Four paces is all it takes.
Osian’s lips draw back. His teeth are bared. “You will not kill me.”
“This is for Indira. And Grayson’s sister. And everyone else you hurt or killed.” I force my palm against his chest and release Incorruptible.
Osian screams as his bones light up and blinding, pure light courses through him, burning him from the inside out. I stride through the dust that remains. Priscilla is the only one left now. She’s already running, but not away. She races toward Indira, sliding to a stop at the edge of the water.
Her hair flies around her as she shouts wildly at us. “Stay back! Or I will drown her.”
I pause, drawing on Lightsworn to help me strategize. Indira is still frozen, vulnerable. Priscilla has probably already cursed her. If Priscilla forces Indira below the surface, then I need to end her before Indira runs out of air. I will have precious seconds…
Grayson rises to his feet, rolling his shoulders, easing out the residual pain he must be feeling. He shakes his head at Priscilla. He sounds tired, resigned. “Enough, Priscilla.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. You’re a traitor! You’re a… filthy gargoyle!”
I sense Grayson harness his power a moment before he disappears. The sound chokes in Priscilla’s throat as he reappears right beside her. In a flash, he catches hold of her wrist and she screams and tries to lurch away from him, but he holds on tight. Her scream dies as she realizes… she’s still alive. “But… you’re not cloaked.”
“Curses die with their makers. You know that. Now…” He releases her wrist to run both his hands across her face, drawing her forehead against his, breathing slowly, trying to calm her. He’s as close to begging her as he can get. “Please, let it be enough.”
She’s breathing hard, shivering, gripping his shoulders. “I chose to be a killer, Grayson. I’m not like you. I never hated it. I had a choice and I made it years ago. I need the power. Ilikeit. I won’t stop killing. You can’t make me—”
A blast of light flashes between them.
Priscilla goes limp in Grayson’s arms and he catches her… pulls her close, slides to his knees holding her, gently supporting her lifeless head and neck as he gathers her up against his chest. Her hair falls across his lap as he strokes it, staring at nothing. He doesn’t say anything as he sits with her.
He is quiet and still for a long, long time.
I wait for him to feel whatever he needs to feel. To think whatever he needs to think. Elyria told me that Grayson had to fall if we were going to survive. I’m not sure how literal her vision was, but I decide this is close enough.
Above me, the entrance to Earth’s surface finally closes. The clear blue sky, the skyscraper, and the droning hum of mechanical engines fades and disappears. I wonder what it’s like up there: if humans have to fight for their families, their loved ones, fight to protect them like we have to. Somehow, I think they probably do. Maybe not with swords and magic, but it’s a battle still the same.
Across the distance, cocooned in my whirlwind, Baelen waits for me to release him. I press my lips together to try to quell all the emotions I feel as he contemplates me, the look on his face telling me that he loves me, the lifting of one corner of his mouth pulling me toward him because… he seriously can’t give me that look when I’m not in his arms.
I breathe out all of the fear I felt for him, exhaling it from my body, and then I breathe out all the emptiness Imademyself feel, promising myself I will never do that again. I release the whirlwind at the same time, allowing him to touch ground. But as I walk toward him, he lifts his hand cautiously:wait.
Grayson rises to his feet, carefully holding Priscilla, his fingers tangled in her hair and her face pressed against his chest. His voice is hollow. “I’m going to disappear for a moment, but I will be back very soon and I would appreciate if you don’t… view my return with suspicion. I will not harm you.”
I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean or what he intends to do, but I nod. “You have always been true to your word.”
“Thank you.” He’s gone as quickly as he speaks.
That’s when I run to Baelen. He pulls me into a fierce hug, his lips finding mine. “Marbella, don’t do that to me ever again.”
“Never,” I promise him.
As soon as I crash into him, everything unfreezes around us. It takes Indira two seconds to assess the danger and find us alone and safe. She rushes to the edge of the water and sloshes out of the springs, dripping beside us. Even though the Elven Commanders are gone, she is pale and afraid. “Osian Valor hurt Erit. Badly.” She winds her hands together in front of her chest, her voice breaking. “I don’t know if my husband is alive.”
A blast of air whips around us as Grayson reappears. He is crouched, holding the wrists of two gargoyle males who appear beside him, both lying on their sides, bloodied, barely breathing.
Indira screams into action. “Erit! Llion!”
Grayson barely glances up. “There are more,” he says, before he disappears again.
I take one look at Baelen. He says, “I’ll get them into the springs.”
“Keep their heads above the surface. If there are more, we’ll need help.” I wait only long enough for Baelen to carry Erit into the water, handing him to Indira. Then I race to the entrance of the springs, calling for the Grievous and Hideaway gargoyles.
Bethany is the first to respond. “Supreme Incorruptible!”
