Page 124 of The Spark that Ignites
IN THE CASTLE DUNGEON, Emmery gazed vacantly at the table and the items stared back, awaiting her choice. As if she hadn’t been anxious enough, she waited moments before midnight on the Fallen Equinox. There was nothing quite like the strain of time to spur action.
Vesper insisted on keeping all the items locked down here so maybe he had been onto her all along. He’d done everything in his power to make sure this went according to plan.
Everything except stay alive.
Her mind wandered back to her book. Why had it been on his desk? She wanted some damn answers. She’d told him about it so maybe he tracked it down as a gift?
But she gave her head a shake. She needed to focus.
The hollow bones, porous stones, and bottled blood of the innocent lay across the sheet. She meticulously checked the instructions, but her attention tore between Maela’s note and a scrap of her tunic soaked in Vesper’s blood. They lay on the table—her heart with them.
This was impossible.
But she made her choice and folded the sheet, placing the amulet atop. She knelt, the celestial trumpet and dragon’s essence clutched in her hands.
Checking the instructions one final time to ensure this would happen without fail, she reminded herself she had one shot. One single time to get this right. She wouldn’t fuck it up.
The words felt clumsy in her mouth, tumbling out in a foreign tongue. No matter how many times she rehearsed, the words didn’t feel real.
This was like a strange dream—some horrible night terror she couldn’t wake from.
The air heated as she spoke, strands of her hair lifting in a phantom breeze. She rocked the celestial trumpet, and its bittermelody laced the air. The flower withered and scattered into fragments.
“Vesper Merikh,” she breathed. “I call forth your soul from where it is caught.”
A bright light formed, like Kahlia herself was present—a star fallen straight from the sky into her hands. Emmery reached out a single finger, guiding the light into the amulet. It glowed the same colour as Vesper’s eyes. The ethereal white of whatever was beyond this life—the Hollow, reincarnation, or the space between both.
As she uncorked the dragon’s breath, it spread like wildfire, igniting the sheet in a white flame. Light blasted and she shielded her eyes. Hot air unfurled in the cold, dark room.
Emmery fought back the sting of tears as she waited on bated breath. Her heart thumped. Dum-dum. Dum-dum. The heat extinguished until the damp cold soaked her bones once more.
Cracking an eyelid, the heaviness of it all sat on her shoulders.
Below the sheet, a chest inflated with breath. The amulet had shattered, the skull a mess of metal fragments and black goo.
If this failed, if she failed again, there would be no other chance.
She begged the gods, called upon all their names—bothKennaand mortal.Please.
Hand trembling, she withdrew the sheet, unveiling the hidden body.
Slowly, his eyes opened, his head gingerly rolling to the side. He studied her, his brows pulling together in confusion. They both watched each other for a tense moment—a symphony of emotions crossing Vesper’s face. Then he looked at the shattered remains of the items.
Emmery launched herself, wrapping her arms around his bare chest and pressed her face into his neck. She didn’t carehe was naked. She’d missed him so damn much. He smelled the same as he always did—earthy and steady and so very Vesper.
His body stiffened, his arms locked at his side as she clung to him like a lifeline. But he was here, and he was solid and warm.
And most importantly, he wasalive.
She did it. She had actually done it.
His head shook and he sat up, brushing her aside like she was a bloodsucking insect. His words stabbed a freezing knife into her gut.
A cold question. Betrayal.
Vesper looked her dead in the eye and uttered with anguish, “How could you?”
Chapter Forty-Four
