Page 473 of Of Empires and Dust

“What of Tamzin?”

“She made her choice.”

“Did she? Did you ask her?”

Kaygan raised an eyebrow at that.

“Surely you must hear the words from her mouth. Are the paths always so set?”

“You question my steering of the paths, Boud?”

“You know I don’t. But she has earned the respect of making her own choice.”

“She did, Boud. The further we walked, the fewer the paths became where she would walk with us… until there were none.”

“But she knows of this place. What if she tells of it?”

“We will do what we must, Boud. This is my word.”

Boud inclined her head reluctantly, giving a short grunt and ending the conversation.

Kaygan preferred to always allow his Tuatha to walk their paths unimpeded. He could have steered Tamzin where he wanted her, told her of the future she needed to know, as he had done to others so many times. But futures and prophecy were powerful things. A prophecy could fulfil itself simply by existing. Telling a man he had five days to live more often than not put a recklessness in his heart that would lead to a death that might otherwise not have existed.

A desired future could be manifested simply by the speaking of it. His Tuatha deserved free will. Kaygan had known from the moment that Tamzin had found Ella what the woman’s choice would be. And he was happy for her to make it. Had he told her of Calen Bryer’s impending demise, he would have taken her agency from her. That was not the soul he was.

“We are almost there,” Kaygan said, staring out at the city. “For over a thousand years, I have steered these paths towards this point. The way forward is a haze. There are too many hands, too many forces meddling. I can feel them even now. But we will find our path. If all has gone well, both Fenryr and Vethnir have drawn their last breaths, the dragons are all but extinct, and the Cealtaí and elves march towards a mutual destruction. We will stand from the ashes, my children, and a new dawn will rise for our people.”

Chapter 111

From Ashes We Stand

30thDay of the Blood Moon

The Glade – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom

Calen knelt in the rain,his hand pressed to the wet soil before him. Above, grey clouds wept as the skies themselves joined him in mourning.

He drew slow breaths, staring at the third sapling he had planted behind the lavender.

Haem was gone. Calen had barely had him back, and now he was gone. Truly gone.

A dark shadow loomed over him, the rain stopping as Valerys extended his wings like an awning to shield him. The dragon leaned over Calen, a low rumble in his throat as he pressed his snout to the ground, ash and brittle leaves shifting beneath his breath.

Calen gasped at the river of emotions that flowed across the bond. Everything from love to loss to despair and myriadothers in between. But most of all, a deep appreciation ripped at Valerys’s core. Haem had given him back his soulkin. Haem had been strong enough to reach through Valerys’s grief and centre his mind when his world was spiralling. Were it not for the brother he had barely known, he would be completely and entirely alone. Haem was gone, but his sacrifice had meant the preservation of Valerys’s entire world.

Valerys owed Haem everything, and he would protect that gift with a fury the likes of which Epheria had never known. Kaygan would burn beneath an ocean of dragonfire. His soul would scream for eternity.

The dragon leaned his neck up into the rain and roared with such force that Calen’s bones shook. And with the roar, Valerys pushed memories of Haem’s words through their shared soul.“You always stood back up. And I was so gods damn proud of you every time. I need you to stand back up again, little brother.”

Calen buried his hands in the sodden earth before him, tears mingling with the rain that dripped from his hair. “I will never stop,” he whispered. “I promise. Never.” His voice trembled. “We will kill them all. We will end this war no matter the cost. You will not die for nothing.”

Calen’s jaw trembled, images of Kaygan flashing through his mind. He curled his fingers into a fist, grabbing a handful of wet dirt. He stood and looked down over the small sapling where he had laid Haem’s body. “I didn’t say it to you enough, but all I ever wanted was to be like you. Strong, kind, brave – calm. I won’t fail you, I swear it. If I can be half of what you were, I’ll be lucky. I love you, brother. With all my heart. And I’m sorry for any moment I made you feel otherwise. Wait for me. This war needs to end.”

Calen drew one last, long breath, dropped the dirt slowly back to the ground, then turned and walked through the ruins of his old home amid the blackened husks of long-burnt houses.

The column of purple and white banners had ground to a halt just ahead, waiting. It stretched off into the distance, thousands strong.

Tarmon, Dann, Vaeril, Lyrei, Therin, and the others waited at its head. Queen Tessara sat astride her Dvalin Angan mount, rain splattering against the black hooded cloak drawn over her head.

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