There were no final screams. No last attempts at salvation.
Just silence and dust in the wind.
The breeze caught it all and carried it off, scattering it across the ruins of the battlefield.
They were gone and the silence they left behind was thunderous.
I knew I should have felt triumph and justice—maybe even peace—but what poured through me was a slow, aching sorrow that made my ribs feel too tight to hold it all.
Because what they’d already done couldn’t be undone. The deaths. The ruin. The centuries of pain.
We may be free now, but at what cost?
My shoulders trembled as I tried to catch my breath, tears tracking down my cheeks.
The Creator turned, and her gaze swept around the courtyard and when her eyes met mine, I felt the breath leave my lungs again. She stepped toward us, hair suspended in waves of light, her entire being threaded with power that vibrated through theair. She was terrifying, breathtaking, and unshakably calm all at once.
“With the power I took from my forces,” she said, her tone softer now, rich with a grief that mirrored my own, “I have enough energy to heal all those in Alfemir. I will pull the fallen souls back if they have already left their bodies.”
Relief crashed into me as my eyes swept over all of my mates before fixating on Bastian’s still body. I whispered, voice breaking around the pain of it. “Thank…thank you.”
It was all I could say. All I could offer. I would have torn open my chest to give her anything she asked if it meant my mates and the brave people on our side in this battle would be spared.
The goddess’s eyes remained closed and her hands whipped through the air—strands of golden light flowing from her and stretching endlessly across Alfemir as far as I could see. I felt a fluttering through my bonds as, one by one, each connection surged brightly in my mind, as though energy were being breathed back into them, until five distinct pulses bloomed in my chest. The pain and weariness faded from each of their minds in turn.
Bastian’s crumpled body stirred before a cough tore from his chest as breath returned to his lungs. His bloodied fingers curled, and the instant his eyes opened and found mine once again, I whispered to his mind,“Don’t you fucking dare die again. It’s terrible for my nervous system.”
A smirk tilted the corner of his lips up.“Sorry about that, Darling.”
My chest cracked open around the impossible truth of it all.
My mates were alive.
The upper triads were no more.
My eyes closed as certainty settled within me. I didn’t care if I burned from the inside out a thousand times over.
Because this—this moment, this mercy—was everything.
24
KIERAN
“What about her?”Steele’s voice was furious, stripped of all composure as it boomed around us. “What about everything she’s giving up to hold the stars within her? She can’t live like this. She’s going to die!”
I felt the echo of his rage ripple through the bond—hot, wild, protective. It wrapped around me like a second skin, jagged and shaking and full of fear he couldn’t hide anymore. His arms were still locked around me, as if he could anchor me to this plane with nothing but his hold and the force of his will. I wanted to reach for him, to ease some of that frantic ache in his voice, but I couldn’t even lift my hand. Not when it felt like my entire body was still being hollowed out by celestial fire.
The Creator turned at last, her glowing eyes shifting from the ruin around us to me.
Bastian’s magic flared through the bond as he slid beside me, his gaze frantic as he gripped my hand. Gabe dropped beside him, hand trembling as it ghosted over my cheek.
Fear shot through me as I waited for my power to burn them as it had Steele, but there was no trace of pain or burning skin after a few moments.
The Creator gave me a knowing look as a gentle smile lifted her lips. “I have given them immunity to the energy so that those you love can be with you. It is the least of what I owe you for all you’ve sacrificed."
Ronan finally allowed his shadow creatures to fade, collapsing into smoke now that his attention was fully on me, his presence a steady thrum of loyalty and devotion pressing against my mind. Niz crossed to my side last, his arm slung around Ronan’s shoulder as he lowered himself.
I was surrounded by them at least. The gravity of my world.
