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As she creeps closer to the side of the crest, panic flares within me. “I don’t believe your brother lost hope, either,” I blurt desperately. “You said his will was the strongest. I think he sacrificed himself for you, so you could be the one to ascend. Colter understood what Emmons didn’t. He knew that there is no greater destruction than one of self, no catalyst more powerful to wield in alchemic creation.” I use Kallum’s words once again to reach her.
“Destruction isn’t an end, it’s a beginning,” she says, her voice whisper-soft. Her eyes sheen with shimmery starlight reflected off the water as her gaze connects with mine.
“When Emmons sacrificed his brother, his act was selfish.” I keep going, stoking that frail ember of hope. “But your brother gave his life for you, Devyn. He gaveyouthe gift.”
I see it the moment she surrenders, the flicker of clarity that sparks in her eyes. “I miss him so much,” she says.
A tear tracks down my cheek. “I know. I miss them, too,” I say, referring to my family. Then I take the final step toward her. Reaching into my pocket, I bring out my necklace. I open the clasp and gently slip the chain around her slender neck, fastening the back.
“But we’ll be connected forever,” I tell her, the same words she said to me in that dark moment. “Two halves made whole through primordial unity, where we transcend beyond our pain.”
Tentatively, she touches the diamond sitting in the hollow of her throat before she enfolds her arms around me. I embrace her, hugging my friend who I know I will never see again. Not in this lifetime.
The distinct sound of feet hitting the ladder rungs echos against the concrete, and I pull away. “Devyn, just go.” At the worried draw of her features, I say, “I’ll tell Agent Rana you went over the dam. They’ll dredge for a body, but they won’t find you.”
He won’t find you.
Understanding crystalizes in her dark eyes, and I see her suffering, the despair—knowing she’ll be alone when she dies, but she also won’t be locked away. It’s a sliver of hope that I cling to.
Before she escapes, she embraces me once more, her mouth near my ear. “The Harbinger saw an omen, Halen. You’ll figure it out.”
I seal my eyes closed, not wanting the delusions to be my last memory of her as I hold her close. I feel her pull away, and when I open my eyes, Devyn is gone.
With a shuddering breath to fill the aching cavity of my chest, I allow myself to feel the pain of her loss while I listen to their approach on the crest. Then, as I turn around, my gaze collides with his.
Blood stains the sharp spears of bone projecting from his head. His face bears deep cuts and contusions, the evidence of a fight to the death. His brawny chest is covered in streaks of blood and soot and mud. His eyes blaze with an unhinged, crazed intensity that steals my breath.
As I stare at Emmons, the horror of what his presence means crashes through me with a devastating violence.
Kallum.
“Where is she?” His words are delivered in a controlled manner.
Yet I hear nothing. Not the roar of his follow up demand. Not his enraged growl as he limps forward across the crest. The thundering beat of my heart cancels out everything. I’m drawn inward to some dark recess as the world descends into shadow.
The sigil on my thigh burns my skin as adrenaline pours into my blood.
Hand trembling, I touch the sleeve of Kallum’s shirt, swallowing the painful ache as I drag the cuff up to feel the defaced script on my forearm. The sticky heat of fresh blood coats my skin.
Emmons comes to a halt before me, his massive frame towering over mine. “Where the fuck is Devyn?” he shouts.
My palm coated in red, I dig my nails into the wound and then rip the remaining stitched threads from the flesh of my arm. The pain is a sharp relief to the debilitating ache encasing my soul as I tear through each layer, ripping my wounds wide open. I let the blood flow, the pain bleeding out of me and igniting a furious frenzy.
I bring my fingers to my face and trace the contours along my cheekbones, smearing blood under the hollows of my eyes in a horrid depiction of the killer I once hunted.
I was Kallum’s muse, although I never felt like one, especially after I killed the Harbinger. No, muses aren’t supposed to inspire death. In that moment, I shed the layers as a victim of loss and became a huntress like Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and moon, a vengeful deity.
As the drums surge through me, I embrace the violence that wants to reap retribution. If Kallum is gone, then there’s nothing left to inspire.
I wear the face of a killer as I go to meet the Harbinger in that abyss.
Slowly, with methodical, deliberate ease, I cast a look over the side of the dam, giving Emmons his answer. “She’s down there.”
“No—” he roars. Teeth clenched, he strikes quick. His hand snaps around my neck and he drags me closer, my toes scraping the rough surface of the dam. “Goddamn bitch…”
His words slash through me, and Wellington’s mutilated face flashes across my vision. The pool of blood spreads, coating everything around us as his sinister voice rises up from the trenches of my mind:I’ll show you, bitch.
The vise choking my throat tightens.
