“You don’t have to do this,” I tell him. “What happened to you and your people was wrong, but this isn’t the answer. You’ve hurt so many people, and destroying the Shield is only going to hurt more.”

Every word I speak is hard. This is the man who killed my parents—all I want is revenge for the pain he’s caused me.

But I see now what revenge has done to him, what it will do to me if I don’t let it go: it eats away at you, until there’s nothing left of who you are.

With great effort, I force myself to lower my blades. “You have to move on, Fin,” I say. “You have to let go.”

As I say it, I feel the knot of emotions inside me releasing, because it’s not just him I’m giving permission to, but myself. Somewhere inside those feelings, I seize hold of the cord that binds us, and through it I can feel his anguish and pain and anger, and he can feel mine.

He holds my gaze, and I hear his voice in my mind, more feeling than words. I am scared of what comes next.

So am I. But you are not alone.

I look to the shapes in the Shield, to the people who have followed him across realms and centuries, and his head turns with mine.

Something new breaks through the link. Something warm and peaceful.

Something like understanding.

Bit by little bit, flecks of golden light rise from the King of the Dead’s body. He starts to glow, as do those across the Shield. Like snow caught by a whirlwind, the light peels away, funneling toward the Shield in an arc.

The Shield burns brighter and brighter, until the last of Fin’s body and those of his people disperse into light with a brilliant flash. Then the light fades, and I watch as the Shield slowly disappears.

The only sounds are Anna’s quiet sobs. She sits huddled on the ground, her body wrapped around Max’s, shaking.

Chapter 31: Colin

My heart is on fire. There’s no other way I can explain the pain exploding through my body, the way my chest feels like someone’s driving a corkscrew through it, or why breathing feels impossible.

I drop beside Anna and throw my arms around her. There’s nothing I can say, so I just sit there and hold her, tears tracking down my cheeks.

I want so badly to keep it all in. To make the pain stop, but I know now that I can’t do that. Life isn’t all joy and flight; it’s also raw aches and pains. It’s loving someone so much it makes it hard to breathe, and then letting them go.

It’s good and it’s bad and it’s too much to keep contained inside you.