Page 112 of Memory of Ashes

Eleandor sat up, struggling to catch his breath after Casyl’s grip had nearly strangled him. Colour slowly returned to his face. “She had no choice.” He shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, Casyl, but it was the only way.”

“You said that you could close the rift!”

“She was the reason it wouldn’t close. It wasn’t open because of her; it was open through her.”

He didn’t understand. She’d been the one to open the rift.

“She shouldn’t have existed,” the sage breathed.

“What? What do you mean?”

Silence.

“Her mother was one of us.”

The world seemed to stop.

Suddenly, everything seemed to make sense. The voiding, the rift. The way magic recoiled from her.

“A single body cannot hold both fae and human energy. They negate,” Eleandor said.

The revelation hollowed him.

She was part-fae. A half-blood. That was why she could void their power. She had never truly belonged in either world.

He thought of the way magic failed around her, as if it rejected her. The way she’d crossed worlds.

His father had recognised what she was. Tiryn had known the truth and kept it from Casyl. Even Salkin had known.

It had never been because she was human. She was an anomaly. She shouldn’t have been. But she was, and that made everything possible.

“Maybe if we’d had more time, there might have been another way. But the creatures were close to breaking through, and the human army was so close behind. She made a decision. She chose to save her people, to save us, to give us all a chance.”

Any response died on his tongue. He was numb. His men couldn’t see him like this.

He turned to Ruven, defeated.

With his father’s death, he was now the de facto king. Such an empty title. King of the barren land where his people had been banished.

“Where’s Tharos?”

“I haven’t seen him,” Ruven replied. They scanned the field for him.

His eyes went wide.

“Some men didn’t make it through before Amelia… closed it. Tharos was at the rear.”

They both went quiet. Tharos had been like a brother to both of them, and now he was trapped back in the human lands. If anyone could keep the remaining men safe, it would be him.

Today’s loss was too great. There were no words.

“I’m sorry.” Elthar approached. “What they sacrificed for us won’t be forgotten.”

Casyl nodded, unable to speak.

“We need to discuss what happens next. Join us in High City. It’s closer than your lands.”

He didn’t want to think about that right now. It was hard to organise his thoughts. He wanted to grieve for Amelia, but he could not do so publicly. His men were his responsibility now and their welfare and their futures rested with him.