Chapter sixty-seven
Seren
It all happened so fast. The orangery was ruined, blood and bodies and glass littered the floor. Lady Adiran was dead, her mangled body a mess of gore and moonrock. Flames still crackled over the remains of our wedding decorations.
But it was Théo’s still form which stood out so starkly.
Ayla had collapsed over him, silent sobs wracking her frame. Safiya knelt beside them, face was blank with shock. She rubbed comforting circles upon Ayla’s back.
“Théo…” Harkin stumbled over his name. He pulled me to him as we moved forward cautiously.
“Is he…?” My breath caught in my throat.
I watched, unblinking—willing Théo to move.
He couldn’t be gone.
Envelopes littered the floor, crumpled and discarded. Each of them bore one of our names written in beautifully curling script. Harkin knelt down and sorted through them, his mouth drawn in a firm line. He handed me the letter with my name, penned on crisp parchment. Théo had written to each of us, and I knew with resigned certainty that he had planned this—perhaps all along.
When had he decided? During those long nights in the dungeon? Researching with Ayla and me in the library? During our journey to the Sarkhona Draum?
Did it even matter?
He had given his life to save us. I could only honor his wishes and read his last words. The seal tore so easily, the fragile parchment unfurling before me.
I imagined expressions of friendship and gratefulness to Harkin and Safiya. A gut-wrenching goodbye to Ayla, his best friend and chosen sister. But I did not know what I would find in his letter to me. I pressed it flat with quaking hands and began to read, swallowing as tears welled heavy in my eyes.
Dear Seren,
I must first apologize for deceiving you, for planning my own death in secret and for allowing you to carry on with bloodstained hands. I know it is you who will carry the heaviest weight of my sacrifice, in striking the killing blow. Please know that I made this choice to save you, all of you, to allow you time to live and love and guide our kingdom into a new era of prosperity, but I also made this choice for myself. I spent so many years bending a knee to corruption, perpetuating violence and fear because I was not strong enough to do what was right. My parents raised me to be a savior. They believed in my capacity for good even when I proved them wrong time and again. Ayla saw the best in me, too, and she taught me how to see the best in others, how to hope for a better future. I want to prove them right, Seren. Ineedto prove them right. Evil won’t win today, nor tomorrow. I made the choice to lay down my life, and I am at peace with this decision. Live your life, Seren. Love Harkin, and protect Ayla. Holdthe people you love close, and never regret this moment, for the future belongs to you and to them. I thank you all for being part of something so lovely, it was worth dying for.
Your friend, in this life and the next, Théo Saitan
Great sobs wracked me as the letter fell from my grasp. It fluttered to the ground, tear stained and crumpled.
It was not fair.
Théo had been the best of us. He had been kind and steady and so smart. He had dropped everything to help us, and he sacrificed himself—let his death blow come from my hand so that he might give me everything.
Ayla came to me, her hand clasped in Safiya’s. Her expression was hollow. Every tear had been carved out, every sob emptied. The four of us embraced and cried and remembered the light that had been our friend.
Adina and Yvett joined us at some point, curling their bodies into Harkin and me. I breathed a sigh of relief that they were safe and whole.
Claudian and Hesperia watched on, defeat and fatigue evident in the sag of their posture and the frowns on their lips.
I stayed there on the floor with my family until the light had long faded.
I lifted my gaze, committing the scene to memory. I would never allow myself to forget this moment. I would never allow myself to live a day without thanking Théo Saitan for the price he had paid.
His body lay beside Lady Adiran’s. They were twin specters, each of them pale white from head to toe.
The ceiling above us had crumbled, but the shattered stone and glass was a broken thing that still held beauty. The vast expanse of the night sky was made clear, and as I gazed upon all the stars above, the goddesses who had granted me this power, and back down to my loved ones beside me, I thought there had never been anything that hurt so much as this. But there had never been anything so hopeful as the chance that Théo had given us.
There were messes to be cleaned up and bodies to be put to rest.
The four of us would never be the same. We would always feel the weight of this loss and the hole that Théo had left behind in our hearts. But he had made this choice for us, the people he loved, and I would not allow it to be wasted.
The wounds we had all fought so hard to heal within ourselves had opened anew, but we had patched them once before, and we would do so again. Together.
