Page 194 of As Above, So Below

Demons rise, climbing to their feet.

“Ves!” Vaelyn’s voice rings out, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the ashes. “Ves, what have you done?”

Rolling onto my back, I cover my face with my hands.

I did it.

Netharis is dead.

Lowering my hands, a scroll hovers above me.

My contract.

Around the room,hundredsof scrolls hang over the heads of demons, Vaelyn included. Shocked whispers rise and many shift uncomfortably, moving away from the looming parchment. Others snatch their contracts out of the air.

One by one, the scrolls burst into flame…

Turning to ash faster than Netharis did.

Laughter bubbles in my chest, and clamping my hands over my mouth doesn’t stop it. Too many emotions roll and toil along with the sound of my desperate, broken laughter.

It’s the sound of a demon who’s lost her sanity.

The gravity of the last few weeks crashes upon me and my laughter transforms into miserable, chest-heaving sobs. The vaulted ceiling becomes a blurred mess of black and crimson.

I should be rejoicing.

I’ve done something even the gods wouldn’t dare.

But my heart remains in the living realm, in the hands of a dark-haired fae. And the thought of never seeing him again—

Hands grab my shoulders, pulling me upright and Vaelyn comes into view.

“I love him.” My words are a shuddering, sobbing mess.

“Of course you did,” Vaelyn says, clutching me in an embrace. “We all loved him.”

My sobs deepen.

No.

Not Netharis.

“Barkoz, Siral, help me!” Vaelyn’s powerful voice commands. “Get Vestaris out of here!”

Before long, more hands are upon me, lifting me, cradling me against someone’s chest.

It’s not the chest I want to be cradled against and my sobs break harder.

It’s over.

Netharis will no longer torment me.

But centuries of tormenting myself lie ahead.

?????????????

Standing on the balcony of the library, I stare blankly at the terrain.