“Inessa would hate me.” She pressed a kiss upon his stricken face. “And I would hate me as well. I love you, Fox. And if you want to prove that you love me, then live every day with meaning. Wherever I am, Kalen and I will watch over you.”

Lord Kalen offered her his hand. “Are you ready, love?”

Her smile was blinding. “Always.”

The azi approached them, its three snouts nuzzling against her, protective. Like her, it was dying. They were all dying, bone showing and blood flowing, maimed deeply by the Faceless, but all seven of the great beasts looked at peace as they began their final journey.

“Are you scared?” I thought I heard the Deathseeker ask, but I could not hear her quiet reply, her laughter the only sound floating back to us.

We could only watch as they and their pet daeva walked toward that beautiful tree. Lady Tea and Lord Kalen turned back to smile at us, and then he bent down to kiss her, fiercely and ferociously and lovingly, until they were swallowed by the holy light.

The tree continued its upward spiral into the sky, climbing higher into the clouds until I thought it could reach the heavens. The landscape changed. Streaks of light shone around us, and for the briefest of moments, I felt serenity within the depths of my soul like I had never known before.

Then the light disappeared and the tree along with it. We were left in the empty field of sand, which started blooming to life as ponds of water formed and small green shoots grew around us, restoring the place to what must have been its ancient beauty. I looked down in wonder and discovered the Lady Tea’s letters at my feet.

27

I could have bathed him in my tears.

I had no oils to anoint him aside from asha-ka perfumes, no ceremonial robe to clothe him, but an extra cloak. I brought his body to the banks of the sea and dug at the hard sand until my hands bled, until I had uncovered a hole wide enough to hold him. We had talked about living by the seashore, but this was all I could afford him. I had no strength left to give, but everything I had was for him still.

I tried to will in the Dark, tried to wrap it around me as I always could before, direct it with all the love inside of me.

“Rise up.”

I could no longer feel the darkness. I could no longer touch the runes. My chest felt bare without the weight of my heartsglass. Wasn’t that what I wanted? I thought, and hysterical mirth bubbled from my lips, desperate for an outlet. Didn’t you want normalcy, to be free from the burdens of the Dark?