I turn my back on him.
"Kaan." My voice is exhausted. Empty. "Take me home."
He's at my side in an instant, shadows wrapping around us both. His hand finds mine, and I feel his rage still pulsing beneath his skin, barely contained, desperate for release.
"This isn't over," he tells Father without looking at him. "She may have chosen mercy. I haven't. The only reason you're still breathing is because I love her more than I hate you."
His shadows tighten around us.
"But if you ever come near her again, if you send another assassin, if you threaten her in any way, if you so much asspeak her name—I will unmake you so completely that not even the gods will remember you existed."
Solene is already tearing open a portal, her hands shaking so badly that the edges flicker and warp.
"Go," she says, her voice raw. "I'll... I'll contact you when I can. When I've figured out what to do about—" She looks at Father, and the disgust on her face mirrors my own. "About everything."
I pause at the portal's edge. Turn back to look at my sister, the stranger who wears our mother's face.
"You could come with us," I say. "You don't have to stay here."
"I know." She tries to smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "But someone needs to make sure he doesn't cause any more damage. And I have responsibilities here. People who depend on me."
"He'll try to spin this," I warn her. "He'll try to make himself the victim."
"I know." Her jaw tightens. "But I won't let him. I'll make sure everyone knows the truth about what he did."
I nod slowly. "Then I'll see you again. Sister."
The word feels strange on my tongue. Foreign. But not unwelcome.
"Sister," Solene echoes, and this time her smile is real. Sad, but real. "Take care of yourself. And—" She glances at Kaan. "Take care of him too. Whatever else he is, he loves you. Anyone can see that."
Kaan says nothing. His shadows haven't stopped moving—coiling, searching, his eyes still fixed on Father's crumpled form with murderous intent. But his hand tightens around mine, and I feel him drawing strength from the contact.
Together, we step through the portal.
Zoran follows close behind, pausing only to look back at Father one last time.
"You're no longer my father," he says quietly. "From this moment forward, I have no father. Nesilhan is the only family I have left."
Then he's through the portal, and Solene's magic snaps closed behind us.
The portal deposits us in the Shadow Court's courtyard. Home.
The moment we arrive, my legs give out. Kaan catches me before I hit the ground, sweeping me up into his arms like I weigh nothing at all. His shadows cocoon us both, blocking out the light, creating a small dark space where nothing exists but the two of us.
"I've got you," he murmurs against my hair. "I've got you,sevgilim. Let it out."
And I do.
I break.
Completely, utterly, catastrophically break.
The sobs tear out of me from somewhere deep and wounded, somewhere I've been afraid to touch for months. I cry for my baby, for the tiny life that was cut short before it could begin. I cry for the mother I never got to be, for the first smile I'll never see, for the small warm weight I'll never hold in my arms. I cry for all the months I spent hating myself, blaming myself, when the truth was so much worse.
I cry until my throat is raw and my eyes are swollen and there are no tears left.
And through it all, Kaan holds me.
