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“So am I.” His gaze met mine. “I didn’t want you to take this burden.”
“I know. You tried to force it on Arren. But I took it willingly.”
He grabbed my shoulders, his long fingers curling into my skin. A shiver ran through my body at his touch, my core tightening despite myself. His dark eyes flashed down on me.
“It’s a death sentence, Honor. When we cure the Scourge of their curse, what do you think happens to them?” he demanded. “Flesh knits back over bone, memories of eating humans fades away, they heal back to normal people? Does that make any sense?”
Calla. June’s sister. So many others.I tried to sort through my feelings, which were suddenly overwhelming.
“How do I save them?” The questions spilled out without a filter, even though Zehr wasn't exactly the person I trusted with my innermost thoughts.
“How do we saveyou?”He raked his hand through his hair desperately, his eyes wild. “It's just common sense, Honor. You can't undo what's already been done. They're monsters.”
“Arren turned back.”
“Arren hadn't completed the process.”
A tiny spark of hope ran through me, although it wasn't enough. I wanted to save them all. but I could certainly save some if I acted quickly.
“What are you thinking, wild girl?” Zehr asked. “Areyou thinking? For the first time since you decided to steal my crown?”
I touched it self-consciously. “How do you feel now?”
“Better.” He tilted his head, studying me curiously. “Alive. Powerful.”
“Then why aren't you waking up?”
“Maybe the world is better in my dreams.”
“I'm sure it is, because this world kind of sucks, but it's still ours to fix. And I can't do it without you. So wake up.”
He gave me a quizzical look. “You can fix it without me. You crowned yourself Queen of the Scourge. You don't need me anymore.”
“You're the one who knows the curse. And I thought you were too stubborn to die.”
A smile touched his lips. “Is there something you want from me, Honor?”
Too much.“I want your help fixing the world that you helped make so terrible.”
His gaze met mine frankly, and he didn’t even sound vicious when he said, “Making the world terrible isyourfamily legacy.”
I shook my head. “Fine. But I didn’t do it and I still have to fix it, right? So help me.”
“Why? What do I have to live for, Honor? My family is all dead. My closest friends were Tor and Kessily, and you can see how that went. I have nothing. Death would be a mercy.”
Although he said the word lightly, they carried a ring of truth.
“So give me a reason.” he said. “You think you're so smart, smarter than anyone else in the room, which gives you leave to lie and scheme and change the world out for its own good.”
The words stung like a slap. Damyn would’ve said the same thing. Worst of all, it was true.
Then he added, “And you're usually right. You are wickedly brilliant and brilliantly wicked, when you put your mind to it. So explain it to me. Why should I live, now that I'm not the one who has to hold back the Scourge?”
I stared up at him, stricken by the thought of losing Zehr.
I couldn't imagine life without him as terrible as he was.
He was still looking down at me with that arrogant expression that made me want to slap him.
