But then—

A pulse rippled over their skin as if something triggered in their veins.

And they fell.

One by one.

For a blissful second—maybe the only second of their lives—they were free.

And then...they were dead.

I stood there in horror.

I fought bone-breaking despair and hate hot enough to melt the entire mountain. But then the emaciated panther appeared in the cave’s mouth.

Its eyes were so dull compared to Whisper’s. Its coat matted and patchy. Its majestic tail smashed and broken.

With a soft hiss, it limped toward the fence.

No. Please no.

Placing the little girl down, I streaked toward the panther.

I was too late.

Its ruined body broke into a lope, slipping through the hole in the fence.

Hope clawed out my heart as it kept going. Kept living.

But then...just like every animal and human before it, it grunted, seized, and collapsed.

Dead. Useless. Gone.

The guards got to their feet where they’d been run over by the frantic mob. One kicked the closest dead woman. “Stupid idiots. We told them. They knew. How are we supposed to tell Mr. Ward that his precious Requiems are gone?”

I tried to control myself.

I tried to stay human—

A blinding corona of flames detonated out of me, turning the guards to soot before they could scream. The water in the earth vaporised, turning the night hazy. A column of heat shot into the sky, roaring like a dragon made of fire. Flames spiralled in violent helices. The moon threatened to melt.

All of it cost me.

But I couldn’t stop it.

The tax I’d paid was almost complete and the fire raged.

Turning to the little girl, I returned to her and dropped to my knees. With the rest of my mortal strength, I dragged her lifeless body onto my lap and kept her safe.

I protected her as the world broke.

A deafening crack split the heavens as the earth collapsed. I bowed in the middle of a smoking crater as the final trade of my life for power began.

Flames tore through what was left of my soul, consuming every droplet of guilt and grief. These people had been in a cage...like me. They’d been trapped for years...like me. Yet, unlike me, they’d lived in squalor and sickness and I hated myself.

I hated how wronged I’d felt. How powerless I’d been. How I’d had it so fucking easy compared.

Rook had given me my freedom, but them?

I wasn’t enough.

I failed—

Bowing over the dead girl, I tore at my wrist with my teeth.

My lungs filled with glass as the dregs of my ashen blood welled. Not much left, and completely gold—as if the fire alchemised my life-force into pure flame.

It was barely enough for a spoonful.

I couldn’t heal anyone but Rook, but...I had to try. Had to hope.

“Drink.” I pressed my wrist to her slack lips.

My skin split with tiny fissures, criss-crossing my arms to reveal glowing muscles beneath. My mostly dead heart strained against the pressure—remembering how to beat...just for a little while.

I choked on a sob that I’d never see Rook or Whisper again.

I’d chosen this path.

Vengeance destroyed me.

But the girl never drank.

She never opened her eyes and the fire kept building, building.

Curling over her, I coughed up a mouthful of blackened blood. Not gold or even crimson; it splattered against the earth like old oil.

I was dying.

I knew that.

I could feel it creeping, claiming.

And I hated that I regretted my decision.

I was selfish enough to want to reverse time and never leave Rook’s side. Never put her in danger by leaving her. Never be so arrogant to think I could survive.

I failed.

Failed her.

Failed everyone.

Gathering the little girl into my arms, I rocked her as if lullabying her to sleep.

All of this suffering was because of me.

No matter if Marcus had other mountains like this one—if he had more cages and chains—I could end everything with a single swipe.

He needed me.

Whatever he was doing all hinged on my blood.

So...if I no longer existed...he’d lose everything.

My death was the only mercy I could give.

Rook.

I’m so sorry...

Flames darted down my throat as if they’d been waiting for my final decision.

They poured.

They tore.

My heart stopped—

Chapter Sixty-Eight

I SLAMMED INTO HIM.

Flinging ice-covered arms around his flame-licking body, I clung to him just as his heart stopped.

I felt it.

Felt that final beat.

Whatever had happened to me on my journey here—whatever level of power I’d tapped into, now included the ability to sense death and decay.

And I wouldn’t allow it to have him.

“Open your eyes,” I hissed as ice surged out of me, bolting into him. The exquisite relief of being able to share the cold. To have someone capable of bringing me back from the brink.

I trembled as winter poured from my spine, my ribs, from the frozen marrow pushing me into a crypt.

His body jerked as another glacial flood sank through his fissured skin and into his burning bones.

But he didn’t open his eyes.

Tears froze on my cheeks as ice imploded like a galaxy inside me, drowning him, blanketing him, wrapping around his charred heart and—

His back arched with a strangled snarl.

I cried out as a gush of searing sunlight crashed into me, warm and ever so wonderful. I became the vessel he needed—his perfect opposite as we traded the elements trying to slaughter us.

Fire met frost.

Heat kissed cold and the crater where we knelt became a whirlpool of steam as our feeble human bodies struggled to tame non-human power.

His heart restarted, coughing like a furnace trying to spark.

His eyes flew open.

That scarlet ring glowed around his pitch-black pupils. For a second, it wasn’t just Lucien who stared back but whatever my parents had made him. Fire burned in him. Power raged in him. Hate ruled everything, but then he sagged and clutched me close with one arm.

The sky dimmed from blood-red to bruised violet. The scalding wind paused and the bond between us reforged.

A ricochet of soundless power ripped free. It rustled in the stars and frolicked in the trees before clashing back into our hearts and slamming a door closed behind it. The fragile thread that’d allowed us to hear snatches of thoughts and see glimpses of each other’s soul solidified into something timeless.

A glittering, unbreakable bridge full of sunlight and starlight, welding our spirits forever into one.

I felt him on the other side.

All it would take was to walk across that conduit thrown wide between us and enter his heart and mind.

He kissed me. Hard and deep.

I cried out as a flood of his feelings crashed into me.

Guilt over causing me pain, despair at not being able to stop countless deaths, and resolution to end everything.

I gasped as I touched the truth.

He...he thought dying was the only way to protect—

“It’s not.” Tearing away from his mouth, I shook my head. “You’re not responsible for—”

“Don’t.” His voice came out cracked and raspy. “Don’t try to make me forgive myself.”

“But—”

“Rook.” He shook his head and wrapped his arms around the tiny bundle on his lap. The bundle he hadn’t let go of. Pulling away from him, I shifted on my knees and noticed what I’d been blind to in my panic.

I’d arrived in a blizzard of pain and breaking.

I’d flung myself on him with no other thought than staying alive, but now...now I gasped at the earth that’d buckled beneath him, leaving nothing more than smoking ruin and a pile of blackened bodies.