Alec ran up and down the graves, searching everywhere, his heart thumping, desperate to know, wondering if he could have made it. Finally, he heard something.

“Alec!” called a weak voice.

Alec felt a wave of relief as he recognized his brother’s voice, albeit a weaker version of it, and he turned and ran to the edge of the graves.

There lay his brother, wounded, seeping blood, unmoving, and Alec’s heart sank as he saw him lying in the dirt, blood trickling from his mouth, gravely wounded.

He rushed forward and collapsed by his brother’s side, grabbing his limp, cold hand as he wept. He saw the grievous gash across his brother’s stomach, and he knew immediately that he was dying. He had never felt so helpless, seeing his brother staring back up at him, looking partially at him and partially at the sky, his eyes glazed, the life force leaving even as he watched.

“Brother,” Ashton said, more of a whisper.

He smiled weakly, despite his wounds, and Alec’s heart broke inside.

“I knew you would come,” Ashton said, smiling. “I was waiting for you…before I died.”

Alec clutched his brother’s hand, shaking his head, unwilling to accept this.

“You will not die,” Alec said, knowing even as he said his words that they were untrue.

Ashton smiled back.

“I never had a chance to thank you,” Ashton said. “For going…to The Flames.”

Ashton tried to swallow, while Alec blinked away tears.

“Who did this?” Alec insisted. “Who did this to you?”

Ashton fell silent for a long time, having difficulty swallowing.

“The Pandesians…” he finally replied, his voice weaker. “They…came…to teach us …for vengeance…”

Alec was surprised to feel his brother’s sudden strong grip on his arm, to see his brother clutching his forearm with a surprising strength. His brother stared up at him with one last look of strength, of intensity, the desperation of a dying man.

“Avenge me,” he said, his voice a whisper. “Avenge…all of us. Our parents. Our folk. Kill…Pandesians…. Vow to me…”

Alec felt a fresh sense of purpose, of determination, rise up within him as he had never felt in his life. He clasped his brother’s hand and looked back into his eyes with an equal ferocity.

“I vow to you,” Alec replied. “I vow to you with everything that I am. I will kill every last Pandesian—or I shall die trying.”

His brother looked at him with a fierceness in his eyes which Alec had never seen, for a long time. Finally, his expression turned into one of satisfaction.

Ashton’s face slackened, and he slid down and lay back his head, unmoving. He stared up at the sky with blank eyes, and Alec felt himself dying inside as he knew that at that moment, his brother was dead.

“NO!” Alec shrieked.