Page 96 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
We were both silent for a while. Then I remembered our reason for pausing—Kieran. I needed to go be with him. Maybe even protect him, if people’s reactions so far were any indication.
I moved to turn, then realized Nya was still gripping my arm. She grabbed my other arm, squeezing them both so tightly that she nearly lifted me off the ground.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
I had never heard her voice sound so small.
“What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. Don’t you ever do that again, Maila.” Her eyes were glistening. I knew she would fight letting those tears fall with everything she had. “Next time, you let me die.”
When I spoke, my voice was just as small. “You know I can’t promise that.”
“You have to,” she snapped, releasing me. “Or I fucking swear I’ll follow you into whatever afterlife you’re in, and I’ll kill you again myself.”
Without another word, she strode away.
I watched her hurry toward a cluster of Strangers, all injured and trying to assist one another in patching wounds.
Standing amongst the others, cradling her left arm and leaning heavily on her right leg, was Xiomara. Like the rest of us, she was covered in dirt, ash from the Immobilizers, and dried blood. Some of the blood looked to be her own. But I sighed with relief when she almost tackled Nya to the ground, embracing her with her good arm. She was going to be just fine.
I spun in the direction of the beach. Or started to, at least.
In the distance, beyond the spot where Nya had just been standing, were the remains of the Knowledge Center. The first three floors still mostly intact, the rest a gaping void of nothingness. Just blue sky where immeasurable records and projects and supplies had once been.
Where the bulk of the Library had once been.
My safe space.
With the books that had been my friends, my teachers, my world, for so long.
I had known when I called on Larimar that there was no going back. This was a physical testament to that. But was it the right decision?
Was there even a right decision to be made?
As if on cue, something else came into focus.
I couldn’t say if he had been there all along, or if he had been kneeling and only just stood. But I was motionless as I stared across the scorched field. Beyond men and women from our group, leaning on one another for support as they made for the beach. Beyond theEnforcersthat were now assessing their statusand providing first aid to one another, following a protocol that had undoubtedly been laid out for them in advance. I stared past it all, unseeing, into the amber eyes that stared back at me.
Like two blazing infernos in both color and intensity, Zander’s eyes could have pierced my own. Burned straight through me. There was some relief there, and I remembered then that he had watched me die, too. But I watched the relief slowly dissolve, and in its place was nothing but profound sorrow and betrayal.
His armor was askew, barely hanging on. Between plates hung shredded wisps of cloth. His face was smudged with blood and ash. I took it all in, while at the same time, only seeing that stare.
I didn’t go to him. I didn’t try to speak. The thought that there could even be a possibility of repairing our friendship was laughable. Regardless of what I believed was right, and what I believed was wrong, I had participated in destroying everythinghebelieved in.
His companions were injured and dead. His city was in shambles. That quiet woman that he had always carried a torch for was right there at the center of it all. And with another man, no less. As if all the rest wasn’t enough for a lifetime’s worth of despair.
I considered it a consolation that he was alive. It was the most that I was allowed to hope for. And with that knowledge, I turned and headed for the beach.
To Kieran.
To the Strangers.
To my future.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The expressions on the Strangers’ faces as we stepped through the gate, back into Ersa Estates, will be burned in my memory forever.
