Page 85 of Memory of Ashes

This was for her and for everyone who had died needlessly because of Tiryn’s greed. Finally, this was for him.

“Don’t send me to the Shadowlands,” he begged.

He lifted his sword into the air and brought it down across his father’s neck, slicing his head clean off.

He sank to his knees, staring at the severed head as blood seeped into the earth, staining the forest floor.

It was over. He was free. The relief struck him so violently it almost felt like grief.

His hands trembled as he brought them to his face. He recoiled at them, at what they’d done.

A warm hand squeezed his shoulder as Ruven walked past him, leaving them alone. He looked up into Amelia’s eyes. She had been the reason he’d been able to do it.

Amelia. Everything he’d done to her.

“Amelia, it wasn’t… I never—”

“I know now,” she interrupted him and sank down next to him. “I thought you were going to kill me,” she whispered.

“I would have. He would have used my hands to do it.” He exhaled sharply. “What I did to you…” he paused, flexing his fingers. “I can only blame him for so much of it. Before the rift… I was the one in control. I kept you in that cell. I put a dagger to your throat. I understand if you can never forgive me.”

Her hand hovered above his before closing around it, stilling the tremor in his fingers. If that was all she could offer, it was still more than he deserved.

“I can try.”

Chapter 19

Amelia

Ruven and Danae needed to convince Elthar of their plan, and they were running out of time.

Amelia sat with Elthar and listened as they explained what Tharos had been planning in the human world.

“You want me to use my depleted troops to come through the rift and risk the rest of them? For the god-cursed? He has created an undying army that we can’t defeat, and you want more of us to die? No,” Elthar said simply.

“What do you think will happen next if we just allow the king to continue?” Danae asked. “Do you think he will be content with the human lands and the Lifesource? Or do you think he might then realise that he has the power to create more skilled fae to send back into this world, and where’s he going to go? I’d have thought he’d pay his nemesis a visit.”

“He is one to gloat,” Elthar agreed. “You’re asking a lot of us.”

“What about Casyl? Can you save him?” Amelia asked.

“If he is truly immortal, then he should be safe enough in the battle, as long as we keep him out of the rift,” Elthar said.

“That isn’t the problem.” Amelia looked down at the map. “Tiryn will use Casyl to stop anyone who gets close.”

“Controlling Casyl continuously would be a huge strain on Tiryn’s power.”

“Then bring Casyl to me,” she said. The thought of facing Tiryn again turned her blood to ice. “I blocked Tiryn’s control over Casyl in the mine. If I get close enough, I can do it again.”

“It could work,” Ruven said quietly.

“It has to,” Danae said. “We have to stop him, or we’ll all end up in the Shadowlands.”

*

They marched that afternoon, leading Elthar and his army towards the rift. By nightfall, they’d reached the ancient forest.

“This is where the entrance is?” Elthar asked. “In there?”