Page 163 of Vengeance of the Gods

The stroke of Death was hard to miss.

He looked down at Meyer’s lifeless body, Vega’s hands falling from his face. Bridger pulled an arm out from underneath Meyer’s knees, resting him on the warm ground below, using his free hand to close his eyelids and mouth.

If it weren’t for the blood splatter across his cheek, it would look like he was sleeping.

Footsteps echoed from behind. Bridger drew his sword without thinking, spinning to meet the tip of the black blade to the throat of his assailant.

Except it wasn’t an assailant… It was Halo—who looked like he might pass out from the combination of the sword at his jugular and the very dead Meyer resting in Bridger’s arms.

“Oh my gods,” Halo gasped, jumping from the tip of Bridger’s sword to behind Vega where he probably felt safest. “No, no. What… what happened?”

Meyer is dead.

“Marlena,” Vega croaked. “It was my fault.” Her voice shook. “I should have listened. I shouldn’t have⁠—.”

“No,” Bridger rumbled. “Not your fault.” He couldn’t figure out how to talk in full sentences yet, but at least his face wasn’t getting any wetter from tears.

Or maybe it was.

Oh, how did my sword get on the ground? Had he dropped it?

His eyes wandered around him, glancing across from him to see Vega still sitting there, her own face streaked with tears.

“His parents?” Bridger asked.

“Gone,” Vega whispered.

Bridger didn’t know if that meant dead or fled, but he didn’t want to know either way. “We need to burn him.”

“Of course,” Vega said, reaching out to wipe the tears off Bridger’s face.

Apparently, he was still crying.

“We can take him anywhere you want to go,” Halo added.

“Here. He’d want to be burned here. At home.”

So, that was what they did. They burned him at home in the town square where all the bodies of the Ingises before him had been burned.

Vega felt physically ill hearing Vulcan call to her when the pyre for Meyer’s body was lit.

The people of Ustilo slowly came out of their homes, no longer needing to hide from Marlena’s potential attack. She was gone for now, tending to her wounds.

People brought flowers from inside their homes or their small backyard gardens. Some brought trinkets—metal fire pins for shirts, wooden figurines of Vulcan—the god of Ardor.

Everyone who had yet to flee the city came to pay their respects, dipping their heads at Bridger in silent respect. He could barely look them in the eyes.

Vega stood by his side the entire time, her thumb rubbing circles on the back of his hand. She thanked every person before they walked away.

They’d found allies in Ardor, and all it had taken was for Marlena to kill the son of their once-beloved original family.

Halo jumped to the mines to tell everyone the news of Meyer’s passing, returning with word from Khort that they’d successfully evacuated the mines and were headed back to Vincere with the survivors.

When Halo returned, he had Leo in tow. With a few other soldiers, they began going door to door, giving people the option to stay or go.

For every one who left, fifteen stayed. Ardor had been sick of Marlena’s reign for much longer than anyone could have imagined.

They stayed until the fire went out and Meyer’s body was nothing but ash. The sun started to dip behind the mountains in the far-off distance, and people had stopped coming by almost an hour ago.