Page 85 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
Maez shook her head. “But this darkness—”
“Is mine as well. It is a burden and a blessing that you and I will share together,” I said, cupping her cheek. “Together. Always, Maez.”
Maez looked around. “Nero, he...” Her eyes snagged on something as her words died off.
Whatever magic Vellia had cast hadn’t been what I had hoped. Nero lay there, swallowed up in his flowing silver robes, but his chest rose and fell; his hands moved to cover his face.
Alive.
Disappointment thrummed through me as I unsheathed my blade. Had Vellia only taken away his dark magic? Was that allHector had wished for? Was his dying wish still not fully on our side?
I made to take a step forward, to deliver that final killing blow before Nero got his wits about him, but Maez held out a hand and stayed me.
“Wait,” she said. “Scent him.”
I raised a perplexed brow at my mate but did as she said. Nero smelled of blood and sweat, his rapid human heart beating faster than our own—
Human.
It hit me all at once.
There wasn’t an ounce of Wolf left in the Damrienn king now.
“No, no, no, no,” Nero whispered, horrified as he stared at his hands and then up to his son who watched him from atop a pile of rubble. Hatred filled Nero’s eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“Me?” Grae asked, pursing his lips. “Nothing.” He stooped and grabbed his father by the scruff of his cloak and dragged him across the rubble. “I think we should let your own kind decide your fate.”
I watched with horrified amusement as Grae dragged Nero across the ruined castle stones, through where a wall once stood and to the entrance where the human citizens of Damrienn gathered at the gate. They looked more hollow and ragged than ever before, beaten and half starved. But they cheered at the sight of Grae dragging their former king to the gate.
“No! No!” Nero wailed, trying to fight against Grae’s iron grip, but there was not any strength left in him now.
His screams were cut short as Grae threw Nero into the throng, the mass of bodies quickly absorbing him. He disappeared, swallowed into the press of humans, and I knew I’d never see him again.
Not whole, at least.
I wrapped an arm around Maez’s side and tugged her tighter into me.
“An apt dying wishing,” I whispered touching my chest, lips, eyes in prayer.
Maez and I turned back to what was left of the palace. From this vantage point we could see all the destruction. Only one tower remained intact, the rest dissolved into rubble apart from the far wall of the great hall and the stained glass window upon which the moon had once not so long ago revealed my fate.
I hugged my mate tighter to me, sighing up at the window like a good omen. The only thing left of this place would be from the Goddess herself.
“I think I’m ready for our little corner of the world now,” I murmured.
“As am I.” Maez dropped a kiss to the top of my head, moving me to look back out at the group gathering behind us. “But first, let us spend a little time sharing in this victory with our family.”
Sadie
WE TRIED IN VAIN TO SHIFT THE DEAD BEAST BLOCKING OURexit to the library. Try as we might, the creature could not be hacked apart nor moved. Eventually we gave up and affixed a rope to the balcony to climb back up the way we came. But when we entered the hallway, we found half of it caved in, the far wall gone. The floors above were now open to the sky and the nearby trees had all been felled by the palace collapse. I stared at the moon who now dipped below the forest in the distance as the sun began to rise.
Thank the Goddess, I thought. The rest of the castle had crumbled but we had been saved.
Not that we were in any waysafe. Our passage through the rubble was slow-moving, as each movement had ripple effects that made us fear the section we were in wasn’t long for this world, either. And that was just a part of the terror.
It made my stomach turn to see hands and fur peeking up between the stones. The ground reeked of blood and piss, but we didn’t see a single survivor amongst the avalanche of stones. When we finally descended the loose shale of shattered glass and silver rocks to the first floor, all was quiet.
Navin whistled and Haestas came flying through the predawn sky. Tears welled in his eyes at the sight of her. Her leatherywings were tattered, a few scales bent at odd angles, and one pupil more dilated than the other, but she was still flying, still alive.
