His death had never been his choice to make. Silas had made it for him.
August fell to his knees. His hands fought to loosen the top buttons of his shirt, breaths heaving, a strangled sob tearing at his throat. All this time. All these years. How could he not have known? How could he not have remembered?
“We were never meant to go to Blackwood.”Wren knelt beside him.“He violated the natural order. Tore us from our lives and forced us into an eternity that never belonged to us. Even in Blackwood…we were never meant to stay here for more than a decade. All of us. We were meant to cross over. We werealwaysmeant to have a choice.”
August stared up at the monstrous version of Wren. Hot tears burned behind his eyes.
“Sowhat?” he sputtered. Even her eyes looked different. Those glacial blue eyes of hers were marked with deadly anger—a primal rage. “Now you’re just going to burn it all down? Destroy Blackwood and everyone in it?”
Wren’s lip twitched.
“That’sexactlywhat I intend to do.”
“No.” August shook his head. “This—this isn’t you, darling. The Soulless One is poisoning you. He’s controlling you—”
“Controlling me?”Wren echoed, laughing. She raised her hand and one of her shadows coiled around her wrist, shifting until it had formed a sharpened blade.“No, my darling. For once in my godforsaken life—I’mthe one in fucking control.”
August flinched at the venom in her voice.
“No. I know you, Wren Loughty. I know you. And this”—he gestured to the shadows with a defeated wave—“this isn’t you.” But the moment the words left August’s lips, Wren’s expression hardened. She raised herself back onto her feet, staring down at August with a leer of disgust.
“Edith is coming.”There wasn’t an inkling of remorse in her voice.“Once she arrives, she will know of your betrayal. You’ll be marked as defected.”Slowly, she dragged the edge of her blade toward August’s neck.“My last sliver of mercy is this…leave. Leave the encampment and never come back.”
August remained kneeling. He stared up at Wren.
“I won’t leave you.”
“I won’t offer you this mercy again. This is your last chance to leave with your soul intact.”
“Then take it.” August splayed his palms over his chest. “Take my soul, Wren. I told you before…it’syours. Every part of me. My soul. My heart. My eternity. It always belonged to you.”
Her expression changed. It was so small, so inconsequential, that August might have missed it. But itwasthere. A morsel of anguish. A tiny glimpse into the emotions he knew were lingering beneath the surface, locked behind the Soulless One’s shadows. But Wren swallowed it back, the whites of her eyes blotted out by darkness.
“There is nothing left of the girl you once knew, August.”Her voice rumbled, deep and foreboding.“Soleave.”
August reached for her. One last time.
“Wren—”
LEAVE!
The word echoed in his mind with such intensity that he was thrown backward. The voice had been Wren’s—but not this twisted, warped version of her voice. It washervoice. Desperate. Pleading. In front of him, Wren’s shadows had sprung to towering heights, a web of billowing darkness twisting, rupturing with startling violence.
I’m sorry, August whispered into her mind.Forgive me, darling.
August gathered himself onto his feet and did the one thing he could think to do.
He ran.
His vision blurred as he strode out of the tent and into the bustling cavern. He paid no mind to the Demiens around him. Their piercing stares and curious whispers were a meaningless speck in his peripheral vision. They didn’t matter anymore.Nothingmattered anymore. He just kept moving. One foot in front of the other. He needed to leave. To get as far away from the destruction he had caused.
He didn’t even notice he was nearing the entrance to the encampment until he was walking out into the cool night air, the expanse of Widow’s Forest stretching in front of him.
August had taken the first step toward the forest when a voice rang out.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
Quinn was standing behind him, chest heaving as she caught her breath. Had she been following him?
