“Prove that you can learn from your mistakes. Only then can you become human.”
His words remained with me long after he was gone. I sat in that cold corner and thought about my past, the people I’d hurt, manipulated, destroyed.
Grim was right. If I died here, who would remember them? If I failed and returned home without a soul, I would continue to feel nothing for my past, no remorse, no guilt, no conscience.
Brynna’s voice, broken and filled with hate, whispered into my head. I loved you. I loved you so much, and you killed me. I will never forgive you.
I know, I told her memory, and finally pulled myself to my feet. My limbs screamed in protest, but I braced myself against the wall and stayed upright.
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And you shouldn’t. I don’t want forgiveness. I don’t deserve to be forgiven for my past. But I will make it right. Somehow, I will atone for those mistakes, I swear it.
I was tired, my body stiff and sore and exhausted; it took all my strength to push open the stone doors and climb the long f light of steps out of the crypt. But with every step, every jolt of pain through my bones, I felt lighter, freer somehow, the voices silenced and left back in the tomb. I could not forget them, or the crimes of my past, but I no longer wanted to die.
It was waiting for me at the top of the stairs, staff in hand, watching me behind its cowl. I felt its ancient gaze sweep through my bruised, battered body. It nodded, as if it had discovered within me something that pleased it. “The final trial is upon us, knight,” it said as I climbed the last step and stood before the Guardian. “You have survived human weakness and a conscience. One last thing remains for you to earn a soul.”
“Where are Puck and Ariel a?” I asked, feeling guilty that I’d been gone for so long. They’d be worried about me by now. I hoped they didn’t think I was dead.
“They search for you,” the Guardian said simply. “But this is not their test. The trial begins now, knight. Are you ready, or not?” I took a breath. Puck and Ariel a would have to wait. I hoped they would understand, because the Guardian wasn’t giving me time to think about it.
“Yes,” I replied, feeling my stomach knot. The last trial. The only thing between me and a soul. And Meghan. “I’m ready. Let’s get this over with.”
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The Guardian nodded and raised its staff once more. CHAPTER
NINETEEN
HUMAN
Rain pounded my back, and I opened my eyes.
I lay on my stomach on the hard ground, my cheek pressed against what felt like cobblestones, water soaking my hair and clothes. From my drenched state and the feel of the small, round stones pressing into my face, I must have been lying there for some time. Wincing, I pushed myself to my elbows, peering through the rain to determine where I was.
A green-and-silver garden stretched out before me, lush with vegetation and blurry through the rain. Cobblestone paths twisted around small bushes and shrubs, and larger trees hugged the edges of the high stone wall surrounding it. A few feet away, a marble fountain spilled water into a shallow basin, the sound of trickling water drowned out by the larger deluge.
Around me, the trees shimmered in the rain, thousands of leaves f lashing like knives as the wind tossed their branches. At my feet, wires slithered over the ground in strange patterns and curled around tree trunks, glowing like neon signs. Lampposts, glimmering yellow in the twilight, grew right out of the ground and lined the narrow paths. I turned and saw an enormous castle of stone, glass and steel looming above me, spires and towers stabbing at the clouds.
I blinked, trying to take it all in. I was back in the Iron Kingdom. The twisted metal ic trees, the wires slithering over the ground, the castle of stone and steel—they couldn’t belong anywhere else. And the rain…my heart skipped a beat, and I turned my face to the sky. The 291/387
water was clear and pure, not the acidic, f lesh-eating rain that had swept through the Iron Realm before Meghan became queen.
But, if that was the case…if I was in the Iron Kingdom…
I took a deep breath, breathing in the cool, damp air, drawing it into myself and holding it there, waiting.
Nothing. No sickness, no pain. I stepped beneath a warped iron tree and placed my palm against the trunk, bracing myself out of habit. The metal was cold and wet beneath my fingers, not burning at all.
I couldn’t help the smile stretching my face as I whirled around, taking in the garden, the estate, everything. Throwing back my head, I raised my arms and howled a victory cry into the rain, hearing it echo off the castle walls. I was in the Iron Kingdom with no amulet, no protection, and I still felt nothing. Iron had no power over me, now. I was human.
I had won!