Not in triumph. But in shock. In surprise. In tearful joy that the shadows were gone, and sorrow so deep it nearly cracked the earth.
I lay stunned, my chest aching, the fire inside me dimming into embers. Keegan’s arms were around me before I evenrealized I was shaking. He pulled me upright, holding me against his chest, his hazel eyes fierce and wet with unshed tears.
“She’s gone,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “She told me, Keegan. She always told me that if she left the steps of the Academy, she would cease to exist. And yet…” My throat closed, a sob breaking through. “Yet she did it. To save me. To save my dad. You...”
And the dragons always knew…
Sacrifice.
His arms tightened around me, his voice rough in my ear. “She did it because she loved you. Because she loved all of us.”
I pressed my face into his shoulder, trembling, the stars above blurring with tears.
And then small arms wrapped around me, too.
Twobble.
He pressed his cheek against mine, his little hands surprisingly steady as he clung to me.
“Don’t cry too much, Maeve,” he mumbled, his own voice breaking. “She’d be mad if you ruined your linen with snot.”
I let out a broken laugh, clutching him tighter with one arm, Keegan with the other.
Across the courtyard, my dad staggered toward us, his torch long extinguished. My mother was with him, her arm steady around his shoulders, her face streaked with tears she didn’t bother to hide.
They stopped in front of me, their eyes on mine, and for once, there was no sharpness, no bickering, no walls. Only grief. Only pride.
“She saved us,” Dad said, his voice ragged.
“She saved us all,” Mom added softly, reaching out to press her hand to my hair.
I swallowed hard, words sticking in my throat.
“I kept asking her why she never wanted to take a more active part in the Academy once it opened. She would just smile and say her purpose was something else… when the time was right.”
I shook my head, my chest aching with every breath. “All this time, she carried that burden. She knew. She knew this was coming.”
My father’s hand settled on my shoulder, heavy and grounding. “Then she carried it so you wouldn’t have to.”
The words broke me open, tears spilling hot down my cheeks as Keegan’s arms pulled me closer. Twobble sniffled, my mother brushed her hand down my back, and for a moment, the five of us held together as though Elira’s light still wrapped around us.
The courtyard remained quiet, with only the sounds of the soft sobs of students, the whimpers of wounded shifters, and the faint flicker of magic settling after the storm. No one cheered. No one shouted.
But when I looked up again, the stars seemed brighter.
She was gone.
And yet, she was everywhere.
In the stone beneath our feet. In the Wards, humming faintly with life again. In the embers still glowing faintly in my veins.
Her sacrifice was written into Stonewick itself.
And though my heart cracked with grief, I knew it was her choice. Her moment. Her burden, finally set free.
I pressed my forehead against Keegan’s chest, whispering through tears.
“I’ll carry it now, Grandma. I’ll carry it for you.”
