I fuckingchokehim with it.
All my rage, all the anger, all the black and bitter hatred I’ve carried for decades—they’re his now. I give him the worst memories of my father. I give him my fears, my nightmares, my pain.
I give him what he did to Ani, all the tortures he inflicted upon him, all the lives he forced Ani to take at the behest of the Black Sun.
I give him the shame that haunted Baz for years.
I give him Kirin’s guilt.
I give him the seared flesh of my brothers’ skin, the smell of it, the rot.
I give him the screams of battle, the blood running down the red stone paths on campus, the crumbling buildings of the place I’ve called home for longer than I can remember.
I give him every terror, every darkness, every demon he’s ever used to torture the people I love. The people I would die for. The people I wouldkillfor.
And then I give him the worst of it—the dark, soulless pit left behind in the wake of Stevie’s sacrifice. The yawning emptiness of a possible world without her.
All of it pours from my heart like a million shards of glass, shredding me as it leaves, carving me up inside.
Judgment falls to his knees. Still holding him in my clutches, I follow him down. The pain is nearly unbearable as the vile poison empties from my body and flows into his, but I hold on until I’m certain I’ve released every last shard of glass.
After an eternity, his body stills. I no longer feel his breath. No longer hear his muffled cries of anguish.
And just like that, Dark Judgment turns to ash in my arms.
“All who are deemed unworthy shall burn,” I whisper.
A soft breeze blows through the mists, carrying away his remains along with the very last of my shame and guilt. The very last of my poison.
Slowly I get to my feet. Dust off my hands. Take a breath of fresh air. The world feels different now. Cleaner. Full if possibilities. Even crazy ones.
Especiallycrazy ones.
Stevie’s voice comes back to me again, this time from the night we drove out to the desert to take the Chalice to the Fool’s Grave.It’s called hope… And right now, I’ll take that over freaking out like a little bitch any day…
My brothers stand behind me. Even in their awed silence, I feel their presence. Their loyalty. Their love.
I turn to them, a smile stretching across my lips.
And a little flame sparks to life inside my chest.
Yes, my Star. I know. It’s called hope.
Kirin lifts his eyebrows.
Baz cocks his head.
Ani returns my smile, a bit of that contagious hope shining in his eyes, too. “Feeling better, then?”
“Like a new mage,” I reply honestly.
Baz blows out a breath. “That was… pretty epic, Cass. Fucking terrifying, but pretty epic.”
“Cosigned,” Kirin says. “But… what the hell do we do now?”
“Now?” I clamp a hand over his shoulder, another over Ani’s. “Now we go get our woman.”
Kirin lowers his gaze. “But she’s—”
