Page 71 of Shadow Master
“Look.” Helseth pointed. “Isn’t it beautiful.”
I followed her line of sight, looking across the flat land, which led to the ruined fortress. The night was clear and filled with stars.
Clear.
My pulse hammered in my throat.
The mist was gone.
Twenty-Three
We entered camp with an entourage.
“Madam Latrou!” Several weaver cadets who’d opted to stay at camp rather than the nearest barracks came running over to help Latrou and Helseth with their case, one which they’d been adamant they’d carry themselves.
I turned to Brady to find him staring at the ruins, one hand on his hip, the other covering his mouth.
It was his first time seeing it. I should have warned him of what to expect, but I’d been so caught up in our reunion and then yelling at the lazy, gluttonous council that painting a detailed picture of what he was about to see had slipped my mind.
I placed a hand on his back. “I know. I know, babe.”
“It’s gone. It’s really fucking gone.” Brady’s voice was a ragged whisper.
We’d been living here amongst the evidence of death for a week, and it was as if it had always been there. As if the fortress had never existed. But it had, and it had housed men born to fight. Knights who’d kept us safe for decades.
The fir bolg had wiped them out.
That was the truth.
Brady shook his head. “Those bastards have to pay.”
“Justice?” Lloyd approached. His lean face was illuminated by firelight, and I noted the lines of fatigue etched around his eyes. He’d probably been neglecting his need for blood.
That would have to change if we were going to have a chance of beating the fir bolg.
I raised a hand to greet him, but his attention slipped past me to Brady, who was turning to face us.
Lloyd froze in his tracks. “Brady?”
Brady nodded slowly. “Yeah, Faraday, it’s me. I’m back.”
Devon and Aidan appeared behind Lloyd.
“It’s him,” Lloyd whispered. “It’s Brady.”
And then the guys were descending on Brady in a flurry of hugs and pats on the back. They stood in a classic huddle, arms across each other’s shoulders, foreheads pressed together.
I heard Carlo’s name, and my throat pinched. But this was a private moment. A moment for a troop to mourn.
I slipped into the night, leaving them to grieve their fallen comrade.
* * *
I stoodon the rise among the ruins with Hyde, Kash, Brady, and the rest of the troop on either side of me. The land stretched out below us, and far into the distance, lit by moonlight and stars, shapes scuttled about in a frenzy. The beasts of the mists had drawn their last mist-rich air and, driven crazy by the lack of the elements their bodies needed, attacked one another.
Cadets watched from a safe distance, defending where necessary.
“It won’t be much longer,” Orion said from behind me.
