Page 166 of Ashes of Honor

Emma sprinted down the hall, caked in dirt, her heavy footsteps echoed. I groaned—there goes our cover.

Hal emerged from the shadows, his hand snapping out to grab her with a force that made her stumble. “What did I tell you about sneaking out?”

“Ow,” Emma yelped, feigning pain. “Stop, that hurts. Hey!”

Hal dragged her toward us, his face hard as stone. “This has to stop.” His eyes locked onto mine, fueled with accusation. “Sending her out there like this. It’s reckless. She could die.”

“Emma can take care of herself,” I muttered, crossing my arms. “You did a good job teaching her.”Not to mention, she was the one who could fit through the?—

“What did you do?” Luna’s voice was ice, her usual warmth gone. “Eleanor.”

Emma grinned, completely unfazed. “We took care of it.”

“Took care ofwhat?” Caleb asked, his voice rising.

“They want to act like animals,” I said before Emma could answer. “If they try to breach these walls, they’ll be slaughtered like them.”

The bunker shook, the deep rumble of an explosion reverberating through the walls. Dust rained down from the ceiling, and I felt a grim satisfaction settle in my chest.

“Eleanor,” Luna’s voice cracked, desperate for a response. “What did you do?”

“What they taught me to,” I smiled—a sharp, cold thing—and walked deeper into the heart of the bunker.

Alexiares

Ikilled them all. Every man. Every woman. Every child that looked to be over the age of eighteen. Luck had me find them and that same luck had me offer their last breaths. If I couldn’t have a happy ending, then no one could.

They say grief comes with a strange sense of relief, a loosening of the breath you never realized you were holding. A fleeting peace in knowing the person you love the most can no longer come in harm’s way.

That would never come for me.

There was no peace for a widower with nothing but rage for being left behind.

I told my wife I would burn this world for her. And so I would. All of it. Every last brick, every sliver of glass, every vein of life this city had to offer—I had razed it to the ground.

There was no comfort in the fact that Amaia had not died in vain. She won.Wewon. All her hopes and dreams, everything else she lived and died for, were not without reason. Because for now, the world would know peace.

Just not this side of it.

I would lurk in the shadows. Thrive in the darkness. I would not rest until every person responsible for putting Ronan into power begged for death at my hands.

No matter how many jaws cracked under my palm, or bones shattered by the force of my vines—no matter how much blood spilled—it would never be enough.

I could slice a thousand throats and watch them drown in their misery, yet none of it could drown the sound.

The sound.

One. Two. Three. Four. Four eternal seconds had eclipsed between the time Ronan’s blade kissed the throat of my Amaia. Four seconds before she gave herself to her flames. It was a whimper, the smallest, most immutable of sounds, but I heard it—felt it as if it had been said through my lips and reverberated around the ribs that held my numb, ever beating heart. It wasn’t fear. Amaia wasn’t afraid to die.

It was the sound ofknowing. Knowing she would leave me behind. Knowing that her victory would cost her everything. Knowing that I’d be alone in a world she fought to save. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fuckingfair.

Every ounce of honor left my body. The desire to preserve the mirage of morality, a sense of honor; it was nothing but ash. Without Amaia, that tinge of guilt that comes with keeping your humanity intact was worthless to me.No value. No value. No fucking value.

Not until I found a way to get her back. Reina was smart. She had theScholargene. With Tomoe’s ability tosee, we could make this work.Yeah, we could get her back. We could turn back time.

She had to be out there. I refused to believe her death was a finality. I didn’t care what it took—what it cost. Heaven, hell, or whatever was in between. My soul was hers to take.Always hers.

I’d pull her back from the light, drag her from the gates of paradise if it meant she could rule this burning hell by my side.

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