Not even a priest. The watchmen had taken him out and dumped his body in a common grave like garbage. No pomp. No last rites. Nothing. Not a single kind word.
After all the years he’d lived, he’d meant nothing to anyone.
Only Cameron had ever teased him like a friend and made him feel noble or welcome. Damn him for craving it. Because now that he knew the taste of it, he couldn’t go back to his ignorance. It was a raw, fetid hunger that wouldn’t leave him in peace. He couldn’t return to the way he’d been. Numb and oblivious.
She’d opened his eyes and awakened him.
And if he had to die to bring her back, so be it. Unlike him, she was a vibrant soul who brought happiness to the world, and to those around her. As did her brother. He had a woman waiting for him, and a child who needed a father to claim it. They were rare lights that shone brightly in this dim, awful world.
No one will ever miss you, Kal.
“Let’s do this,” he said to the Sarim. “I don’t want her to suffer another moment.”
Thorn inclined his head to Kalder, then passed a harsh, condemning glare to the Sarim. “Tell me again how the damned are beyond redemption?”
They looked away sheepishly.
He clapped Kalder on the back. “Know that it sickens me to do this to you. If there’s any way to save you, we will find it.”
Kalder nodded. “Tell Cameron that it was my honor to spare her.” He pulled the necklace off that had belonged to his brother and handed it to Thorn. “And give her this from me. Ask her to pray for my brother’s soul.”
“Not yours?”
He let out a bitter laugh. “We both know where mine belongs and where it be headed.”
Thorn took the necklace and tucked it into his pocket. What he had to do sickened him to the core of his worthless soul. But he had no choice. The two bitches with him weren’t about to spare him this, and he knew it. They would never spare him any nightmare.
Cursing his father and himself, he pulled out his dagger and as quickly and painlessly as possible, he sliced Kalder’s artery so that his blood coated the floor.
The Myrcian staggered, but Thorn caught him and kept him from falling to the cold ground like garbage. He held him in his arms as his life faded.
“Sleep in peace, little brother,” he whispered against his ear. “I won’t let you die alone this time. And you will be mourned and missed. You are a good man, Kalder. Let no one ever tell you otherwise. Not even you.”
Sinking to the ground, Thorn cradled him in his arms and held him there until he bled out and was gone. Tears filled his eyes as he hated everything about himself and the choices he was forced to make. Choices they were all forced to make.
Michael didn’t say a word as he gathered Kalder’s blood and used it for the incantations he needed to free his progeny.
Gabriel knelt by his side. “Thorn?”
He blinked slowly, unable to answer for the pain inside him that churned and ached so deep that it left him hollow and numb.
“You need to let him go.”
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when he knew the horrors that had haunted Kalder. “He’s not garbage.”
“I know.”
Nay, he didn’t know. Not really. Closing his eyes, Thorn clutched at Kalder’s head and swore to them both that he would find some miracle to free the Myrcian. Even if he had to unravel the universe to do it.
“Kalder?”
Blinking, Thorn looked up as Cameron came out of the wall to see them on the floor, saturated in blood.
With a fierce sob, she rushed to them. Her hands trembled as she sobbed and clutched at Kalder’s jacket. “Nay! Nay! I can’t lose him! Not like this!”
Thorn pulled her against him to comfort her. “Shh, child. He only sleeps.”
She stared at him as if he were crazy. And he was, indeed. For only a crazy person would have defied the powers that be to create the Hellchasers as Thorn had done.
He felt his eyes turn bright red before he offered her a determined grin. “I brought him back when he had absolutely nothing to live for. Do you really think he’ll stay down now that he has so much to lose?”
*???*???*
Mara came awake to the most peculiar warmth. Until she remembered her sister’s treachery.
Furious, she sat up and …
What the devil?
She was on board a ship, but it wasn’t her body that made up this vessel. “Du?” she called, glancing around the small, unfamiliar cabin.
Instead of Duel, Thorn came in to stand beside her bunk.
“How are you feeling?”
“Very confused. Where’s Du?” How had she gotten here? She couldn’t remember anything. Not really.
Everything was so vague. Like a strange, flimsy dream.
Thorn didn’t answer. Rather, he stepped aside for another woman to enter the room through the door behind him. “I don’t think the two of you have ever met.”
Nay, she’d never seen the …
Her heart stopped beating as she realized who this was. It was a face she’d only seen in her visions. “Elyzabel?”
She inclined her head to Mara. “Aye, my lady. How are you?”
“Where’s your brother?”
Elf glanced nervously to Thorn.
When they didn’t answer right away, a bad, horrible dread went through her. She tried to leave the bed, but Thorn prevented it. “You’re still weak.”
“Tell me where Duel is!”
Thorn continued to hedge. “Well … you know where you were.”
“Aye.” She was finally beginning to remember the hellish hole where Vine had cast her. She couldn’t imagine how Duel had stood it for so long.
“To get you out, we had to have someone sacrifice their life and harthfret for yours.”
Oh dear God, no!
The blood faded from her cheeks as tears welled in her eyes. Surely Thorn wasn’t telling her what she feared he was saying. Nay, Du wouldn’t be so stupid.
You know better!
Of course, he’d be that stupid!
Agony and grief wrapped around her heart and set it to pounding. “Tell me he didn’t,” she breathed as dread washed over her and brought tears to her eyes.
Elf nodded. “He wouldn’t be swayed. For you, he was willing to do anything. Sacrifice all his crew. He wanted me to tell you that he’s always loved you and that you are not to feel guilty. That you are to remember him fondly and only smile when you think of him.”
Silent tears streamed down her face. “Nay!” She struggled to breathe past the pain that choked her. “We must get to him.” Rising to her feet, she shoved Thorn out of her way. “I … I…” Her legs gave way and sent her to the floor, where she broke down into fierce, racking sobs. The agony of his loss was unlike anything she’d ever known.
Du! Oh gods … She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t make it without him. Especially knowing that it was her fault he was gone. That he’d done this to spare her.
Suddenly, strong arms surrounded her and held her against a hard, muscular chest. She started to struggle for release until the scent of this man’s skin hit her.
That sweet sea musk scent wasn’t Thorn’s.