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Luelle had spoken the truth. Violet would be free of her curse, but she wouldn’t be happy.
It had been Thalea all along. Her sister’s imaginary friends, her talking to the spirit of their father back in the mines. Everything had led them to this moment.
“Call them off, now!” Dargan’s growl pebbled Violet’s skin with an icy cold touch, and her warmth breath turned to mist. The ground shook beneath her feet as she struggled to keep standing.
The moans of the spirits that swarmed around Thalea were awful, but they were holding the god back.
“Don’t take her, Dargan.” It was the second time she’d begged, and she would do it again and again if it meant keeping her sister safe. “We’ve come this far. Take me instead. I will do anything. Please.”
She’d hated him and everyone who’d forced her into this mess, but it had been her own actions that had led them all into this moment. Violet would’ve sacrificed herself over and over again before she allowed her younger sister to live a life of never dying. It was unbearable to think of her becoming as jaded as Luelle had been.
Dargan didn’t stop his approach, and although he was closer to Thalea than Violet and Gavin, she could see his face grow more frustrated by the minute, as more Neems piled on top of him. “I’m not interested in you anymore,” he said. “Not when I have my necromancer.” He turned his golden gaze upon her, and his eyes softened a fraction. “It’s what you wanted all along, pet. Live, and be sure she’ll be safe.”
“No.” Violet’s voice was a pathetic whine.
Dargan reached Thalea, pulling her out of a wall of spirits that snapped their slack jaws at the god. They never harmed him, as every cut and bruise healed instantly before their eyes.
“Wait! Please, let me say goodbye. I will come with you without a fight if you do.” Thalea struggled inside Dargan’s grasp as he scooped her into his arms. The only remaining part of the roof collapsed on top of the boat, and it sank into the churning sea. Gavin dragged Violet closer to the door.
Dargan paused. Just when Violet thought he wouldn’t respond, he placed Thalea back down. “Make haste. I’m not a patient man.”
He was not a man, but a monster she couldn’t kill. Violet ran toward her sister, swallowing the fear that spiked at being so close to the Shadow God and the surrounding Neems.
Then Thalea’s arms held her tight, her lips hovering over Violet’s ear. “I’m happy to do this for you.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to be taken.” Thalea smiled. “Don’t you see? You get to stay with Gavin. Have the family you desire. And for once, I’m not the crazy woman, feared and hated. I have a purpose.”
A sob lodged in Violet’s throat. “You shouldn’t be taken to be exploited for your gift.”
“No. But you wouldn’t want me around you. I don’t even know what I’m doing. The spirits are always there, and they react when I’m overwhelmed. It’s why Dad got the stone.” Thalea stepped back and brought her small hand up to Violet’s cheek. “I love you, even though I wish I’d gotten to know you better. I always have.”
The floor beneath their feet trembled, and a board right beside them crumbled into the water.
“And I love you, Lea,” Violet whispered.
“We have to go, Violet.” Gavin pulled her back just as a piece of the building rained down on them.
“She’s alive,” Thalea screamed above the commotion, right as Dargan reached her, wrapped both arms around her waist, and disappeared them both from view. All the Neems vanished alongside them.
Her sister was gone. Violet’s curse was broken, and yet… she had never been so sad.
“Who is alive?” Gavin asked and turned to where Julius’ remains lay on the ground.
The commander’s limbs were bent in weird directions. His blue eyes stared sightlessly at the ceiling. But Violet’s gaze was fixed on the spot beside him. At the woman she’d avoided looking at since Julius had stabbed her.
“My mother,” she said.
33
VIOLET
Lightning flashed behind black clouds that blocked out the sun. The heavy air still held a thick, rotten quality she could taste in her throat. This was the aftermath of being swarmed by death. Literally.
Violet closed the back door and followed Gavin across the mess of broken furniture and glass into her mother’s room.
Gavin placed her over furs on the bed, which loomed twice as large in her memory. He straightened with a grimace and sank down next to her. He hadn’t been able to hide the limp on their walk back here.
