When the air cleared, the chests of gold had vanished as well. Elyse and Killian were alone in the circle. Elyse’s hand shook as she held the Blade. The dark steel was clean, not a drop of blood on it.
“You did it,” Killian uttered. He sounded more confident than Elyse felt. Her heart raced so fast, she thought she was going to pass out. It couldn’t be over, could it? It had to be a trick. Lazarus was somewhere, waiting for her.
But Killian repeated the words as he slid his hand around her back. “You did it, Elyse. He’s gone. Forever.”
Forever. That word was so sweet, especially from Killian’s lips. She had killed Lazarus with the Blade of Hanael. He could not return. He was truly gone. She had done it.
With a wave of nausea, she realized the fallacy. She might have been the one to plunge the knife in Lazarus’s heart, but she had not done it alone.
“Zubir,” she cried. She twisted around Killian, trying to find Zubir.
Killian’s hand was firm on her shoulder as he held her in place. Terror seized Elyse as she met Killian’s eyes. He gave her a somber shake of his head.
“No, no, no!” She grasped Killian’s shoulders and craned her neck to see behind him. It couldn’t be—not Zubir.
But it was unmistakable.
It was something she wished she could never see, but felt she needed to witness. Zubir’s body, returned in death to his human form, was mangled, almost to the point it was unrecognizable. But she knew, without a doubt, who it was.
“There wasn’t anything you could have done,” Killian consoled. “It was over the moment he attacked Lazarus.”
It was true, but it didn’t hurt any less.
Zubir’s cousins, back in their human forms, begin to gather around him. One of them brought a cloak and laid it over his body as the others offered up prayers. They grieved openly, wailing in each other’s arms.
Elyse couldn’t bring herself to face them. Not yet.
“Killian!”
They turned their heads toward the voice. Across the arena, three figures stumbled toward them—a limping Manny, flanked on either side by Corin and Nina.
Together, Killian and Elyse rose and began running toward their friends. The two groups crashed together, tears and hugs abounding.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Elyse sobbed the words again and again to Manny. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to do it, of course I didn’t want to, but she begged me. She would have done it anyway. She would have done anything to save you.”
“I know.” Manny couldn’t quite meet her eyes as he said it.
That was okay. He could be angry with her for as long as he needed. She wouldn’t blame him.
“How did you do it?” Nina asked.
Elyse looked at Killian. She didn’t have the strength to answer that right now.
Killian opened his mouth to explain on her behalf, but stopped. A chill snaked its way through the stadium, sending a shiver up Elyse’s spine. Something haunting quivered in the air.
Corin, Manny, and Nina all looked wary, but Killian smiled.
“Someone has come to collect,” he said.
“Indeed, I have.”
Elyse whirled to see a hooded figure standing behind her, red curls flowing around a pale, sultry face. Crimson lips twisted into a victorious smile. “The Blade of Hanael is mine,” declared Lady Death.
Elyse looked down to her hand, which still gripped the Blade. Its cold hilt bit at her fingers in the frosty air.
“Lady Death,” Elyse said by way of greeting.
