She saw the ravens saving her.
She saw Six with a bleeding handprint on her scarred beak.
She watched her kiss with Arawn. It was forbidden by the Masters, and yet it had felt so right.
She saw her own Descent, as the wind tore at her braid and together, she and Six soared down to the depths.
How many others, Ezer wondered, had spent their lives trying and failing to live up to the Five?
How many others wouldneverknow what it was like to be free?
‘Ezer,’ the One whispered, as the visions faded away, and suddenly she could see the light again. ‘Choose now, before it’s too late.’
She could see the golden doors of the Ehver up ahead. She could see a line of bobbing lights – souls – waiting to meet the Five, face to face. The world beyond the doors was warm, and the light was lovely, like the sun on a summer’s day, and she turned Six towards it, ready to gohome.
But then she saw the scroll at the entrance.
It unraveled before her, eternities long, glowing with every rule that had ever been written.
To fail is to fall,it said at its top, and she realized what it meant … as a soul tumbledoutof those golden doors. She could see its lightalready dimming, hear its ragged scream as it was cast out. Even after death … perfection was the Five’s way.
Ezer reached out. She caught the soul before it could fade. It was cold, a tendril of light that died in her fingertips and turned to ashes.
She gasped as it crumbled away, caught by the wind.
‘Choose,’ the One whispered, and its voice was distant now.
So Ezer clung to Six.
And made her choice.
45
The moment she chose, the world shifted. The darkness lightened until she could see the surface again, and Ezer directed Six towards it.
They landed on the dais with awhooshof air from Six’s wings.
There was no pain as Ezer dismounted.
There was only cold, coming from the hole in her cloak where Kinlear’s knife had once been.
She looked down and frowned.
‘Ezer,’ said a voice.
She glanced up to lock eyes with the man on the throne.
She couldn’t remember why she’d been so afraid of him before. Because he was just a man. And she …
She knew now, how to kill the Acolyte.
Her footsteps were silent as she walked to him, feeling weightless.
Feeling …powerful.She cocked her head to the side and closed her eyes as she breathed deep, her body whole once more. Whole anddifferent.
She could have done without the dark claws that now tipped her once-human hands.
‘My child,’ Erath said. ‘Look at you. Magnificent.’
