Page 126 of Memory of Ashes

Men came running, both fae and human, and watched as the warrior’s remains swirled and scattered into the air, disappearing.

“What the hell just happened?” General Atwood demanded.

No one answered him because no one knew.

Amelia still clasped the shard in her hand. Then the memory of the sick miners surfaced.

It fell from her hand to the ground as she stepped back, gasping.

“It’s the chrysonium,” she said.

They all turned to look at her.

“That’s what is keeping you alive!” she exclaimed to Tharos. “And that is what’s making them sick!”

The refined chrysonium must have been safe. Humans were surrounded by it every day—it powered most of their city. In its raw form, it was lethal. She remembered the miners and how they’d had very little protective gear.

Every fae who had survived being stranded in her world had also been injured in the mine explosion.

She put her hands to her mouth, too late. She had just given the humans knowledge of how to kill them and a reason to do so.

Tharos absently touched his arm.

Horror spread across the general’s face as he realised the fae were still killing them, even now. The Lifesource embedded in the fae was poisoning his men.

He stepped back as if they were diseased.

“You need to go. You need to leave the city,” he said.

The general backed away from them. Even with the knowledge of how to kill the fae, his weakened soldiers would stand little chance against their superior strength and skill. But he was right: the fae had to leave, or the remaining humans would die.

“I’ll prepare the men to leave,” Tharos said and left the palace.

Chapter 31

Amelia

“You don’t have to leave with them,” General Atwood said after Tharos had gone. He was serious, and for a moment, she considered his offer.

She remembered five bowls crowded among the maps and bloodied bandages. No one had asked whether she belonged at that table. They had simply made room.

She appreciated it, but couldn’t leave the fae, couldn’t leave Casyl’s men. Somewhere along the way, they had become her people too.

She shook her head slowly. “Take care, General. Maybe you and your men can escape when the monsters attack us.”

He was sending the fae to their deaths. The fae had a better chance of escaping than the humans did, but both Amelia and Atwood knew that survival was unlikely for either group.

The fae were ready. They’d waited long enough for the monsters to attack and now was as good a time as any to face them.

The humans stood on the walls watching them as the gates opened and the fae filtered out into the open.

Amelia looked up at her city one last time. The humans had gathered to watch their departure.

“We need to draw them away from the city,” she said. She had chosen to remain with the fae, but that didn’t mean she wanted any harm to come to the humans.

She stood ready to fight and, if need be, accept her death with Casyl’s people. They were her people now.

The monsters became alert. Their tendrils of smoke travelled across the ground before them as the fae stood battle-ready, swords drawn, for what good it would do them.