Masika looked between them.
“The Soulless One’s ring was destroyed…but everything has a price.”
The weight of Masika’s words barreled into Wren and a strangled gasp escaped her throat. She watched the realization strike the others, one by one. Emilio staggered backward. Olivier shook his head, disbelief creasing his face. August simply stood there, stone-faced, though Wren saw the way he dug his fingernails into the palm of his hand, the indents he left behind.
“No…” Emilio’s denial was heartbreaking.“No.”
“Thatidiot—” Olivier choked out. His panicked eyes landed on the pile of ash by Masika’s feet. “What…what was shethinking?”
August’s response was a breathless whisper.
“She saved us.”
Olivier flinched.
“At the expense of her own soul.”
“I didn’t say goodbye,” Emilio muttered helplessly, though it appeared as though he was speaking to himself, as if it had only now dawned on him.
Olivier strode toward Masika, gripping her by the arms, desperation in his stare.
“There has to be a way to get her back.” He searched her face, pleading. “This can’t be it…she can’t begone.”
“Her sacrifice is final.” Masika’s voice cracked. “She’s gone.”
And then she told them everything. How the True Headmaster and the Soulless One had been connected—one and the same. How Irene had chosen to sacrifice her own soul to save the afterlife, absorbing the ring’s power and letting it consume her. And how, in the wake of that destruction, hidden among the rubble and ash, a new Headmaster had been beckoned, chosen by the academy and ushered from the darkness.
Masika.
The Headmaster of Blackwood Academy.
“Holy shit,” Olivier muttered, looking Masika up and down. “You mean…you’rethe new Headmaster?”
Masika lifted her hand, gesturing to the ring glistening upon her index finger.
“It…chose me.” Her voice wavered, but she continued. “I don’t know why. And I don’t expect I ever will, but…all I know is thatthisis my duty. What I was called for. What I was born for.”
Wren’s knees buckled. Just as the words had left Masika’s lips, that same searing pain had begun to twist at her insides. Whatever morsel of strength the healer had offered her vanished, and she collapsed onto her knees, though August was next to her by the time she hit the floor, his strong hands holding her steady as he lowered himself beside her.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
The world swayed around her.
“I’m…fine.”
“You’re not.” His voice was rough, desperate.
Masika knelt beside Wren. She placed her hand upon Wren’s cheek. At her touch, a searing heat crawled through Wren’s skin.A presence. It was Masika. She was in Wren’s mind, in the heart of her very soul. And when their eyes met, Wren knew.
This was it.
My time is up.
“What is it?” August looked between them. “What’s happening to her?”
“The piece of your soul tethering her to this plane can only hold for so long.” Masika dragged her eyes to August. Her expression was solemn. “And once it breaks…” Her voice trailed off as she dropped her hand.
August shook his head, indignation building behind his eyes.
