I ignored it and took a step.
There was a small rush of wind at my back, and suddenly, a hand was on my arm.
I spun to find Kieran and Arowyn. “What are you?—”
Kieran grabbed the flint and fire quartz from me. “You have fulfilled your duty a thousand times over. Let someone else take care of things this time, brother.”
Alarm blared through me. I realized too late what was happening.
“Kieran, don’t youdare?—”
“Through flame and ash.” He tipped his head at Arowyn and sprinted off toward the Hollow.
I was still yelling his name when Arowyn squeezed my arm and the world vanished.
82
Devora
My whole body was numb. Numb, yet still in pain. I pressed the heel of my palm into my chest where I’d shoved the needle, slowly massaging it to try and take the ache away. Every injury Scarven sustained in the fight lingered over me—the burn on my thumb, the claw marks on my chest, the bruise on my cheek.
The aftermath of the fatesprig made my entire body weak. That pain had eaten me alive, burned me from the inside out as it ripped away my shadows. I hadn’t felt them since. Everett promised me my magic would come back, but right now, it all seemed hopeless. Like there wasn’t a point to drawing breath.
Everythinghurt. Everything waswrong.
But nothing was more painful than watching him walk away.
Rose, Leo, Chaz, and Thecae had gone ahead into the village with the prisoners and those who had surrendered. They took Tessa with them, who was still passed out. The gradual draining of our magic had made her healing process slow even more.
The rest of the Ashen Order and I stayed as close to the property as we could risk to avoid the blast. They tried to convince me to go with the others since I was defenseless without my shadows, but they would’ve hadto pry my dead body away.
A part of me still believed I’d see Nox appear from the rubble. That he’d come back to me. That he’d keep his promise.
“You must be the one he loves so much,” a voice said from behind me. I turned to see Vera twisting her fingers together, little sparks of lightning flying from them.
I thought I was, I wanted to say, but I didn’t have the heart or energy to respond.
“He was willing to die for you, you know,” Vera continued in her soft, sad voice. “To protect you against Scarven. It takes a lot to earn that kind of loyalty from my brother.”
I thought I nodded, but I wasn’t really sure if my head moved. I kept my eyes on the dirt at her feet as I croaked, “Doesn’t really matter now, does it?”
She paused for a moment. “I think it’s theonlything that matters. In the end.”
The end. Because that was what this was. An ending.
It was supposed to have been our beginning.
There was a rustle ahead, then Kieran and Arowyn’s aggravated voices caught my attention.
“—to do it. Before it’s too late,” Kieran was saying.
“Are you sure about this?”
Kieran grabbed Arowyn by the shoulders. For the first time since I met the man, his clothes were ruffled and dirty, his dark brown hair messy and tousled. “You know it’s the right thing.”
Before I could muster the strength to ask what was going on, they both vanished into thin air.
Vera and I shared a look, and she braced a hand on Everett’s arm. I eyed the two of them. Past me would’ve already asked a million questions aboutwhatin the world that was about. But right now?—
