Page 198 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

Caryan looks at him, then stands, the girl still in his arms. “No. We return to the Fortress. You go by foot, take the witch with you. I’ll take Melody myself. I’ll meet you there,” he says, not explaining more before leaving the tent.

The witch.That’s all Blair’s become. But had she expected anything else?

Maybe.

Through the flapping door, Blair sees Caryan spread his wings and jump from the cliff, soaring up in the sky.

62

Blair, two years before Gatilla’s death

There was nothing left. Nothing but piles and piles of bodies and scorched soil and wafting ashes. The rain had slowed to a drizzle as night had fallen. Her aunt had long retreated to the amethyst tower, as soon as she’d seen the outcome of the battle, along with one coven to protect her.

Caryan had killed them all. All their enemies.

Blair stood there, unmoved for hours, at the cliff’s edge, watching. Watching Caryan and his never-faltering magic. Watching him fight and kill. Now she watched him walking between the corpses and smoldering ashes.

He knelt beside a body in the mud, his black wings carefully lifted above the ground. He didn’t look up when her wyvern landed next to him and she dismounted, her boots sinking into the mass of flesh and mud.

He was dripping blood from a cut on his wrist into the open mouth of a soldier. A white-haired soldier, his features sharp and vaguely familiar. Blair watched with a kind of cold horror as the soldier opened his eyes, his former blue irises tinged red.

Kyrith, the mountain lion of Palisandre.

“I will make you an offer.” Caryan’s voice was calm, and the not-so-dead Kyrith tilted his head as if to listen. Like an animatedpuppet. “Swear yourself to me, and I will bring you back from the dead.”

Blair’s heart stopped for a beat, with awe, with dread, with horror—she wasn’t yet sure—as the dead nodded.

***

She didn’t wait. She just ran. Her body was exhausted. Drained. Close to a collapse, but the shock made her fast and strong. Behind her she could hear her wyvern take flight, while her feet flew over the scorched soil, over steaming cinders and debris and death.

She wasn’t sure, but she might have started crying. Or maybe it was just the rain.

She fell. At some point, her legs just gave out, and she landed face-first in the dirt. Then gentle claws lifted her and carried her away, up and up and up. Away from the blood. From the carnage. To a clearing surrounded by a beckoning abyss where wildflowers bloomed. Away from death himself, until the soothing scent of moss and camphor filled her nose and she could see the stars above her.

Her phantom wyvern lay down next to her, her long, deadly tail protectively curled around Blair while she just lay there like a corpse.

She lost her sense of time. It was deep into the night when her wyvern stirred and Caryan landed next to her. He stood in the clearing like a statue. The moonlight dancing over his head and gilding his wings made it look like he wore a crooked halo over his head.

Broken in the middle.

As if two horns protruded out of it.

He shifted and the illusion vanished.

Blair sat up. She found herself scanning him for injuries, knowing he had none. “You… you killed Kyrith, only to bring him back.” She got to her feet and met him halfway. “He knew. That’s why he didn’t kill me,” she pushed on. Her words flushed out. They needed out. The truth. Finally.

Caryan just stood there, unmoved, and waited.

“You promised my aunt an army. You… a doomed fae army.” She spit the words out, still unable to fully wrap her head around what she’d seen. Impossible. Necromancy was impossible. But then, so was Caryan. He was a necromancer. And he would bring them all back.

“You wanted the reservoir’s magic to grow that army,” she continued.

When he still said nothing, Blair turned her head to the side, to her wyvern who was watching Caryan carefully, her daggertail swishing restlessly.

“You… did you kill Riven too?”

“No, Riven accepted the pact without losing his life.” Caryan’s voice was smooth as polished glass when he finally spoke.

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