly up and stab him through with my dagger. But I needed to conserve what was left of my power. I had one last move to play, and if I did it right, Damien’s death would come for him.

Five black guards stood behind him. The Bow and Arrow I recognized, but the other faces were new—some only just appointed to replace the ones Dynara killed. Their pristine cloaks and armor almost glistened in the torchlight. I stopped just out of range of Damien’s archers. He smirked down at me.

“Citizens of Koratha,” he shouted to the crowd that spilled out of the city and stood along the wall to watch my death. “May this day be known forevermore as the day your king vanquished the traitorous Fae of the west. Know that this death”—Damien raised a small dagger and pointed it down at me—“will only be the first. My might can no longer be questioned, and rest of the Fae will succumb to my army and Arsenal by the morrow.” Damien’s chest glowed; he was wearing one of the remaining pendants. His arm shook as he spoke, his temples damp. The pendant drained his energy.

“Keera has shown the vile nature of the Fae. They cannot help it, as my father knew. She convinced her people to go to war for her pride , knowing there was no chance she would prevail. Her hubris has cost her people their freedom, their dignity, and their lives.” Damien’s lip curled as he spoke, the calm mask he usually wore completely removed.

“But such selfishness is a mark of the Fae. Their lack of pedigree.” Damien turned to face the crowd behind him. “Their selfishness and deceit have no place in a civilized society. It is why my father banished them from the kingdom. But I will not make my father’s mistake. I will not rest until there are no Fae left to speak of.” The pendant glowed brighter and one of the shirak circling above let out a bloodcurdling shriek.

Damien turned back, pointing the dagger at me once more. “Bring the gallows out to her.”

Wooden wheels creaked against the pebbled ground as a dozen men pushed out a broken catapult. A thick beam was nailed horizontally across the center. It was hardly a gallows, but the noose would pull just as tight.

“I get no final words then?” I shouted up to Damien.

The crowd murmured uneasily.

“You have destroyed their city and killed their kin.” Damien extended his arms out on either side of him. “No one cares what your final words are, Keera, protector of none.”

I smiled. They didn’t need to hear them.

“ Miithi’wiinar, ” I whispered.

Again.

And again.

And again.

At first I didn’t feel anything except a tingle along my skin. But the tingle worsened until it felt like each scar was being recut by an icy blade.

“What is she doing?” Damien balked, walking backward toward the stairs. The Arsenal tightened around him, but everyone else went silent. My whispers grew to chants until I was groaning through the pain, but I didn’t stop.

“Enough,” Damien shouted, and his pendant pulsed. One of the shirak dove from its towering height. But then a beam of pure light burst from the ground behind me. The beast was obliterated into strands of shadow. I turned and saw Gerarda fall to her knees, reaching out for something on the ground to hold her steady. I needed to act now.

My flesh still burned as I lifted my arms and let the ground beneath my feet launch into the sky. I moved so swiftly the next waateyshir didn’t notice until I used my gust to clear a hole through the smoke and thick rays of sunlight poured down on them. The shadowy beasts shrieked in terror, flapping their wings to move away from the light. Pieces of earth fell from the pillar as I pushed it to the point of breaking, trying to reach as high as it would take me. I soared past the smoke until cold mist pelted my face. Pain flooded my body. I had pushed myself to the brink of burnout. My skin sizzled against the cold air as the pillar beneath lurched and began to fall away.

I leaped off the rock, bloodstone dagger in hand. My arms flung backward as I traveled in the direction of the two suns and aimed my blade for the shadow seal that Faelin had made.

My breath hitched. Had I missed? Had I misunderstood? But then the tip of my blade scratched something hard, and I heard a rip. A wave crashed through me, a hundred times more powerful than anything I’d felt breaking the seals. My heart tore inside my chest, and I could feel my healing gift struggling to stitch it back together with every beat. I screamed as my magic was pushed past burnout and I lost control. My gusts swelled around me as lightning cracked through the sky. My breath hitched, and I knew it would be the last one I ever took.

It was a breath of victory.

The names on my arms began to burn. Each one turned hot and then cooled, somehow stoking my magic so it never completely failed. Name after name, scar after scar, new magic bore itself into me, tethering me to life by the thinnest thread. The shadow sun rained down molten sunlight. It poured like the fiery brimstone of Volcar, but it was not crimson fire, but white sunlight. Pure light magic that sizzled through the smoke, carving huge holes in Damien’s shield of darkness.

I started to fall with it. A large piece caught the wing of one of the waateyshirak and it screeched in agony before it was consumed in pure light too. My eyes shut, unable to behold the sight. I kept them closed as I fell, seeing the flashes of light through my eyelids and feeling the shrieks of dying waateyshirak rumble my bones.

The cold air welcomed me as I passed through the smoke. Even though my magic was almost depleted, I transformed into my other form and let my wings catch my fall. The tower I had built crumbled to the ground leaving only a small portion of it standing.

I perched there, transforming back into my Fae self. Liquid sunlight continued to fall, mixing with the rain from the storm my outburst had created. Most of the waateyshirak were gone. A few had become nothing but specks in the smoking fumes of the Dead Wood. But they were a manageable number for the Elverin to hunt after I ran Damien through with my dagger.

The rain washed the rest of the paste from my skin and the soldiers gasped as they noticed my scars. I looked down. Each one had turned gold, their names etched into my flesh like a tapestry stitched with auric thread. Every name had blessed me with a tiny gift, just like the one I had blessed on Gerarda’s shoulders. None were enough to break Faelin’s magic on their own, but together they had saved my life. Or given me another.

I conjured some water to project my voice. Damien and his soldiers didn’t need to know how close my magic had come to drying out.

“The waateyshirak are vanquished.” I looked down at the soldiers. “Drop your swords now and no other need die.”

There was a short pause and then a chorus of metal striking the ground. Damien scoffed in disbelief as half his army ran for the shore, leaving him behind to face his death.

I couldn’t help the smirk crawling up my lips. “Damien has told you nothing but lies. The Elverin do not wish to harm you. Everyone shall be housed, fed, and cared for. Mortal and Halfling alike. If the king accepts his death, then no one else need die with him.”

Damien lifted a frantic arm. “Seize her!”

But not even the Arsenal moved. Murmurs in the crowds turned to chants.

“Seize him!” they shouted. “Take the king!”

I grinned at Damien, but he didn’t move. There was no scowl on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was still breathing. I realized he wasn’t in his mind at all. My gaze swept through the crowd, looking for what soldier Damien had taken over. The only way he would leave himself defenseless was if he thought he could strike first. The new Arsenal stayed in their positions, none clutching a weapon. I leaned forward looking for someone with one black eye in the crowd below, but I didn’t see anything but sorrowful and shocked faces.

I heard the draw of a bow behind me. I turned, seeing too late that Damien had a soldier behind my back. I lurched to the side, but the arrow pierced my back, sticking me through the shoulder. I yelped in pain, falling to my knees as the man drew another arrow. But then his face went blank, and he looked down to see the sword that pierced through his chest.

Gerarda pulled out her weapon and stared down in awe. Not at the man that she had killed, but at the blade that now shone bright gold.

Faelin’s sword.

Syrra’s sword.

The Blade had claimed Gerarda.

She held up the golden blade and a bolt of lightning bellowed from the sky. The crowds of Koratha exploded into chaos. Soldiers fled for the beaches while Mortals ran for refuge, believing that the Elverin were about to sack the city. But the Halflings walked outside the gates in awe. They stared at the amber streaks along the white wall where so many of their kin had been hung and turned away. Laughter broke out as they crossed the field toward the torches Feron and the others had lit. Tears blurred my vision as I turned back to find Damien along the wall, but he was gone. I yanked the arrow from my shoulder and sighed.

A coward until the very end.

Gerarda wiped her blade on her trousers.

“Nice sword,” I said, wrapping my arms around her.

She laughed. “Nice scars.” Her fingers trailed over the gold of my bicep. We were the warriors who had lived, the ones with the responsibility to carry on.

I looked down at the golden blade. “I cannot think of anyone more worthy than you to carry it.”

“I would have preferred if its last owner still wielded it.” Gerarda cleared her throat. “Her sacrifice will not be forgotten.” She turned back toward the tents where Elaran waited, injured and now safe.

“Go,” I said. “Go find her.” I knew how desperately she wanted to throw her arms around Elaran because it was all I wanted to do with Riven. But I still had a promise to fulfill.

Gerarda unlaced her chest plate and handed me her tunic. It fit snugly over my shoulders but was better than nothing. The fabric warmed against the heat of my scars. Her jaw pulsed four times. “Do you want help?”

“No. This I should do on my own.” I nodded to the ships. “Make sure the city is defended and ships go out well stocked. I don’t want them raiding the kingdom now that we’ve just won it back.”

“It’s no longer a kingdom.” Gerarda’s voice caught in her throat. “It’s just our home.”

“Go protect it,” I whispered with pride. “I’ll join you shortly.”

She nodded and ran south to her love, and I ran north away from mine.