My own soul will rise, Alina thought. My soul will fly to the stars. If you can hear me, stars, grant me death now.

Light blazed above, but it was not starlight. Fire rained. A silver dragon swooped and roared. The demonic insect, Ciana's mount, tried to rise and fight, but the dragonfire crashed into it. It crumpled.

Ciana leaped to her feet, bloody sword in hand, and spun around. She raised her arms in defense, a useless gesture. The dragon's claws drove into her chest and emerged bloody from her back.

Lying on the mountainside, her lifeblood dripping away, Alina winced and her heart twisted, for even now she had not craved Ciana's death.

"Alina!" The silver dragon shook his claws, sending Ciana's corpse tumbling down the mountainside. Dorvin released his magic, resumed human form, and knelt above Alina. "Stars damn it. Alina! Can you hear me?"

She smiled weakly at her brother. She raised her hand and touched his clean-shaven cheek. "Even as war burns the world, you still shave every morning, you vain thing." Her tears flowed down to her smile. "You're going to drive Maev crazy, but you'll make her happy too."

"You're going to drive me crazy." He tore off a strip of his cloak and bandaged her leg. "Talking like that, like you're not going to be here? Hush your big mouth." Yet she saw the dampness in his eyes, the tremble in his fingers. "Falling down and getting wounded like that . . . Are you sure we're related? Damn it, Alina." He pressed more cloth against the wound on her neck. "Once this war's over, I'm going to kill you."

Her eyelids fluttered. He was too late; she knew that. She had lost too much blood, and her pain was fading now. "I'll look after you." Her voice was but a whisper. "I promise you, Dorvin. Always. I will look down upon you from the stars, and I will bless Requiem. My light will always shine with you."

His tears flowed freely. He pulled her into his arms. "I told you to hush your mouth! You just have a few scratches on you. You're talking as if you're dying or something." He held her close. "I'm not going to let you die. I've always looked out for you."

"And now you'll look after Requiem." She clutched his hand. "You are a warrior of Requiem, a defender of our people. Remember that always. In Requiem's gauntlet, as fire rains and our blood spills upon the mountain, I name you Eleison, an old word in a forgotten tongue. It means mercy, and I pray now to the stars to show mercy to Requiem, to let her rise from flame into a great kingdom of starlight."