Page 288 of Born of Blood and Ash

“I don’t give a fuck about the realms.”

The bands of churning eatherstilled in his flesh. “You don’t mean that.”

“Believe what you want.”

The skin of his cheeks began to thin. “I will not allow youto make the same mistakes those who came before you made.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Grief gave way to ruinousfury. Eather spilled from my fingertips, pooling on the blood-soaked ground.“Try,” I whispered—or yelled. I wasn’t sure. But my voice was both everywhereand nowhere. “Try to stop me.”

Mist drifted from him, spilling onto the ground. It sparkedwith a thousand dazzling stars as Holland changed, became taller andbroader. His features sharpened. His flesh became starlight as the mist formedwings and then thickened, solidifying until I thought I saw glossy, black feathersin the glow of the nearby fires.

“What in the actual fuck?” I whispered.

Holland shot forward, and instinct kicked in. I spun to theright, summoning the eather. I didn’t want to hurthim, either, but I wouldn’t allow him to stop me. I threw my arm out, and eather erupted from my fingertips. The raw energy slammedinto Holland, rippling over his body before seeping into him.

His now hairless head tilted. When next he spoke, his mouthwas full of starlight, and his voice boomed like thunder, rattling my bones.“You know better than that.”

My lips parted as he rose into the air, his massive wingsstretched high. Wisps of pure white eather swirledaround his arms.

I took a breath.

That was all.

And then I was no longer in the courtyard but standing onthe white limestone and granite steps of the Temple of Keella.I was in the heart of Croft’s Cross.

Or what was left of it.

Holland grasped my shoulder. “Look.”

The tall, narrow tenements had been reduced to piles ofrubble. The already uneven cobblestones were shattered. Bodies lay everywhere.Survivors scrambled up heaps of jagged stone. There were screams for help,pleas for the gods to bring aid, and among the chaos, a dark-haired woman robedin white stood in the cluttered roadway, cradling a limp babe against herchest. She hummed and smoothed her hand over a pale cheek.

I recognized her.

She was the Priestess I’d seen when I came to retrieveNorbert’s children, Nate and Ellie. The one who had said the age of the GoldenKing was over and that no Mierel sat on the throne.

And never would again.

The Priestess’s sorrow-filled gaze lifted, meeting mine.

My body jerked, and then we were suddenly in the GardenDistrict, bells chiming. The air was thick with smoke, and the destruction wasvast. Homes were leveled. Fires raged. Survivors rushed toward crushed hills ofstone as pale, gaunt, black-robed Priests moved through the debris, ringing thedeath knell.

“Look,” Holland ordered. “Look at what has already happenedto the people you were willing to die to protect.” His fingers dug into myshoulder. “Are you willing to exchange their lives for your Ezra? Are youwilling to take their lives?” He turned me to the left.

A man and woman huddled on the ground, their arms around twosmall children. They were all wounded, smudged with dirt and blood, but theywere alive, a family still intact.

“Them?” demanded Holland. “That is who will pay the price.Everyone who walks will.”

My chest cracked, somehow deeper and more unforgiving thanbefore.

“And do you think those you bring back will not know theprice that was paid?” His massive wings stirred the thick billow of smoke.“They have been dead long enough to know, just as many of the villagers were.They will return to see their family and friends dead in their place. Do youthink they’d want that? Do you think those you’ve sentenced to that fate wantedthat?”

My lungs burned when I dragged in a stuttered breath. Myheart pounded as I stared at the family, the death knell continuing to ring.

I couldn’t do that to them.

And that made the pain unbearable.

I wrenched myself free of Holland’s grasp, trying toswallow, but it got stuck. I saw that he no longer looked like such anotherworldly being. His wings were gone, and his skin was no longer full ofstarlight. I recognized every inch of his features and saw sorrow in thekaleidoscope of colors in those eyes. I couldn’t bear to look at him.

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