Page 34 of Song of Night

Jaylen smiles and takes a swig from her flask. “Your turn.”

I nod. “So…you don’t believe Asher can save Night. I don’t blame you. I hated him half my life. And I would still hate him if it weren’t for Night herself… for the magic that runs through her veins. But we share a connection through that magic. So yes, especially now, since Vyrin has apparently sent an army through the rift to destroy our city, I believe that Asher and I are the only ones who can save Night.”

“You speak of Night as if she’s a living thing.” Jaylen’s expression is blank. It’s a statement more than a question.

“She is,” I respond simply. “I can feel her presence.”

Jaylen appraises me for several long moments. Then she says, “My turn, I suppose.” She pauses, seeming to collect her thoughts, or perhaps just remembering. “The day I tried to cross the Waste, the wyrm—the great earth serpent—burst up out of the earth. But it missed me by a hair, and so instead of falling into its jaws, I fell alongside its body, down into the tunnel it had created. I escaped through those tunnels. And eventually I mapped them all out and crossed into Cyrena. Learned of Vyrin and the people there. Traveled unknown and unseen between the two lands. Met a few friends along the way that I shared my secret with. And the rest you know.”

“The rest I do not know,” I say. “Why did you assume the identity of Falling Star if you cared so little for Night? Why come back at all?”

Jaylen’s face sours. “No doubt you think I should have abandoned hope, given up. As you abandoned me.”

My body goes rigid. “Abandoned you?! I have spent my entire life since the day you were taken thinking of nothing but you. Trying to avenge your death!”

“My death?” Jaylen snarls.

“The Animus captured me when I was trying to break into the Palace of Night to save you. The Lord of Animus later told me you were dead.” My heart pounds so hard it’s painful, my blood rushing too fast. “He lied so he could use me as a pawn, make me more motivated to kill Asher. I have spent the last decade grieving you, planning vengeance for you. Everything I have done I have done for you.”

Jaylen falls silent, then gets up and strides across the glen. I look over at Asher, who gives me a nod of encouragement, and I follow her. When I reach her she’s facing away from me, standing nearly up against one of the thorn trees.

As I step up behind her, Jaylen speaks, so quietly it’s barely a whisper. “This whole time, I thought you were a coward, that you hid and let them take me. I hated you for it.”

Sorrow washes through me, icy and sharp as knives. “I’m sorry you thought I abandoned you. I would never abandon my little sister.”

She turns, slowly. “But I abandoned you. I never came looking for you. I was so angry. I’ve wasted so much time…”

“How would you have found me, even if you tried?” I suck in a shaky breath. “This war, this life… it’s nearly impossible. We all do the best we can to survive.”

“And you think the Lord of Night can end the war?”

I don’t answer for a moment. “I’m not sure anyone can, now that Vyrin has come through the Waste. But we’re going to try. Or take our last breaths in the attempt.”

“Well then,” Jaylen says. “I suppose I’d better show you the way through the tunnels so we can try to save Night before that bastard fae destroys it all.”

“We?” I ask, a small smile on my face.

Jaylen nods. “We.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

ASHER

When Zara and her sister return from across the glen, there’s a lightness between them that wasn’t there before. Zara is smiling, something she so rarely does, and I find myself wishing with a fierce and fiery longing for the type of life that would draw out that smile on a daily basis. A life without war and death lingering at each dawn and each moonrise.

I shake my head. Even if we had such a life, I can’t have it with Zara. How could I possibly live at peace knowing she spent a decade of her life with my brother? Mentored by him, loved by him?

But I also don’t think I can live at peace without her.

“Jaylen is going to help us get back to Night,” Zara says.

I look up at them, meeting Jaylen’s eyes. “Thank you.”

“You can thank Zara.” Jaylen gestures to her sister. “She convinced me that you’re worthy of a chance. And we have a city to save, which will take all of us.”

I get to my feet. “That it will.”

“Before we go, I need to restock on supplies. We’ll need food and you two need weapons. Plus, I need to warn my companions on this side of the Waste that Vyrin is invading Night. If he regains his magic…” She trails off a moment. “Things will be dire indeed.”

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