“A pyre?” Sweyn snarled and raced up onto the pyre to stand beside Everest while her army remained on the ground. She looked down at the woman in disgust and rage. “On second thought, no. I like it. Let Heaven have her charred body. May her soul reek of smoke for eternity so they will never forget who robbed them of their soldier.”

Everest nodded.

“Light it,” Sweyn snapped. She pointed to the woman. “I want to watch her burn.”

Everest swallowed roughly though Sweyn missed it, she was too busy grinning down at the dead woman. He licked his lips and reached for the nearest torch with a hand that trembled. My heart broke for him. That was his wife. He’d told me Auryn’s mother had been his wife, and I’d heard Auryn call her her mother.

I gasped for air. My chest was tight. I gripped my chest. Everest. Soulmate or not, there was no doubt he loved that woman. I felt his pain as if it were my own. I felt his heart crumbling before me. How Sweyn missed this was beyond me, his pain was clear on his face and in the tightness of how he held himself. I couldn’t imagine how much this hurt especially as he lifted that fiery torch and pressed the flames to the brush beneath his wife’s body.

As the flames flickered all around her, Sweyn threw her head back and cackled.

Everest stared at his wife as the flames grew higher and higher.

Oh, Everest. I’m so sorry. I wanted to hold him. It didn’t matter that he’d given his heart to another woman before me, I could not handle seeing him hurt. Sure, when I’d first heard he’d once had a wife there’d been a moment of jealousy but that feeling had faded almost immediately even then. But if it hadn’t, if I’d harbored jealousy for a wife he’d had centuries before me, that would have died right here in this moment. I loved him, I just wanted to hold him and console him.

Sweyn’s maniacal laughter faded. “Heaven may have won this fight, but the victory of war will be ours . . . especially once we kill the rest of the soldiers like this one.”

My heart twisted. God, did Sweyn kill her? How could he stay by the side of the person who killed his wife? No, there must be another story.

“The sun shall rise soon, let us retire.” Sweyn started to walk away then glanced back. “Everest, you remember what you’re to do?”

He nodded. “Of course, my lady.”