Page 160 of Silver in the Bone

I brought my foot down hard on it to keep it pinned there. Frustration tore at me when I realized it was the hand with the ring, not the athame.

The revenant’s screech was like a knife in the brain. I screamed with her—all of us did—and even the Children shrank back from it. The revenant rose to her full, terrifying height and turned to me with burning eyes.

A voice like midnight slashed through my mind, drowning out the high-pitched keening.

I know you.

I gasped, dropping back onto my knees. The sword fell from my hand.

I saw you born in my dreams.

“St-stop—” I managed to choke out. My hands squeezed against my head, trying to drive the words out. “Stop it!”

He does not know what you are ...

The air between us brightened, shimmering, then faded to nothing.

I heard Olwen’s voice as if it had traveled across worlds. “Now, Neve!”

“Wait—” I tried to say. “What does that mean?”

The wave of blistering light had already been unleashed.

Sensing that the magic was gone, the Children sprinted toward Caitriona as she fought to rise from the ground. Neve’s magic threw them back, incinerating them.

The revenant stood before us, her back to the throbbing power, letting it burn away her edges. A flicker of humanity appeared on her face.

“Caitriona.” The voice that emerged from it was as sweet as the first day of spring, and achingly tender. “My Cait.”

The revenant reached out to her with the athame, her body cracking and tearing as the light broke through it. The young priestess stumbled forward, tears streaming down her face as she reached out a hand.

“Why?” she begged. “Why did you do this?”

In her final moment, the revenant whispered, “The power ... I could not stop ... what had already begun ...”

Her body disintegrated, crumbling back into bone and earth. As Neve’s light faded and the air cooled, the athame fell to the ground, glowing with heat and power.

Caitriona cried out into the sudden silence, her sob catching in her throat as she dropped to the ground.

My body felt hollow as I slowly knelt beside her. Hesitating, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

Instead of pulling away, Caitriona curled into me, sobbing against my shoulder. My throat was painfully raw, but I didn’t know what I would say if I could speak.

Neve and Olwen ran toward us and wrapped their arms around our small huddle, alive and whole and trembling. I clung to them, letting the insistent wind cool the sweat on my skin and the blood in my veins. But there was a warmth in me like the sun, rising and rising until I thought I might burst with it.

I pulled away from them, looking over my shoulder to seek out Emrys’s gaze.

But there was only ash and mist swirling in the air.

I unwound my arms from the others, fear slamming through my chest like a spike. “Emrys? Emrys!”

There was no answer.

I ran toward the hill, searching the remains of the Children that hadn’t burned to dust.

“Emrys!” If something had happened while I wasn’t looking—

I heard the others calling for him, their voices echoing through the silence, growing in pitch and fear.

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