But he led me deeper into the graveyard, until Gethin’s house was out of sight… and I was starting to wonder if he’d just said what he did to trick me into leaving the grounds so we could go kill someone… when I realized what we were heading toward.
It was an older man, kneeled on the ground and carefully brushing away leaves from a slab of stone.
He looked like the motion hurt, but the tender expression on his face said it was something he’d do a thousand times over… that it was probably something he’d done at least that many times, judging by the worn lettering on the marble.
We were far enough away that the man didn’t see, and I kept my voice hushed enough not to distract him from his mourning when I spoke.
“What are we doing here, Sephtis?” It almost sounded like an accusation. He turned to me without a word, pressing his cool lips to my temple before sliding them to my ear.
“You need to see. Death isn’t always vicious. It’s not cruel. Sometimes it’s a kindness we afford to those who are ready to let go.”
I was still trying to work out what he meant when he let go of my hand and started forward. I’d seen him kill people with rage on his face—I’d seen his eyes go dark and his veins pulse like he was nothing more than a monster.
And now I watched as a soft swirl of black rippled around him.
A cloak.
A hood that didn’t obscure his face as he stepped up to the man still kneeling on the grave.
“You miss her, don’t you?” His voice was deeper than I was used to, a soft rumble that sounded like thunder in the distance. I’d meant to tell him to stop, that I didn’t want to see whatever he was going to show me.
But now I felt frozen to the spot, caught rapt in the interaction unfolding in front of me… because the man didn’t look afraid when he turned his gaze up to meet Sephtis’s.
He looked…
Tired.
Sad.
And…
Relieved.
“Every day. I miss her every day.” The man’s voice was feeble, soft. His face was worn like he’d seen too much sun, too much pain… but I could see laugh lines around his eyes, and how the dark brown still held the softest twinkle of life.
Sephtis held out a hand to him, and the soft upturn of his lips was beautiful. Peaceful.
“She’s waiting for you, you know. I remember her.” Sephtis’s voice was liquid and warm, wrapping around both of us. It was almost a lull… and it was impossible to ignore the way the painon the man’s face spiked and slowly started to drift. “She was sad to go, but she said your name before she did. She loved you.”
The tears in the old man’s eyes were impossible to miss as he took Sephtis’s hand. “I’ve been so tired lately… so ready to lay my head down and find her.”
“I know,” Sephtis whispered and pulled the man to his feet. One hand came up and cupped his face, and I watched as he lowered his head and pressed his lips gently to wrinkled skin. “You’ll see her soon.”
There was a moment where I thought I saw something happen—a gentle spark of light leaving the body, forming into the figure of a much younger man standing beside Sephtis. His smile was warm and he stood tall and strong with a crimson thread trailing from his chest and disappearing into the air in front of him.
“Go find her. She’s waiting for you at the shore of the Lake. You’ll be reborn together, ready to have another chance. Another life. Follow your thread.”
And like that, the vision of the man was gone, and the body in Sephtis’s arms went limp.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything but watch as he silently lowered his head and drank down the Vitality still so bright in the body of the man he’d just killed.
Killed.
Sephtis had killed someone, but I couldn’t see a world where it could have been a bad thing. Is this what he did when it wasn’t fucked by the circumstances I’d put him in?
Was thisDeathwhen it was kind? Because… fuck.
Fuck, I’d heard those words before.
