After having been dead for so long, there was not flesh left on most of these necromancers, but what was had been dried and preserved. Easy kindling.
Over my head, I can hear the necromancers shrieking as the dragon lets out a snarl and swoops down on another section of the dead. They swing at it with what weapons they have, but their swords just pass through the magic.
I find myself smirking at the irony. The dead thought they were unkillable, until they met something else that couldn’t be touched.
Suddenly Evengi is leaping through the flames. He lowers his shoulder and slams into one of the corpses holding me. With their puppeteers distracted I’m able to yank my arm out of the other’s hold.
“Come on,” Evengi cries as he reaches for my hand, but I jump out of his hold. I surge forward, grasping my father’s skull. I won’t leave him here to be incinerated like the rest of the dead. Then clutching the skull to my chest, I turn and take off toward Evengi. I pass him as I race up the incline toward the entrance of the burial mound. I am gagging on smoke and the horrid stench of the burning as I make it out into the fresh air. Evengi erupts behind me, bent over and gasping for breath.
I turn to him, taking in his soot-stained cheeks before I let out a squeal and throw my arms around his neck. Evengi is taken aback but to his credit rights himself easily. He lets out a laugh as he wraps his arms around me and spins me around.
“We made it!” I gasp out.
“That’s a surprise.”
“You had me worried, you idiot,” I say as I lean forward and press a kiss to his lips. He stiffens under me, and I start to pull away ready to blame it all on the chaos of what happened but then suddenly he is tightening his arms around me. He loses his balance, and we both fall into the stone wall of the burial mound. He chuckles against my mouth as he raises a hand to run through my hair. Then he presses his lips to mine and kisses me back. He kisses me in a way that Brom never did, it sends warmth curling through my stomach, and I feel it all the way to my toes as he moves his lips against mine as if he is trying to memorize their every curve and angle.
He pulls back, arching a brow as we both gasp for breath. “Next time I sacrifice myself for you, do me a favor and don’t try to make it in vain next time.”
“Oh, never,” I say with a laugh. “If you’re stupid enough to try to sacrifice yourself for me again then I’ll be just as reckless next time around. I will have you know that I am not in the business of accepting sacrifices.”
The laugh dies on my lips as I spot the spellbook lying there in the grass. Discarded by Evengi when he caught me. I slide out of his hold and bend over, picking it up. I study the worn cover, flicking ash off the cover.
All that trouble just for this little book?
I will admit that if what Evengi did as an untrained Lowlander was anything to go on, this spellbook is invaluable. He conjured a flame dragon that killed a hundred dead.
My father will be unstoppable with this spellbook in my sister’s hands. As official magicker of the family, Bronwyn will know how to wield these spells.
I hold the book close to my chest as I turn to the mound. “The spirits of the necromancers are still out there.”
Evengi lets out a sigh as he steps toward me. “There are always spirits out there. The important part is that we defeated them.”
I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Is that really what is important?
Because I feel no giddy sense of accomplishment for having outwitted them nor do I feel relief to be holding the spellbook.
I just feel hollow while at the same time strangely filled.
So many have died. The necromancer’s bodies suffered a second death, Brom has died, even my own Papa’s bones are gone.
And yet, Evengi is not one of the dead, and for that, I am infinitely grateful.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Evengi
It’s finally over, and yet I can’t help but feel that perhapsbeginningis the best way to describe this moment.
“You did it.” I startle, whirling at the voice to see Brom standing behind me. His loose hair floats in a wind that is not here, and a small smile pulls at his lips. He has his hands clasped behind his back, looking far more relaxed than he had been the last time I saw him.
I know that look. There’s a certain peace that most spirits find when they know that their killers will not harm anyone else.
He is studying Natasya who is kneeling at the burial mound, saying a final farewell to her father’s bones and to Brom. He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “Please don’t make asound. I don’t want her to know that I’m here. She would want me to come over back into this realm so she can see me, and I don’t want a messy goodbye.”
I nod.
“I think I found that peace you were speaking of,” he says with a sigh. “There’s just one last bit of unfinished business.”
