Until now.
The moth circled once before settling atop the marker. Jagged words were carved into the stone.
Grey leaned closer, his voice low as he read the words aloud. “Here lie those the world forgot; their voices linger, unanswered.”
A shiver ran down my spine as the words rattled off the bones. The moth moved with delicate grace, slipping between the narrow cracks of bone.
I reached outward, instinctively, bracing for the familiar rush. Nothing answered. No whispers stirred. The silence was louder than any of their screams.
“Anything?” Grey asked softly.
“Nothing,” I whispered, my gaze following the moth as it vanished deeper into the bones.
“Are you sure?” he asked, staring into the empty eye sockets of a skull lining the wall, as if daring it to speak.
I listened again, but was met with only silence.
Relief flooded my system, but it was quickly replaced with guilt. Not for the magic I’d lost, but for the souls who might suffer because of it.
The dead no longer knew my name. The magic that bound me to them was gone.
No, not gone, but traded.
“You gave up what others spent eternity chasing.” Grey’s grip tightened around my hand.
“I gave it up for you.” I corrected. “Willingly. And I would do it over and over again.”
I would carry the weight of the souls I could no longer help for the rest of my life.
Still, I would make the same choice every time. To have Grey beside me, I would damn my soul.
