Tavrin made another sound. This one made uncle curl into a ball on the floor.
I stepped past my husband. Stood over my uncle where he lay bleeding and broken in the ruins of his own home.
“We’re leaving. My sister is coming with me. You will not follow. You will not send anyone. You will not contact us. Ever.”
He looked up at me. Then past me, at Tavrin.
“Because if you do,” I said, “I won’t stop him next time.”
He believed me.
Good.
I straightened. Took Elspeth’s hand. Walked toward the hole in the wall where Tavrin stood waiting.
As I passed him, his wing brushed my shoulder. Gentle. A question.
Fourteen minutes. He’d made it to fourteen. He’d held on longer than I had any right to ask.
“I’m okay,” I said softly. “Let’s go home.”
We walked out through the rubble into the cold night air. Elspeth’s hand in my left. Tavrin’s wing settling around my right shoulder, then extending to cover Elspeth too.
The three of us walking out of hell.
The town was silent around us. No one came to see what had happened. No one wanted to know.
We left it behind and didn’t look back.
