I feel it all.
Siegrid’s blood floods her mouth. She wonders, in a moment of bizarre silence when all the shrieks and howls around her fall away, whether her son taught the boy how to angle his blade just like this.
Genicos attempts to heal her, but his strength is depleted from healing her previous injury, and the blade is still deep inside her.
The wound is mortal. She’s going to die.
She knows it, too. In her final moments, she wonders if she taught Stark enough about everything that comes next for him. If he’s prepared to become the Sovereign Alpha and for what—who—comes along with that role.
Siegrid looks down at the blade. She grips the hilt weakly like she means to draw it and use it. But she can’t find any more strength. She’s spent it all.
She regrets it, their relationship.
She thought if she kept him at a distance, she could shield him from it somehow.
She hopes she made him strong enough.
Siegrid slides from her wolf’s back and lands in the bloody muck on her side, the sword still stuck in her. Her wolf howls in anguish. The sound echoes over the battlefield, and devastation echoes back over the bonds. Her fading consciousness registers one final, ruinous sight.
The central command post is up in flames, cinders disappearing into the sky.
Everything goes black.
I’ve never been so close to death before. Never.
I gasp. Air pummels my lungs painfully. My hand whips up, searching for the blade I so clearly felt enter my body, but there’s nothing there. There’s nothing.
My eyes dart around. I’m looking for Siegrid’s wolf, Genicos, where he fell next to her, his life snuffing out.
All I see are the scattered documents spread across the library table. A sob tears out of me, and then I’m on the floor. My entire body shakes with the aftershocks of Siegrid’s death, like I’m experiencing her death rattle for her.
Saela drops onto her knees next to me, grabbing my hand, her face pale with fear.
“Meryn, talk to us,” comes Venna’s voice, as if from far away.
“What happened?” Lucien says, tone urgent.“What happened?”
Through my tears, I struggle to form words. My voice breaks pathetically as I finally manage to force it out.
“Nocturna has fallen.”
39
STARK
Noemi is staring vacantly at a pile of breakfast cakes and pastries when I find her in the common area. She looks fucking terrible; I assume she barely slept last night, given the circumstances.
I don’tthinkshe’ll snap again. But I told Meryn I’d keep an eye out, just to be safe.
“Not hungry?” I come up behind Noemi and set a hand on her shoulder lightly, trying not to startle her.
Noemi turns and gives me a weak smile. “Just hunting for something I recognize.”
I turn to the platter. Glazed pastry twists are twined with sticky pastes and syrups of various colors. Some of the treats are studded with unfamiliar fruits or seeds.
I select one at random and hand it to her. “Here. Can’t be any worse than Gertie’s kitchen experiments. Come walk with me.”
The rear of Brightbane Castle is a gigantic maze of courtyards and gardens.We make our way out, and the sun blasts down on us like a furnace as we pass through the stone archways, even though the hour is still early.
