Page 174 of Silver in the Bone

I searched the ancient king’s face, his eyes, but there was nothing human left in them. Lord Death had stolen that from Arthur.

“What have you done to him?” I demanded.

Cabell’s top lip curled, his expression flashing from pain to anger at the rejection.

“I have done nothing to your brother,” Lord Death said, “but reveal him.”

A dagger, carried on a scream of fury, flew past my head—not toward Cabell, but toward the man who had claimed to be Bedivere.

Lord Death leaned to the left, allowing it to strike the scarred wall behind him. He clucked his tongue in mock pity, taking in the sight of Caitriona barely restrained by Neve and Olwen.

“How could you?” Caitriona raged. “Why did you let them die? We were going to perform the ritual—so why? Why?”

“When young Fayne—Flea, as you called her ...” He said her name with such disgust that my whole being lit with fury. “When she discovered the fragment of the vessel I’d taken, it risked others discovering what I’d planned before the time of my choosing.”

“They didn’t have to die!” Caitriona sobbed, her face stricken with rage and pain. “You didn’t have to take them!”

“Child, there was no personal insult in what I did,” Lord Death said, his paternal tone sending a shiver up the back of my neck. “This isle was only ever a doorway to collect what Lady Morgan and the other sisters promised me. Not everyone can join me in the mortal world, not when they are so valuable to me dead. But I chose you to join me. My favorite of them all, my perfect, steadfast knight with a heart so fierce and loyal.”

Cabell flinched at his words, his gaze fixed on the man with need.

“Tell me, Caitriona,” Lord Death continued in his velvety voice, “can it beat for me still? Or must I collect your soul as well?”

His hand stroked along the pocket of his overcoat, where a small lump was hidden. A silvery glow radiated from it in response. Olwen let out a low sob, realization setting in. Lord Death now carried the souls of all of their loved ones with him.

Caitriona threw herself forward with another scream that was choked off as the man held up a hand. Neve sent me a terrified look, uncertain of what to do. I gave a sharp shake of the head. We didn’t know what he was capable of.

“A shame,” Lord Death said. “There was a place for you as my steward, and I am loath to see my work on you come to naught.”

“I will kill you,” Caitriona vowed.

“I am certain that you will try,” he said with a mocking bow of the head.

A familiar sound, like the scurrying of rats, filled the air. Children, alive again, scaled the wall behind him. They perched there, watching us. Waiting.

“Farewell, maidens of Avalon,” Lord Death sneered, his long overcoat billowing out behind him. “You have made your choice, and I have waited an age for my revenge on the ones who caged me.”

As he turned, so did my brother, following like the loyal hound he’d become. My heart shredded against my ribs. This had to be a spell. I could save him from this, too.

“Please,” I begged. “Don’t do this. Don’t let him turn you away from us. From me.”

All those years ago, our guardian, a storyteller, had walked into a storm and vanished, becoming a story himself. We were what remained. The two of us, alone in the world except for each other.

The tether of our shared past strained as Cabell looked over his shoulder at me, pulling tighter and tighter with each heartbeat. Everything we had seen and done and lived together stretched between us, and all he had to do was hold on. All he had to do was take a step toward me and I would fight with everything I had in me to get him away from the monster at his side.

Don’t.

Don’t.

Don’t.

“Cabell,” I said. “I love you. Please.”

This time, he didn’t turn back. The wind carried his words to me. “Don’t die.”

And the tether snapped.

I didn’t see him walk away. My legs seemed to disappear beneath me, and I dropped into a crouch, shaking. Neve’s hands gripped my shoulders as Caitriona charged past us, trying to reach them before they vanished into the ageless dark of night.

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