Page 366 of Burn of the Everflame

Lily giggled, and I smiled despite myself. So much like Diem, I thought again, and though the pain of her absence ached a little stronger, it also gave me joy to know that, with Auralie’s influence and Teller’s parentage, some bits of Diem might live on in Lily’s child someday, too.

“Let’s go,” I said, standing. I wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders, walking beside them. “I want to see Father’s face when you tell him you’re carrying a Bellator.”

Lily giggled again, and Auralie flashed a wicked smile. I paused at the door to let them go ahead and glanced back at Diem’s statue.

I hoped she was watching us, after all.

85

DIEM

Death was amazing.

Everything felt warm and cozy, like waking up in bed on a lazy morning or wrapping up in furs by the hearth after a long day out in the snow. The robe I arrived in must have been made with silken clouds for how blissfully soft it felt against my skin. My body had no wounds, my mind was free of its worries, and I’d never had such shiny, bouncy hair in my life—fitting, I supposed, since this wasn’t life at all.

I didn’t even mind that I was back on Coeurîle. All the fear I’d felt at the thought of the island had been replaced by a serene calm. The memories of the traumas I’d endured here were still there in my mind, but they no longer provoked the darkness they once had. All of my bad memories were like that—not erased, but disarmed, like a knife that had gone so dull, it would never cut again.

This island couldn’t hurt me anymore. Nothing could hurt me. I was finally safe.

All around, new people were arriving in droves, each of them staring up at the Everflame and wearing the same excited smile. An archway had opened at the base of its trunk, and though a curtain of Flames concealed whatever lay beyond, as each person walked through, I heard them shout the names of their loved ones in elated reunion.

I lifted the hem of my robe and ran toward it, grinning. Surely my brother would be waiting. Laughter bubbled up as I imagined all the fun we would have, teasing each other for eternity. My father, too—my hands itched to wrap him up in a hug and tell him how his memory had given me such strength in life. Though a part of me wished my mother was with us, it didn’t make me sad. It reminded me of the nights the three of us spent around the kitchen table, cooking and laughing as we waited for her to arrive after her shift at the healers’ center. There was no need to miss her, because she was on her journey home.

I heard someone call my name from behind, and I turned to see nine figures standing in a line, their white hair and grey eyes so similar to mine. One of them stepped forward, a petite woman with a kind smile. “Diem,” she called out again.

“Lumnos?” I asked, walking toward her. I looked around at the other Kindred. “I thought you couldn’t pass on to the afterlife.”

“We couldn’t,” Umbros said, “until you freed us.”

“When you destroyed the heartstone, it broke the Forging Spell that trapped us between life and death,” Sophos explained. “Now, we can finally move on.”

“That’s wonderful,” I exclaimed, surprised at my genuine happiness. Though I hadn’t forgotten my grievances against them, resentment no longer held me captive. Judgment was the duty of the living. The only fate I wished on others now was peace to match my own.

I looked at the Everflame, then back at the Kindred with a curious frown. “Your afterlife is in the Undying Fire?”

Umbros gave a cryptic smirk. “Yes . . . and no.”

“We have our own gods,” Montios said, “but life and death connect us all in the end.”

“Even we don’t entirely understand it,” Lumnos admitted.

“But we will.” Sophos stared excitedly at the curtain of flames, angling his neck in an effort to peer through. “All knowledge will be open to us there. Every book ever written. The answers to every question ever asked.” He beamed. “I can’t wait.”

My smile grew. “My brother will be overjoyed.”

“His life was cut too short,” Arboros said. “We would have given you both more time, if it was within our power to do so.”

“It’s alright,” I said, shrugging. “We’ll have all the time we want together now.”

“I’m sorry for what was asked of Luther, too,” Lumnos said. “I hope it brings you peace to know that his sacrifice, and yours, saved many lives.”

My heart gave a strange, lopsided thump. An emotion began to dampen my contentment, though I couldn’t quite put a name to it. It wasn’t sadness or regret. It did bring me peace to know that we’d saved so many, and soon enough, eternity would be ours to share.

But the more I thought about Luther, the more I felt . . . incomplete.

Beside me, Ignios let out a choked cry and took off running toward the Everflame. I spun around to see her launch into the open arms of a tall, muscular man with long dark braids and copper skin.

“They’re here,” Montios whispered. She sucked in a breath as another man emerged from behind a cluster of roots with two other women at his side. Tears sprang to her eyes. She ran toward them, Faunos and Fortos fast behind. The three couples embraced in a flurry of kisses and smiles and teary I love yous.