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“Ebba, I've used the last of my magic to offer you a way out. You've never needed a royal infant. You've needed an empty noble shell. Well, here I am.”
Horror rocked through me.
Zehr’s smug, warm voice rolled through the temple. “Honor, I told you I'd find a way to redeem myself. You're going to miss me, love.”
“No! No, you can't!” But my voice was lost to the noise.
Ebba leapt toward him. Magic flared through the room as Ebba dissipated into nothing but sheer magic once again. That blue mist slammed into Zehr, and Zehr stumbled back, his eyes wide.
Zehr’s face began to flicker, to change. He had a hundred faces, one right after another, each not even lasting a second. Eyes blossomed across this body, and mouths, all of them open in terror.
“Actually,” Zehr's voice rose above the magic again. “One last bit of magic. Honor--run!”
I didn't hesitate. My men and I grabbed each other, and we ran furiously out of the Temple.
I glanced back and caught a glimpse of Ebba’s face turned back to Zehr, his eyes wide with horror. He had just entered his body and he saw us fleeing. It was his moment of weakness. The one Kallus had waited for.
Arren grabbed me, sheltering me as we were thrown from the temple steps by the blast. Magic washed over us, pressing me to the earth, exploding my eardrums. I let out a scream of pain that I couldn't hear.
But then I heard Arren's voice in my mind. “Honor, are you all right?”
I looked up and met his gaze.
I couldn't speak. I wasn't all right. Not if Zehr was gone.
Arren seemed to understand. He pulled me to my feet. Together, we walked back towards the temple. The others joined us, and I felt a rush of relief as I saw each handsome face. Jaik. Caldren. Branok. Lynx. Talisyn. Damyn. My men were alive.
Except for Zehr.
And my uncle was gone too.
I couldn’t believe it, couldn’t process the loss. Zehr. He’d lived for two hundred years and when we finally found each other, he was gone?
We sifted through the rubble until we found Zehr. His own sharply-angled, cruelly beautiful face was back, and I ran my hand through his long dark curls. The bone crown was gone. He was free and away.
“Oh, Zehr. You had to have the last word, didn't you?”
Then I was crying, and my men came and knelt with me. And whether or not they had ever come to trust him, they mourned with me.
CHAPTER68
Honor
It washard for me to process Zehr was really gone. But I had to keep moving. I finally stood, drying my tears, and surveyed the wreckage of the building. Shredded flowers were scattered at our feet, their sweet scent rising into the air; the columns were toppled and rested uneasily across the temple’s debris.
“You really despise this temple, don't you?” Talisyn asked.
I laughed one of those long, wild laughs one only does when crying. “I suppose I do.”
“We need to get back to Rylow and see what Kallus's forces are doing.” Jaik gave me an apologetic look. “I know it's hard, when you just lost Zehr...”
“I always knew he was going to be hard to hold. Hard to find a happy ending.”
“Well, you do have a gift for changing the hearts of stubborn assholes.” Damyn rested his hand gently on my shoulder.
I wasn't sure if my ability to shadow travel had returned, but I was able to bring my men back, including Zehr’s corpse. It struck me hard as I realized that I was the last person on earth that could shadow travel now.
At last, the only one I knew of. Who knew what else Ebba had been up to?
