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I couldn’t tell if I was screaming, or if I was hearing Quinn or Margo scream. We all watched as the Northerner yanked the sword out, causing Ezra to stumble back. His hand went over the wound, but still did his best to guard Margo with his crumpling form.

The panic in my chest ignited, turning into pure fury. I landed swiftly a heartbeat later, unfastening a dagger from my belt and plunging it into the main artery of the Northerner’s thigh with no hesitation.

He bellowed, teetering backwards when Quinn appeared from the edges of the battlefield and finished the job with an efficient, clean slice across the male’s throat.

It was a greater mercy than he deserved.

She didn’t even wait for him to fall to the ground before running to Ezra, sliding to her knees to catch him as he finally fell.

I ripped the messenger’s cloak off, balling it up and pressing it to his wound, which was pouring more and more blood with each second that passed. Quinn took over, pressing it firmly in place, when I finally turned back to Margo.

She was shaking from head to toe, her eyes full of tears, unable to tear her eyes away from Ezra. In an attempt to spare her from further pain, I stretched a wing out in front of her to block her view of Ezra and Quinn.

“I… I just wanted to come help,” she said, her voice small and so unlike her usual giddiness, still staring at where she last saw Ezra. It was obvious she was falling into shock.

“I just wanted to help,” she said again, a tear escaping and gliding down her cheek.

“Well, you didn’t help, Margo. Not at all. You’ve just ruined everything! ” Quinn screamed, tears cascading down her face as she continued to murmur to Ezra how everything would be alright.

I picked Margo up as she began to crumble, trying my best to keep it together myself as I watched Ezra grow paler from the blood loss quickly overtaking him.

My panic and fury must have alerted Byn that something was wrong, because I watched as Atlas and Lychen came barreling towards us.

Byn and Teagan leaped from the wolves’ backs and broke out into a sprint, and I ran to meet them, a sobbing Margo in my arms.

“She’s alright. Physically, at least,” I reassured the two siblings quickly approaching, worry etched onto their features.

I handed Margo over to Teagan, who seemed eager to make sure my claims about her younger sister proved to be true for herself.

The moment Margo was taken from my arms, Byn cupped my face, tilting my head side to side and looking me up and down.

“You’re alright? You’re not injured?” he asked, his concern written across his face.

“I’m fine, Byn, but…” I trailed off, then turned and motioned towards where Ezra and Quinn remained on the ground thirty feet away.

Immediately upon seeing them, he broke into a sprint heading for the couple, and I did my best to stay hot on his heels while Teagan took Margo over to the wolves to calm her.

Coming to a stop, Byn and I both took up a side each next to Ezra, with Quinn cradling his head in her lap and Byn applying pressure to the wound now.

“It’s going to be alright, Ezra. Just hang in there. We’ll find Chess and he will fix it, you’ll see,” Quinn said through her tears, which she was desperately trying—and failing—to blink back. She moved to get to her feet, as though to go find Chess, when Ezra’s hand flew up to stop her.

“Stay,” Ezra said simply, weakly . When Quinn went to argue, Byn simply cleared his throat to interrupt.

“Congratulations, you two. I knew it was only a matter of time,” he said with a voice thick with emotion, then motioned to Ezra’s inner arm, where Quinn’s family crest—a flaming crystal—was inked onto his skin.

I was confident if Quinn removed her own armor, we’d see Ezra’s crest marking her skin, too.

Sometime in the last couple days of preparation for this battle, they must have slipped away and gotten married.

My heart ached in my chest, and I knew for a fact that Byn was hurting, too. Even more so.

He had to watch his brother fade away.

And Quinn, her husband.

Ezra responded to Byn with a weak smile, but the motion looked pained, and it was obvious by the blood soaked cloak that he was fading fast.

Tears welled in my own eyes as I watched the interaction and the weight of it.

Ezra was the first person to really try to make me feel more at home in the South.

He made sure to continuously go out of his way for me to make me feel welcome.

Without him, I wasn't sure I ever would have come around to feeling at home with Byn.

Byn reached out to Ezra and they gently clasped arms.

“Thank you,” Byn’s voice cracked. “You’ve been there for… everything . Ever since we were toddlers, you’ve been there. You’re my brother, in every sense of the word. When I asked you to watch out for Margo, I never thought it would come to this.” He looked away. “And I am so sorry.”

“If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing, Byn.

You have to know that. You, Teagan, and Margo are my family, too, just as your parents were,” Ezra said, his breaths wet and labored.

“It’s been the greatest honor I could have asked for, to watch you grow into the king you were always meant to be. ”

Tears escaped both males’ eyes, and Byn quickly wiped them away, glancing towards me. Ezra did the same, offering a small smile.

“I knew you’d come around,” he teased, despite the situation.

I chuckled, but it was a weighted sound.

“Thank you, Ezra. I wouldn’t be here without you,” I said thickly, knowing he’d understand what I meant.

He nodded, still smiling slightly as he grabbed my hand.

“My queen. My friend. My sister,” he murmured with a final dip of his head to me.

I had to turn away as the tears rolled down my cheeks.

Byn and I slowly got to our feet and stepped away from Ezra, allowing him a moment with Quinn as she moved to take up Byn’s place next to Ezra.

We’d accepted his fate, grateful that we got to say goodbye, and knew that he wouldn’t last but another moment or two.

It was obvious by his reaction to Quinn trying to leave that he knew he wasn’t going to make it, and wanted to spend the time he had left with those he cared about, Quinn especially.

I doubted Quinn would accept his fate so easily.

“My gem,” he said softly to Quinn, reaching an arm up to wipe the tears from her face. His blood smeared where his fingers touched her blanched skin, but she leaned into his touch anyways, as if savoring every touch, glance, and exchange she had left with him.

“Don’t leave me,” she replied, her face still resting in his hand.

“I can’t hold on much longer, gem,” he responded, speaking softer than I’d ever heard.

Quinn’s shoulders shook from the effort of holding back her sobs, and fresh tears fell down her face.

“I never wanted to be the reason you cried,” he said to her, his voice full of despair.

“It isn’t fair. We didn’t get enough time,” Quinn said through her tears.

“Every moment with you was perfect. And if this was all the time we were permitted in this life, it was worth it. I’d rather have the time we did than go a lifetime not knowing you. Not loving you.” His voice cracked at the end.

“I’ll tear the Stars apart to find you again,” Quinn responded, unrelenting even to the end.

Ezra smiled. Pure, and genuine, and full of unyielding love. “I know, gem. I’ll be waiting for you.”

And with that, Ezra’s arm dropped from his wife’s face. He closed his eyes, and did not open them again.

Quinn’s screams cut through the air as she watched the life fade from her lover, a gut wrenching and heart aching sound.

The sun rose over the horizon, spreading its light like a gift upon us, as if our lives didn’t just change forever. And in the same moment, the rain began.

***

Teagan, having left Margo safely with Lychen further in the forest, approached Byn and me moments later.

The three of us looked on with tearful eyes as Quinn endearingly pushed Ezra’s white streak of hair to the side, kissed his forehead one last time, then gently lowered him to the ground from where she had been holding him up.

Ever so slowly, she rose to her feet. Her armor and leathers were drenched in her husband’s blood, which was still smeared across her face.

She walked over to where the three of us stood, but she looked as though her soul was weighing her down. Her eyes were empty, void of any emotion beyond pure fury.

I could feel Byn’s own anger rising in my chest as he looked upon her, then back at Ezra’s unmoving form. Not directed at his friends, his family, but at what had become of them.

She came to a stop in front of me, meeting my eyes.

The lack of emotion and life in them sent a chill down my spine.

“Let’s finish our mission,” Quinn said firmly, though her voice was rough from overexertion.

“Are you—" I started, but she quickly interrupted.

“His sacrifice will not be in vain.”

I pressed my lips together, but nodded. “Let’s regroup,” I responded, turning to face Byn and Teagan, too.

That was when we all heard it.

Footsteps, coming from the west.

Hundreds of them, if not thousands.

Their steps sounded like the beat of a drum as they descended upon the battlefield, with one lone figure leading them.

Drayven, riding into battle atop Willow.

He actually did it. He brought them.

After decades of remaining neutral, he had convinced the Ocrein Isles to offer up their support in this war.