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Three. A single tear slips free as I finally exhale.
My arms snap out, but my power doesn’t trickle, it overflows in a torrent as it floods all around us. I guide it to the Sea of Souls, wielding it to blanket over the surface. It skims the water, and I grunt as I push more energy out, layering itself to create a shield, to become dense enough to be impenetrable. Layers of skin feel like they are being singed from my body, causing my teeth to grind together to fight against the force of power propelling from me.
But a silent gasp escapes me when a black orb releases from the water, floating higher towards the opening at the top of the cave.
“What is that?” Draven asks through the bond.
“Whiro’s soul,” I say out loud, stunned by the sight.
It doesn’t surprise me that it’s not a spark of light because what dwells within him is evil and poisonous. A stain that is finally removed.
When his soul disappears, I gently nudge the wyvern, dipping my head closer to his. “I believe we are safe to drop the shadows.”
A jerk of his head is all I get before he bellows out a roar and the rest mimic it. Suddenly, all the shadows disappear as the others reign their power in, but I don’t stop. With trembling hands, I keep flooding the Sea of Souls with enough light to seal away Whiro for eternity. He can’t break free from a place where it’s too bright for shadows to exist.
It's in this moment that I know my mother was right. His power being used against him will become his undoing, but a bright enough light will restrain the darkness of his soul.
Now, he is simply a ghost with a wicked heart that is trapped in the in-between.
My shoulders drop, exhaustion pulling at me as I crouch down. My hands fall when I let my light die away, and I stare with half-lidded eyes at the Sea of Souls. The silence in the cave is almost deafening, all of us in disbelief at how the water now shimmers like a white veil, which looks wrong in the blackened cave. Even the flowers that were once decorating the pillars have fallen ill, drooping with withered petals, as if their job to conceal death is finally over and they can rest.
A warm, gentle touch brushes my shoulder and I turn to find Draven scanning my face. He must feel the fatigue that is burrowing in the marrow of my bones and see the way my eyes feel heavy. I carefully let myself lower all the way onto the wyvern’s back, once again sitting because the muscles in my legs have started to feel weak.
My eyes fall back to the water below, and even though we’ve won…I don’t feel the revelry I thought I would have. But there is a peace that is warming my heart and a weight that lifts from my shoulders. It seems strange for this to be the end without spilling his blood or making him scream out in pain like I always imagined. Then again, it doesn’t need to be anything else. It only needs to be over so everyone can freely live their lives again. And for the wyvern shifters… For them to start life again.
A new beginning.
The whisper of wings multiplies as the wyverns begin to fly upward. Their shadows cascade around them before they disappear, portaling back to our realm. Strong arms slide underneath my body as Draven lifts me to hold me once more. The scent of him helps soothe the throbbing that lingers behind my eyes and in the front of my skull. I rest my cheek on his chest, letting my body release all the tension that it's been holding onto.
“No more monsters, little demon,” he whispers, his breath fanning my hair.
“There is one more,” I say softly, but he’s one that I already have plans for.
Draven’s brows furrow, but my eyes drift to the wyvern who carried me. He huffs through his nostrils with a powerful thrust of his wings before shadows consume him and he vanishes from sight. He was the last shifter to leave Gehendra.
The ghouls stand aimlessly around us, and seeing them brings back everything I suffered through here. Suddenly, I become angry, my breaths turning shallow. This place has been a hell that kept me from everyone I love. That has stolen a piece of my heart by taking away Kye. A place that now holds the monster that tried to ruin us all.
“I need to do one more thing,” I quietly say to Draven, and all he does is nod. I know he can feel the rage that is simmering beneath the surface.
Guiding him to fly me out of the mountain and back to the open expanse of Gehendra, we hover in the air with Whiro’s castle staring back at me.
“Don’t drop me,” I tease, before I unleash every torrent of emotion Whiro inflicted on me.
I raise my hands and slam both light and dark into the castle. Rumbling echoes throughout the realm as I aim into the tower that held my room, never wanting to see it again. It crumbles, taking the spire with it and knocking into the base of the castle, making huge chunks fall down the mountainside before disappearing in the endless drop.
Stone crashing against stone cleaves through the air as I destroy everything Whiro created here. Leaving behind nothing but rubble, dust, and a soul that will never be free. I will make sure of it, because no one will enter Gehendra again.
It doesn’t take long for the destruction to sizzle away my rage now that nothing remains standing. I finally feel like I can breathe again now that the lives of others aren’t threatened. That the world is safe, and I’m no longer trapped in this life.
Through the rubble, I can see the Sea of Souls peeking back at me, still glistening against the dark, with stones piled on top of my power holding Whiro as its captive.
Once I finish, I wrap us both in my shadows, snuggling into Draven’s embrace, and take us back to Deyadrum, not bothering with a farewell to Gehendra. The moment we touch Fae lands, I ignore the white spots dancing in my vision as I spin, using my light to seal the perimeter of Gehendra so no one can portal in or out again. If someone tried, all they would be met with is a blinding light that will burn them the moment it touches their skin.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Emma
The land of Asiza comes into focus. The shrieks of battle aren’t bleeding into the air, but a litter of carnage is painting the ground. Draven sets me down on my feet as I frantically search the area, spotting Fynn, whose hand falls to his side, his sword clattering to the ground.
