Kerym’s eyes moved between the flames licking what was left of the castle—barely a pile of rubble now—and Lessia, who was coming back from the sea, face streaming with tears, which she tried to hide from the guards standing posted along the path by keeping her eyes firmly on the green bushes surrounding them.
“She told Ydren to go back to Raine and the other wyverns.” Merrick sidled up beside him, his dark eyes reflecting the large fire—the one they’d started together after they’d released all the prisoners and taken out all the gold and other valuables that could be distributed amongst the people, to erase whatever they could of Rioner’s legacy.
“I’m guessing it didn’t go too well,” Kerym mumbled as he eyed Lessia again, watching her clutch the two sisters to her chest as they approached her for a quiet goodbye, more streams trickling down her pale cheeks.
Merrick turned around again, and Kerym frowned when he noticed something.
“We’re getting weaker,” Merrick snapped as he steadied himself with a branch of the tree beside him. “I feel it in my bones. It’s…” The silver-haired Fae ground his teeth. “It’s why she looks so pale, and it’s also why…”
“I know,” Kerym responded when Merrick remained quiet, watching the witches give Lessia a final hug. “We all know why you should go. I just hope she doesn’t?—”
“So do I,” Merrick interrupted. “Hope is the only thing I cling to.”
Kerym was about to say something else when a rustling noise had them both shooting straight, eyes darting around the thick hedges that wove their way through the gardens beneath what had once been the grandest castle in Havlands.
A shudder caught his shoulders when one of those large snakes twisted its way through the grass, head lifted so high it would have made any royal grumble with jealousy as it watched the half-Fae with the amber eyes approach them.
“You know what you need to do?” Merrick asked as Lessia stopped before the snake, dipping her chin in a bow that had Kerym let out an involuntary sound of disgust.
He fucking hated those things. And Lessia? She seemed to betalkingto it.
“Kerym,” Merrick demanded when he couldn’t stop staring at Lessia saying something to the slithering monster.
“Damned reptiles,” Kerym muttered before turning toward his friend. “Yes, as always, your instructions were quite clear, brother. I’ll get the soldiers and anyone elseready to travel, and then we’ll be waiting. If we don’t hear anything else from you, we’ll be at Iviry and Loche’s grand wedding in a few days.”
Merrick nodded, gaze still locked on his mate.
Used to his friend’s quiet ways, Kerym let his eyes drift back to the sparkling fire, watching it reshape the stone that Rioner had spilled blood to erect, while his mind worked through everything he’d need to do the next few days.
He’d start with the soldiers here—make sure that they knew he’d act in Merrick’s place. Then he’d take one of Rioner’s beautiful stallions and ride down the coast, ensuring all the ships floating there were filled with those who would fight. Then he’d?—
Merrick placed a hand on his shoulder, and Kerym felt that wrinkle between his brows deepen as his friend whispered, “Thank you for everything. And I’m… I’m so fucking sorry about Thissian.”
Kerym didn’t like his tone. Or his words, for that matter.
Merrick wasn’t usually one for melancholy, and this? This sounded like a goodbye.
“We’ll see each other again,” Kerym assured him as he turned to meet his friend’s dark eyes. “Whether it’s in this world or the next.” He forced his lips into a weak smile. “And you saw my brother… He was doing well.”
Another hand—a smaller one—landed on his forearm, and Kerym turned his gaze to Lessia instead, fighting to keep the ghost of a smile on his face as he realized Merrick was right.
She didn’t look too well. Her eyes were dull, her skin pale, and the hair that should have shimmered in the bright fire seemed to… fuck, it seemed as dead as the souls thatthingthat had invaded his mind had allowed her to bring forth.
Kerym pushed the memory out of his thoughts.
He wasn’t sure how he’d been so fucking stupid as to siphon that book.
He’d never done anything like it before—hadn’t even known it was possible.
“Do… you want us to bring him here to say goodbye?” Kerym’s smile vanished when even Lessia’s voice sounded weaker as she asked the question, and he was glad Merrick slipped to her side like he always did, winding an arm around her shoulders.
Even before meeting Merrick’s eyes—which carried a warning for his life that almost had Kerym chuckle—he shook his head. “Save your strength, Golden Eyes. I’m going to need you to survive this.”
She seemed to be debating whether to say something else, her mouth opening for a second before she found Merrick’s eyes and appeared to notice what Kerym just had.
His friend was pale, too—pale in a way Kerym had never seen.
And his body…
