Page 281 of A Realm of Shattered Lies

Az’s mouth hangs open.

And then a sob escapes his mouth.

It’s strangled and pitiful, and I recognize it too, just like I recognized Kiran’s grief, his loss.

He doesn’t speak it, but the words are written in the widening of his eyes, the slackness of his jaw—What have I done?

His gaze fixes on Asha, and I watch for the first time as the truth washes over him. As he looks at her body, and sees not an illusion he’s outsmarted, but his childhood friend, her body splayed out on the floor, never to rise again.

It’s in that moment that I realize Asha’s done it.

That in her death, she’s saved us all.

CHAPTER 114

PIPER

Out of the woods creep what must be three dozen Others, ranging from the feline mere to the winged wyverns.

My heart shudders, my feet wobbling on the cool earth below me.

I’ve been camped out by the Rip since Blaise left, waiting.

I have no way of knowing if Blaise’s plan worked, whether she managed to distract Azrael enough for me to bend the will of the Others to my own.

Or if she’s ashes in the desert.

What I do know is that they are coming, and as I can’t fight off a host of them on my own, I have two choices.

Run, or try.

But then my Gift tugs at my heart, stoking my bloodstream like the warm glow of a hearth, the swell of a gentle flame.

Are you ready? I ask my Gift, though I wonder if I’m asking myself.

It responds with one resounding note, like a bird singing in the heavens.

I lift the flute to my lips, and together, my Gift and I play.

The tune is like the first we’d attempted to woo the Others, though different in some ways. While the other was infused with staccato notes of urgency and excitement, this one is as deep as a well and as wide as a mural.

It’s the sort of song one hopes will be their last.

Their finale.

Their take a bow as the crowd erupts into applause.

This is it for us.

My Gift knows it, and I know it too.

So together we play, my fingers tapping the keys as the two of us surrender to the language we both speak.

The song swells and flows, and still the Others draw nearer. I don’t bother looking into their eyes. If I looked and glimpsed hunger, it would only shake my resolve, and though my eyes long to look, to know whether they should scream at my feet to run, I don’t let them.

Running won’t do me any good at this point, anyway.

I am going to succeed.

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