Page 55 of The Howling (Monsters of the Yeavering #2)

L ilburn takes hold of me, and with a pop in my ears, it goes dark from all the fire and smoke, and then the chaos bursts in again.

I want to throw up. It’s like my insides are outside, but I don’t have time. I know, although I don’t know how, that I have to get the stone to Reavely. It’s as if the gem is calling to me.

I am just the guardian. It must be only a Barghest can wield it.

With Fenrother distracting (and incinerating) most of the Reivers, Reavely is making short work of those left, jaws snapping, paws stamping, and the area around him littered with body parts.

I glance over at where I last saw Lord Soulis, but the demon Faerie has gone.

Are we winning?

“Reavely!” I call out his name and he spins with a growl and a whimper.

“Wynter.” My name drops from his jaws as a desire and a need.

“You have to have this!” I hold up the jewel.

With a crack, a spear of lightning slams into the polished stone floor, knocking me off my feet, sending me skidding backwards, bumping into dead Reivers and further away from Reavely.

The bolt has also briefly stopped Fenrother, and Reavely is shaking his head as if he’s been hit, pawing at his nose. The magic which had receded is filling the space once again, building like a flammable gas.

Lord Soulis hasn’t given up. He isn’t beaten, not yet.

I hear Reavely growl my name. He grasps the Wyrm by the tail and pulls at him, racing towards me, Fenrother in tow. He reaches us as another lightning crack hits just to one side.

“Now, Wynter, now!” Lilburn urges me. “Use the stone now!”

I don’t know what she means. Reavely is nearly on top of us, his head turning as he flings Fenrother through the air ahead of him, leaping after him, his massive bulk blotting out the light as the lightning comes again.

And this time I see the jagged spike. As if in slow motion, it pierces his shoulder.

“No!” I scream out, dimly aware I have the jewel in my hand. “No!”

Time stands still, Reavely’s head tossed back in a twist of agony, Fenrother’s eyes rolling as he impacts the ground, Lilburn’s mouth open in a scream.

“ It would appear you win ,” a dark shape standing at my side says.

It’s covered from head to foot in a long, dark cloak. It isn’t just black, it’s something else, something which sucks in the light. And it’s not fabric. It’s something I don’t want to inspect too closely. The cloak has a cowl which hides the head of the creature. Instinctively, I take a step away.

“I don’t want to win,” I say, surveying the frozen, terrible scene, my heart in my throat and tears in my eyes. “I want Reavely.”

“ And I wanted you, ” the Reaper says. “ Your soul is interesting to me. ” The cowl inclines. “ I asked Reavely to take you for me, but he refused. ”

“In return for his life,” I say, “if you still want it, you can have it.”

It seems today is a day for bargains.

“ And deny him the life which grows within you? Reavely will never forgive me ,” the Reaper says with a sound almost like a chuckle but with a hint of death.

“The life?”

The words of Lord Soulis creep back on the wind. My free hand steals over my stomach. Can it be true? I hardly dared to think it was possible.

“I doubt you care much what Reavely thinks or does,” I respond.

I want to be brave, I really do. High above I spot Linton, his scarlet eyes glittering in a way no one else’s are. I don’t think he is frozen, not like the others.

The Reaper surveys the scene, so many dead and dying Reivers. One live Lord Soulis is suspended, the magical lightning flowing from his fingers, his face twisted into a horrible mask of rage.

“ Perhaps, perhaps not, ” he says. “ I took him in after the Faerie slaughtered his family. This Faerie as it happens. Maybe I am invested in what happens to him. ”

“Death invested in life, will wonders never cease?” We’re all dead anyway. I owe the Reaper nothing, certainly not my respect.

The cowl turns towards me. Something moves in the darkness, but I try not to look.

“ Humans ,” he says. “ You don’t know your own strength .”

“We’re non magical beings in a world of magic. What strength do we have?”

“ The strength of your love .” The Reaper points a skeletal finger at Reavely. “ See what he does for you? ”

I see the trajectory of the lightning bolt. If Reavely wasn’t in the way, it would have hit me.

“No,” I chant. “No, no, no. He doesn’t get to do that. It’s not his decision to make.”

“ He does it for you, Wynter, and in turn, you have used the jewel to save him .”

“How is he saved?” I cry, my body shaking with sobs. “How can any of this be put right?”

“ It’s all in a human heart, ” the Reaper says, turning and walking away.

“Wait!” I plead, “I don’t know what to do.”

“ It’s all in a human heart ,” he repeats, his voice as if in my ear. “ I have no more souls to take today .”

I gape after him, then look back at the stone in my hand and at Reavely.

He has my heart. He has everything I ever wanted. Reavely is home.

I put my other hand around the stone.

“Home,” I say. “Take us home.”