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“I know a few things about shame myself. Becoming Scourge wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault.” She hesitated, lost in her own thoughts, before she added, “They don't deserve to die for it.”
“Life doesn't always give us what we deserve. Look around. Joachim was the worst of the elders, and he's still alive.”
“Well, we intend to take care of that,” she vowed. “Are you ready to come with us and start being useful again?”
I bristled at her words, but she smiled that teasing smile at me and wrapped her arms around me, and I couldn't manage to be mad.
“You make me crazy,” I told her.
She hesitated. “I should warn you now. Everyone is a little bit angry at me.”
“What did you do?” I'd felt the Scourge moving, I'd felt something changing and I already had a horrible sense that I knew what she had done.
She told me what had happened, then finished by telling me softly, “I just want to make the world a better place.”
And as scared as I was for her, as frustrated with the possibility of losing her, her vulnerability went straight to my soul. “You will. If anyone can make the world a better place, Honor, it's you. You already have.”
She pulled her face, obviously not believing me.
I caught her hand and pulled her toward me. “You made my world a better place.”
Then my lips seared to hers. I dropped the pack I’d been carrying so I could wrap her in my arms, and the two of us traded wild kisses in the middle of the road, with the soft rain blowing around us.
When we parted, her lips were red and bee-stung, and she clung to my shoulders as if she didn’t have any intention of letting me go ever again. I didn’t deserve to be loved the way she loved me.
But I wasn’t going to waste it.
“Come home,” she said again.
“All right.”
Her answering smile was like sunshine. She caught my hands in hers and pulled me into the shadows.
When we walked into the castle, my friends crowded around me, pounding my back. I’d never seen them be so obvious with their feelings before, and then I saw the way Honor beamed watching us, and I knew she was the reason.
Even after everything… I felt as happy as I had in a long time.
Then Zehr walked into the room.
I slammed into him, carrying him into the wall. His expression was shocked for a split-second. I pinned him against the wall and punched him as hard as I could in the gut.
He winced. “Are you finished?”
“I’m just getting started.” In the distance, I could hear Honor trying to calm me down.
Unseen hands—most likely including Damyn—were on my shoulders, pulling me back. They’d taken their time getting here. They must enjoy seeing Zehr get punched in the face, but they wanted to please Honor.
I pulled back with a jolt. They were trying to look after Honor by stopping me. Zehr deserved to be punched in face for what he’d done to me and to Honor, but… I dared at glance at Honor, who looked distraught, clutching my arm.
It seemed some part of the monster was in me still.
I released Zehr. He slumped back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling and rubbing his hand across his gut. “Your punches are unexpectedly lively. And here I thought you were always overtaken by ennui.”
“Can Zehr not shadow travel anymore?” Branok asked.
“I still have my powers,” Zehr said. “I don’t know if they’ll fade with time.”
“Then why are you taking punches?” Branok walked toward us as if he were going to experiment with punching Zehr too.
