I dig my hand into his fur and force myself to stumble over to the plinth.
Force myself to reach out a hand and pick up the key.
Bracemyself for death or some new horrible catastrophe, but whatever it was before the amulet destroyed the sphere, now it’s only a key. An inert gold piece of worked metal resting on my palm.
I stare at it, numb with shock. “This is what Trick died for? This?”
I shove it in my pocket. The quest must succeed.
Trick died a hero. If the quest fails, he died for nothing.
The cat roars, and magic shimmers again. Where a snow leopard stood, a prince rises. I stare at him without seeing him.
“Soli.”
“Trick is dead.”
He takes my hands in his, and distantly I realize his clothes are gone.
“Were you a cat?” I’m not making sense, even to myself, but this seems important.
“Yes. I … I don’t know how. I saw you were in danger, and something inside me broke,” he says, a hint of wonder in his voice. “The magictoreat me, and suddenly I was a cat.”
“A huge, mythical, extinct cat,” I murmur, remembering those fangs. Trying to distract myself from reality.
Elianna crosses the room and kneels next to Trick. She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Soli. He’s gone.”
“Bring him back,” I croak out, then clear my throat to be sure she hears me. “You have your magic. You can do it!Bring him back!”
I don’t realize I’m shouting until my voice echoes off the stone. Elianna gently touches Trick’s head and then comes to me, but I don’t want her.
Don’t need her.
“I’m so sorry,” she says gently. Then she turns and shoves her hands forward in a sweeping motion. Wind rushes through the room, lifts Darnen’s burned husk and the bodies of the dead Zhagarn, carries them out into the air, and drops them into the abyss.
This time, there are no screams.
They’re already dead.
As they deserve.
Darnen, dead.
My choice.
And Trick paid for it with his life.
Deathis just another adventure.
—Trick Jovann
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Irefuse to stay in the temple. I ignore the scholars’ apologies and sneer at their thanks. Maybe one day I’ll be able to forgive them.
Not today.
Andras and Chitai wrap Trick’s body in a cloak and bring him with us. Kaelen, clothed again, directs the construction of the pyre I demanded. Elianna murmurs words of magic and tosses a satchel onto the fire, so the smoke is scented only with wood, not…anything else.
