Inhaling deeply, she closes her eyes and weighs the claw in her hand. The words Bastet spoke to her before they left the room this morning rattle through her, drowning out the noise of the bloodthirsty crowd and Skylar’s moans of pain.
Our souls are one and the same, Astrid. Where you go, I go also. I will be with you, in this life and the next.
For Bastet, she thinks, as she raises her claw.For my soul, for my queendom, for my people, I can do this.
She looks down at Skylar, who is calmer now, the power of the potion already receding. It’s now or never. She whispers a prayer to Sqaõi to forgive her, for she’ll never be able to forgive herself.
The blade comes down just as Skylar closes her eyes, looking more peaceful than Astrid has ever seen her.
51Skylar
Skylar hears the slice of Astrid’s blade as it cuts a path toward her throat, but she doesn’t open her eyes. She doesn’t want to see Astrid’s face as she dies, doesn’t want the pain and fear she knows she’ll see there to be the last thing she takes with her. Most of all, she doesn’t want Astrid to guess what she’s been doing. She wants Astrid to kill her thinking the worst of her—it’s the only way she’ll live with herself.
So she keeps her eyes closed. And waits.
Only it doesn’t come.
Instead, there is the clatter of the blade, dropping to the ground. A sharp intake of breath.
Skylar opens her eyes to see Astrid taking a step back. Then another. Her eyes are bright, tears that do not fall shining there. She shakes her head, and Skylar sees the resolution there.
“I won’t do it,” Astrid whispers.
Outside the cage, the royals—both Vatran and Arturean—are on their feet, right at the edge of the dais.
“I know what you’re trying to do,” Astrid says, her voice steady, “but it won’t work. I will not kill you.”
Kill the bitch!
What’s happening?
Fucking witch!
Shouts that merge into one another, growing louder still as Astrid turns her back on Skylar, bends to pick up the pin she threw across the cage. Both Kaida and Bastet watch as she faces Skylar again, holds out the pin. An offering, leaving herself wide open.
But Skylar never intended to kill Astrid.
Because if anyone deserves to live, it is her. And if anyone has a shot at fixing the rot that has embedded itself so deep, if anyone can overcome the Vatrans and build something better, it is the witch standing before her.
She feels her throat close as she looks at the pin in Astrid’s hand. Steady as dragonglass. She can’t kill her, anyway. Even without that reasoning, she cannot bring herself to lose a friend. She knows, even if she has killed before, that killing Astrid would be the thing that destroys her.
So she bends, too, picks up Astrid’s dagger—and mirrors Astrid’s gesture. Their gazes are steady when they meet. An agreement formed. They will not do this. The cage will not break until one of them dies, so fine, let them stay here. Let the masses turn on them from the outside. But they will not do this.
See!Kaida declares, tail thumping the ground in excitement.Astrid would not hurt us.
Skylar offers Kaida half a smile as she and Astrid reach to exchange weapons. But as Skylar takes her pin, she feels something. She looks down. Astrid is still holding it, and from the way she is looking at it, she feels it, too. It grows warmer, and Skylar swears she sees it spark.
Then there are gasps. More shouts from the crowd, different in tone this time. Someone on the dais points their way, but Skylar doesn’t look to see who. Because as Astrid lets go of the pin, something deep and warm and bright is carving its way through Skylar, flaring in a part of her she didn’t even know she had.
Skylar looks up at Astrid. And sees the mark forming on her forehead, like it is being drawn in place.
She feels something on her own forehead, too, searing into her skin. A brand.
She reaches up to touch it, and though she can’t see it she knows, from the way Astrid is staring at her, from what she is feeling, what is happening here.
Silence falls over the crowd. There is a moment where everything is utterly still. Even the royals do not move.
The mark on Astrid’s forehead is complete now—the mark that issupposed to represent the essence of Skylar. It is a living flame, with shades of orange, black, and silver making up the licks of fire.
