“Oh, them,” she snarled. “So gullible. And I had to survive somehow until I breached the castle walls.”
“How about the woman that used to be the apothecary—a nurse.” I nodded to Ebony, fury radiating into pure hot white light.
“I had to blend in somehow, so she was the first to go,” Narcisa replied as the rumbling began.
The grounds shook under us, jarring Narcisa onto the ground, sending the knife skittering out of reach.
Ebony and her ghost wailed, toppling stones and collapsing towers. Ghosts surrounded the small scene, with Narcisa backed into the corner. They laid their hands on Narcisa, flickering before she doubled over, screaming. One by one as one soul after the next disappeared into her.
“No. NO!” Narcisa cried.
The specters crept closer. The tower behind us creaked and swayed, the sharp sound of stones—the groan of the collapse imminent.
“Stay away from me. STAY AWAY.”
One by one, the spiritual orbs disappeared, and Narcisa collapsed, screaming in agony. Bit by bit, she withered, smooth skin decaying into rotting flesh as the ghosts tore her apart.
Black orbs stared up for the last time as Ebony gave a sad smile before joining others—disappearing into a purple ball and silencing Narcisa’s screams.
The castle was still shaking, the stones behind my back groaning as the tower finally succumbed to the rampage, littering the ground around me and striking Narcisa.
I gazed up to the sky, the stars glittering among white frost, and closed my eyes as the crumbling structure came down at last.
Thirty-Five
“You can open your eyes now, Little Dove.”
A pair of warm hands strung across my lap with another pressed gently to the wound, long tapered fingers covered in my blood. Golden eyes searched mine, fierce and electrifying against my fading body.
The crumbled mess of the tower laid inches from my feet. A single pale hand stretched from the rubble, and gray stones covered the rest of the body. The taste of blood hung on my lips, and my grip on life was fading quickly.
Far away, Silas urged me to drink, words cutting through the blur of darkness before I took the plunge. “Valeria, you need to drink. You need to—I can’t—I can’t lose you. I love you. Come back and chastise me. Come back and throw harsh words at me. Play me like the foolthat I am. Just, please—don’t leave.”
I pushed his wrist away, the strength I had earlier all but gone. I was slipping into the darkness and didn’t know if I was going to return. Vision tilting and blurring, I cupped his hand. “Silas”—I choked down fire—“your name—Vi et animo—the dragon crest...”
Silas cupped my cheek. “Shush, save your strength.”
“It can’t—” Blood was everywhere, swallowing the night sky whole and staining the land. “Blood spilled... upon a name...”
With a hand stained in blood, I held him, held him as the expansive darkness beckoned. I held him despite the cost.
For the last time, I had to be selfish.
I kissed him, the taste of blood and salt stinging my throat. When I released him, tears streamed down my cheeks as I uttered, “I... release you... Maven Drogos...”
“Valeria, no—NO!”
The darkness exploded into a bright white light.
Expansive and deep, the darkness rippled in a smooth cascade upon the distorted vision before me. The further I moved through the scene, the more the light came into focus to a soft field covered in bright red tulips. A woman stood alone. Burnt copper mingled with the summer wind as bright green gleamed at me with softnessand assurance.
She stood by the willow tree, surrounded by blue water and sweet grass. She reached for me, delicate fingers rough with callus shattered the dark space, taking a hold of my hand. The light shifted, a ball of illumination mutating into the glow of the setting evening sun. Rubble turned into waves as the willow tree’s soft limbs swayed.
I was in the field I had seen so often before, walking among tulips in the summer heat. The woman’s steady gaze never wavered and never shifted from the serenity ebbing from her.
“You saved him from the curse but at the cost of your life.”
When she spoke, the open air fell into cavernous echoes, whispering into the void.
