Page 289 of Born of Blood and Ash

I turned to the once beautiful garden. Men and women,children, and the elderly were strewn about, their necks broken and twisted atunnatural angles.

This was Kolis’s fault, but…

I couldn’t let myself finish that thought. I couldn’t.But I had to. Because Holland was right. Not only Kolis’s choices had led tothis moment. Mine had, too.

Pressing my hands to my temples, my chest tightened.

So many lives had been lost.

So many.

What have you done?

What I’d done was right in front of me.

Oh, gods.

A shudder went through me, and I stumbled forward. My legswent out from under me. I didn’t hit the cracked streets. Instead, my kneespressed into damp soil as the weight of it all fell upon me. Each act ofvengeance and retribution fell like the stones I had torn down and themountains I had crumbled. I pitched forward, placing my hands on the grass.

Oh, gods.

Nightmarish images rose as I stared at the Blood Forest Ihad shadowstepped into. Toppled homes and burningforests. Deep crevices in streets and beneath homes and people’s feet. In mymind, I saw the Priestess cradling the small child—one whose life I might haveinadvertently taken in anger. The hills alight with fire. The screams I’d heardafter ending Embris.

They were the screams of the dying. Lives I hadtaken. Maybe not thousands, but hundreds. And that…oh, gods, that was just asbad. It was just as monstrous as what Kolis did.

What had I done?

My fingers dug into the clumps of grass, and I trembled.Kolis had acted.

And I had reacted.

I summoned the eather, and thepower responded to my will, stretching out and wrapping itself around eachblood tree. I destroyed them one by one, unable to bear the sight of what I’ddone. I destroyed all but a small cluster that stood at the foot of whatremained of the Undying Hills.

I focused on them, but the eatherrolled off them. Nothing I did removed the twenty or so trees that remained. Itried until I was exhausted. My gaze swept over the now-barren fields beforereturning to the remaining blood trees. For some reason, I could still see themcovering the landscape as if all those haunting trees would one day return.

I pressed my forehead against the tainted ground, draggingin air. It tasted of the ruin I had caused.

The line between acting in rightful justice and lashing outin wrathful vengeance was a fine one. Incredibly thin and so easy to cross. Ineeded no vadentia to know that. I’d alwaysknown that. But I hadn’t just crossed that line.

I’d destroyed it.

And had become a true monster in the process.

What rose then was just as choking as the rage. It, too, wasan all-consuming tempest, and every heartbeat was an echo of ravenous sorrow.

I broke.

I rocked back, bloody hands fisting in my hair as Iscreamed. Tears coursed down my cheeks and fell from the sky. I screamed untilI thought I might rip apart, until my voice gave out, and there was nothing.

I didn’t know how long I remained on my knees, arms limp atmy sides. I heard and saw nothing until I registered someone calling my nameover and over.

Hands grasped my arms, shaking me. “Sera!”

Numbly, I opened my eyes, expecting to see Holland, but itwasn’t him.

Attes was crouched in front of me,red soaking his hair and streaming down his face. “Sera? Can you hear me?” Hesqueezed my arms. “Do you understand me?”

“I…” I rasped hoarsely. “Look…at what I did.”

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