Crossing the foyer in three large strides, Stran flung open the door and charged outside, shoving Guine out of the way. Shooing her followers back, Zera cleared a path. Everyone was bubbling: “Be careful!” “Let them through!” “By the bones, she’s dead!” “Give them space.” “What did you do? How did you get her?” “I can’t bear to look at her.” And from Stran: “Can you make her live again?”
Kreya’s lips were pressed tight together. She carried Amurra’s linen-wrapped body in her arms, and she didn’t look at Stran. She did, though, meet Zera’s eyes.
Zera nodded. “This way. Everyone else, clear out.” She asked Kreya, “Anyone following you?” She had no idea who Kreya had made an enemy of this time: Eklor, Lorn, the entire guild, an undead army, all of Cerre. Really, with Kreya, the possibilities were endless.
“Not that I know of. Might as well assume the worst, though.”
“Guard the doors and windows,” Zera ordered.
She shepherded her friends into the closest bedroom, a confection draped in silks and strands of crystals that Marso had been using as his room. Kreya laid Amurra on Marso’s bed. Stran hovered over her shoulder as Kreya unwrapped her body.
Amurra’s face was gray tinged and still. Her eyelids were, thankfully, closed, but she had that terrible empty, motionless look of someone who had turned from a person to a thing. Zeraknew without needing to touch her that her skin would feelwrong—cold, stiff, and yet still with a hint of softness.
Stran dropped to his knees and made a noise that didn’t sound like it could have come from his throat, a broken moan that hit Zera hard in her sternum. She laid a hand on his shoulder but knew he didn’t feel it. Marso was close on his other side. Jentt lingered back by the door, and Zera tried to imagine what he was thinking.
For the first time, he was seeing a loved one the way Kreya had seen him for so long. He was witnessing how it affected Stran.Good,Zera thought fiercely.He needs to see this so he can stop being an idiot.
“Take my life,” Stran said, his voice thick with a sob. “She must live. The children... They need her. The world needs her. Take all of my life.”
“She won’t thank you for that,” Jentt said quietly.
Kreya raised her head, and Zera saw the pain in her eyes—pain that Jentt had put there, or maybe memories.Let’s blame Eklor,Zera thought. He was easiest to blame for all of this, since it was, unarguably, his fault. “What would you have me do?”
“Half his life, if he wants to give it,” Jentt said.
The pain in Kreya’s eyes cleared. A little.
Zera spoke without even considering it. “Or some of mine.”
“And mine,” Marso said. “Take some from me as well.” He attempted a smile. It looked awkward on his face, as if his cheeks were stiff from lack of practice. “I’m not doing anything better with it.”
Stran looked up and clapped his hands over Marso’s and Zera’s hands on his shoulders. His eyes were red, and tears were pouring openly down his cheeks. He nodded his thanks, unable to speak.
“If I’d known the cost with Jentt...,” Zera began.
Kreya interrupted. “You’re all very noble, but I don’t know how to pull life from more than one source. There might be a way, but it’s a significant enough change to the spell to pull from someone other than myself. If I had enough time to experiment and research, I might be able to figure it out, but if I delay and Eklor attacks... Stran, this has to be your choice.”
“Do it now, and take half of whatever years remain of my life,” Stran said without hesitation. “I don’t want her dead a minute longer.”
Zera wanted to counsel them to take the time, do the research, and find a way to share the burden. But she was also acutely aware of how precarious everything was. Kreya was right: this could be their only chance to bring Amurra back.
“The spell takes from your natural life span, from now until the moment of your natural death,” Kreya told Stran. “It does not account for either of you being stabbed, falling off a cliff, or dying from anything other than your body simply failing. So don’t think this will make either of you invincible. It won’t guarantee you a happily ever after. You could sacrifice half your future, and she could still die from a random accident or another violent attack next week.”
“I’d rather have the chance of living with her than the certainty of living without,” Stran said. He held out his arm. “Take my blood.”
“It may require a lot,” Kreya said.
“I’m a big man. I have a lot. Take as much as you need.”
“I mean you should lie down, because you’ll probably faint. As you said, you’re a big man—it would be a pain to try to move you.” She shooed him onto the bed, next to Amurra. “I’ll need the bones we took from Eklor’s stash. All of them.”
Without a word, Jentt darted out. He returned in a moment, carrying a bundle. He laid it on a table inlaid with onyx and gold, and he unwrapped it.
“Will it be enough?” Marso asked anxiously.
Kreya drew out a knife and tested its sharpness. “Water and bandages.”
“I’ll fetch them,” Zera offered. She knew best where her supplies were. Letting herself out of the room, she strode down the hallway. She tried to keep from worrying about what Eklor was doing now. He wouldn’t be waiting idly for them to finish their task and come back to deal with him; he’d be using this time, enacting whatever his plan was, putting pieces into place to counter whatever they’d do once they were ready. Even knowing that, for now, their only priority had to be Amurra.
