Page 269 of Of Masks and Fury

The whip lay coiled beside his body like a snake. I picked it up, feeling the weight of it, remembering how it had felt cutting into my back.

“The mask breaks today, and I will never wear it again,” I told him, the army watching, and myself.

I flung the whip away. It landed in the dirt, and I turned my back on it, on him, and on everything he’d tried to make me become.

Trew strode over to meet me, staring down at me with sympathy and fury in his eyes. Through our bond, I felt his relief and pride.

Addie rushed over to stare down at the king’s body without a tear in her eyes. I found exhaustion there, and grief so complicated it had no name.

She came to me and pulled me into her arms.

“He made his choice,” she whispered against my throat. “Just like we made ours.”

I nodded, letting myself lean on her before we both straightened and turned to face the army.

The ranking officer approached, stopping several paces away. He looked at the king’s body, then at me, then at the warhorse standing calmly to the side.

“Your Highness.” He inclined his head in respect. “King Cyril’s death was his own doing. We all saw it.”

Agreement rippled through the ranks. Some soldiers gripped their weapons tighter, but others lowered them to their sides.

An older soldier, missing half an ear, stepped forward. “My daughter died on the Day of Mercy. She could make plants grow.” His voice cracked. “That was her crime. Plants that could grow food to feed us. She was barely twenty years old.”

A younger soldier removed her helm, revealing a face I recognized from the castle guard. “You saved my mother five years ago. I thought you weak for doing it.” She looked at Pherin, at thehealing land spreading around us, and at Addie standing beside her drake. “I was wrong.”

I took in the faces around me. I’d seen many of them at executions, standing guard to make sure innocent people died.

“I won’t ask you to forgive me for the Days of Mercy,” I said, my voice carrying in the still air. “I stood on that platform. I wore that hideous mask. I was complicit in what happened to our friends, family, and neighbors.”

Trew’s hand found mine, squeezing.

“But I’m asking you to stop it now,” I said. “My sister is alive, and so are those who may hold a touch of magic. There don’t have to be any more deaths.” I gestured to the Syllavar army who’d crested the hill behind us and waited for the word to retreat or attack. “They are not your enemies. They never were. Your enemy was the man who taught you to fear instead of understand. Who built his power on the bodies of innocent people whose only crime was being born different.”

I looked at the king’s body one last time.

“He died trying to destroy something he didn’t understand. I’m asking you not to make the same choice.”

The ranking officer glanced back at his troops. Several had already lowered their weapons. Others watched the land around them with green pushing through gray and flowers blooming where a wasteland had festered for sixteen years.

He turned back to me. “The king ordered us to destroy Syllavar, to wipe out everyone who wielded magic.” He glanced at the horse, at Pherin, and at the earth. “But the king is dead, and I say his war died with him.” He raised his voice to address his soldiers: “Stand down. We’re going home.”

Not everyone moved right away. Some hesitated, looking at the others.

Slowly, in ones and twos and then in groups, soldiers began turning back, beginning the long march to the center of Caldrith.

A few remained, their faces hard with the same conviction that had consumed the man I’d once called father. But we outnumbered them now, and they knew it.

The ranking officer knelt in front of me, placing his fist over his heart. “Your Highness, we await your orders.”

Others followed his example, enough to show that something had shifted.

Perhaps mercycouldbe stronger than fear.

“Return to Caldrith,” I said. “Tell them what you witnessed here. Tell them Amarissa and Adelaine live and they say that the Day of Mercy ends now.” I paused, letting the words settle. “Tell them we’ll find a way to bring peace to our land. Killing people for who they are is forbidden.”

The officer nodded and rose. He gestured to his troops, and they began the long walk home.

I swayed on my feet, my adrenaline finally crashing. Trew caught me before I could fall, his arms going around my waist.