Page 149 of Requiem of Silence

Realization dawned. She was leaving Eero’s fate to them. A sharp pain blossomed in Jasminda’s chest. “Could you kill your own brother?”

Darvyn’s jaw was tense. “If it needed to be done? Yes.”

Kyara placed a hand on his arm. “You may think that now, but don’t be so sure. I once asked you to kill me to save others. Could you have done that?”

Pain shone in his eyes as he stared at Kyara. He dropped his head, shoulders slumping.

Jasminda turned back to the prone man. His eyes were vacant, staring up at the sky, not seeing or not caring, she had no idea.

“I’ll do it,” she said, the knife in her hand shaking. She had killed before, though not someone who appeared so helpless. She shook that thought off. She couldn’t allow herself to be taken in by appearances. There could be no trial, no imprisonment—Eero was too dangerous. He’d proven it again and again. All he needed was a drop of blood to wreak havoc.

Her Song prodded at her, the life energy swirling in her veins funneled by the obelisk shuddered at the possibility of murder. But she was the queen, for better or worse. And she could not shy away from doing what was right for her people.

“No, I’ll do it,” Darvyn said. His fists were gripped tight. He looked just as torn as she was but also determined. He had suffered at Eero’s hand as much as anyone had.

“It’s already done,” Kyara whispered, her voice laced with misery. Her eyes were closed and a single tear slipped down her cheek.

“You said you never wanted to kill again.” Darvyn was visibly holding himself back from reaching for her.

“I know. But it is what I was made to do.”

Jasminda felt for the man’s life energy, felt it peter out until it was no more.

His eyes remained open, staring at the hole in the sky. The whites filled with black and he saw no more.

Kyara lifted her head to the clouds, breathing deeply. Darvyn watched her carefully, broadcasting his pain and worry and care. He was strung so tight he might burst.

Jasminda looked into the distance at the figure retreating up the beach, leaving them all behind.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Do we only have one chance to join the refrain?

Or do opportunities come like the rain?

What’s inside of you cannot forever be silent.

Whether in this lifetime or the next,

you will join the infinite choir.

—THE HARMONY OF BEING

The scent of smoke hung heavy in the air. Kyara wrinkled her nose, resisting the urge to sneeze. Clanging peals from the all-clear alarm rang for the second time, and people slowly trickled out of emergency shelters.

However, some were still trapped; the damage the wraiths had done to buildings had covered exits and buried basements under piles of rubble. As the streets gradually filled, people began banding together to dig out their neighbors. Lagrimari with their newlyrestored Songs worked alongside men and women with shovels and sticks to lever debris and create new paths underground to free the trapped survivors. The sight pierced the veil of Kyara’s numbness just a little.

She’d left Darvyn with Jasminda at a sprawling hospital complex where they were coordinating recovery efforts and tending to the wounded.

“I just need to clear my head,” she’d said. He’d understood.

As she walked, she lent aid where she could. Helping to push a half-crushed auto from the front of a building, pulling a woman away from a shower of bricks as a freestanding house collapsed, calming an agitated horse—she used her Song to weaken the beast so that its handlers could reattach the bridle. All the while, she tried to make sense of the swirling emotions within her.

The True Father’s face at rest haunted her. After a lifetime of murder, why did this one affect her so deeply? But she knew the answer. Slaying the former king was the first time she’d consciously killed without the blood spell forcing her to, without any coercion whatsoever. It would stain her soul in a new way—even though it had been necessary.

Was he in the World After now, looking through some mirror at her, promising vengeance? She would do it again, a thousand times over, but that did not mean the stain would fade.

She paused in the middle of the sidewalk. Someone cursed softly, nearly bumping into her, then walked around, but her gaze was unseeing.

---