Holding her tight in my arms, her body soft and lifeless, I couldn’t bring myself to leave her. Even as GASP people came through, some wanting to help or comfort me, I didn’t even look at them. My eyes were hazy with tears. I’d never cried this much in my life. In fact, I didn’t even remember crying before Vesta came down from Vikkal’s cut-and-spell move, back on the Fire Star.
I heard familiar voices around me. Draven and Serena, at first, followed by a throng of murmurs and gasps from Kailani and Hunter, Jovi and Anjani, Jax and Hansa. I caught something from Arwen about opening the crystal casings and allowing the fae’s close relatives to come in and be with their loved ones.
“Ben…” Sofia murmured. She cried, and so did River, as Arwen took the casings down from Ben and the other Novaks. They’d all died, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. I knew that. I knew it all too well. I just didn’t want to let go of my Vesta. Not yet.
River was absolutely broken. She knew what she was coming to see here, but still, it wasn’t at all easy. Lawrence and Field held her up. She’d lost so much. She couldn’t even speak as Derek and Sofia helped bring Ben, Grace, Caia, and Vita closer together on the marble floor. As soon as she laid eyes on them, she collapsed, screaming. “No! No… NO!” she cried out, her voice piercing my very soul.
No one tried to stop her. She kept screaming, losing herself in agony, faced with her dead family. My vision was hazy, as another round of tears made their way up. Watching River like this tore me apart on the inside. She let it all out. The grief, the anger, the pain and desperation… screaming until her voice faded, hoarse and exhausted. There wasn’t anything anyone could do for her.
Sofia’s self-control, on the other hand, was incredible, despite the tears streaming down her cheeks. She was definitely in better shape than poor River. Maybe it had something to do with losing Ben before—but he wasn’t the only one who’d died, in this instance. Perhaps her composure was sort of mandatory, given her leadership position in GASP. Derek was devastated, as well, his eyes red and all cried out. But they both kept it together. Even with all this happening, they kept it together. I could think of no one better leading the federation, or The Shade, for that matter.
Sofia looked at me, and my heart shattered all over again. She felt my pain. They all did. River managed to take her eyes off Ben, their daughter, and their granddaughters for a moment, and she, too, understood me. I could see it in her eyes—that single second of clarity she had, before she shattered herself once more, too tired to scream but with enough tears left to fill an ocean. She was seconds away from passing out.
“I’m so sorry, Zeriel,” Sofia breathed. “So deeply sorry.”
I couldn’t speak. My voice had vanished a while back. Kailani knelt next to us and gently caressed Vesta’s pale, pearlescent face. They’d been close friends since the Stravian incident.
“Zeriel,” Kailani managed, grief dripping from her faded voice.
“I know,” I whispered. “I know. This was the most we could get out of this situation.”
Derek took Lucas’s lifeless body in his arms, and I heard him cry for the first time. He’d never let go like this before—at least not while I’d been around.
“You didn’t deserve this,” Derek said. “After all you’ve been through… You didn’t deserve this.”
Sofia was torn between Ben’s family and her father, Aiden, who couldn’t even speak anymore as he stared at Kailyn. She seemed so peaceful, with her eyes closed, as if she was just sleeping, bound to wake up at any moment. We all knew she wouldn’t, though. Death was so final.
“The worst part is that we can’t even avenge them,” Bijarki said, sitting close to Vita and running his fingers through her blonde hair. Blaze lay on his side, so his face would be inches from Caia’s as he gazed at her, quiet and darkened by grief. “Who do we go after? How do we kill them all?”
“We can’t,” Lawrence replied, as Grace’s head rested on his lap. “The Hermessi are too powerful, even back in their basic elemental state, too big for us to go after. At least it’s over now. They can’t do this ever again.”
“It’s not fair.” Vivienne sighed. I’d not even seen her and Xavier come through, yet here she was, kneeling next to her brothers—one of which was dead.
“It’s over,” Derek interjected. “That’s the end of it. It doesn’t matter anymore. Revenge won’t bring them back. It won’t bring any of them back. Not our friends, not our granddaughter… my brother… our son…”
His voice broke as another wave of tears threatened to dismantle him completely. Sofia was quick to reach him, wrapping her arms around him and holding tight, while Derek let go and cried his heart out.
But Vivienne was right. None of this was fair. And I needed to make some sense of it before I found the courage to finally let go and accept that this was how it would end for us, for me… for Vesta.
“Has anyone spoken to Taeral?” I asked.
Kailani nodded. “It’s why we all came here. He stopped the ritual.”
“I can see that. So he found Death?” I replied.
“Yeah, but we didn’t get too many details. Tae said he stopped the ritual for good, this time,” she explained. At least Lawrence’s words made more sense now. “We’ll have to wait for him to reach out to us again, or for him to come back here and tell us all about it.”
Vivienne sniffed, wiping her puffy eyes with trembling hands. “He said something to Nuriya. What was it exactly? I can’t remember right now.”
River had her arms out, trying to hold her family close as best as she could. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she wasn’t moving, either. My stomach clenched, as I noticed how pale she’d gotten over the course of a few minutes.
“He said he was going to fix this,” Kailani replied. “Though I’m not sure what he can do. The last thing we want is to owe anything to another cosmic entity.”
Marion sat next to Lucas, joined by Avril and Heron. I hadn’t noticed them, either. There were so many people in the sanctuary now that I couldn’t process the whole scene or recognize everyone—though I was certain I knew most of them. Pain blinded me in ways I’d never thought possible, tearing me out of my reality and keeping me isolated in my suffering.
“We asked the Hermessi for help, and this is what they gave us.” Marion sighed, shaking her head. She leaned down and kissed Lucas’s forehead. Avril fought back tears as she caressed her father’s cheek. “As much as I hate to say this, I’d rather they all stayed dead than all of us ending up on the wrong end of Death.”
The statement felt like a claw hammer rammed into my stomach, but its truth could not be ignored. As much as I wanted it all to go back to normal, as desperate as I was to see my Vesta alive and breathing again, I had to admit, I didn’t want it to come at the cost of another apocalypse. We’d had enough of those, from both Ta’Zan and Brendel. The circle had to break. The pattern needed to stop.
“You would not owe Death anything.” A male voice came through.
I froze, recognizing his attire. The black suit and shirt, the dapper look and eyes filled with galaxies and darkness. A Reaper. This wasn’t Vesta’s, though. No, that one was hiding from sight, much like the rest of them. I hadn’t dared to call out to him after he’d vanished, after the slew of curse words I’d thrown at him for not showing her to me after she’d passed. I hadn’t dared to hope that her spirit was still around, either. Deluding myself would’ve been the last step prior to an unavoidable descent into madness, and I needed my wits about me for the near future.
“Who are you?” I asked, struggling to keep my temper. The mere sight of a Reaper was enough to piss me off, reminding me of their stupid rules and regulations. I couldn’t hate them too much, though. Rudolph had given me the chance to say goodbye, at least.
“Seeley,” he said, standing in front of Vesta and me. He’d appeared out of nowhere, but I was too tired to be startled. “I’m sorry we have to meet in such circumstances,” he added, giving me a grave look before he turned to look at Marion and the others. “But I felt the need to correct you. Death wants nothing in return. For all the good that Taeral and his crew have done, this is the least she could do to thank him, to thank you all for your resistance, for your opposition to the Hermessi.”
“What… What are you trying to say?” River replied. This was the first time she sounded coherent, since she’d been brought here. Her demeanor had done a 180 in a split second.
“This is a one-time only measure,” Seeley said. “I must add the disclaimer. Do not expect us to just come in and fix things whenever someone dies, going forward. We are not friends. We are not partners. Chances are we shall never see each other again after I’m done here.”
“After you’re done here doing what, exactly?” Sofia asked. Her lower lip quivered, and I could almost feel the conflict brewing inside her, between grim reality and that little inkling of hope I knew she’d held on to.
“Five million fae have perished unnaturally. The universe is out of balance. Therefore, the Hermessi’s error must be corrected,” Seeley declared. “The wounds they caused may never heal, but the world will move on. It will continue to grow, no longer tarnished by mindless rituals and elementals with a god complex. That is done and over with.”
His scythe lit up white as he raised it over his head. His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear him. I could, however, feel the chill leaving Vesta’s body. An invisible current jolted through every fae in the sanctuary, bursting outward like a draft. Silence and dust settled around us. Seeley seemed to be waiting for something.
My soul ached, temporarily seduced by the same flicker of hope I’d seen in Sofia’s eyes. Fearful that I might find myself disappointed, I squashed it quickly. But Vesta’s eyes opened, and she sucked in a wheezing breath, and relief washed over me like a violent avalanche.
“Vesta!” I gasped.
She wasn’t the only one, either! One by one, the fae came back to life! Ben, Grace, Caia, Vita… then Lucas and Kailyn. The GASP agents. The diplomats. The visitors from the Fire Star and Zephyr. Every single fae in the sanctuary, even Crane, had been revived. River’s shriek made my skin tingle—it wasn’t grief, though, that had fueled it. It was relief. It was joy. It was the complete opposite of everything that had tormented her until now.
For a moment, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But Bijarki scooped Vita up in an ardent embrace, and Blaze kissed Caia a thousand times, crying and laughing at once. River sobbed as Ben smiled at her, and she wrapped her arms around him. Grace and Lawrence hugged and kissed first, before they reunited with Ben and River. The Novaks piled up on one another in a feverish group hug, arms reaching, souls swelling, tears flowing, as life had been breathed back into half of them. I worried once more that River might faint, but for different reasons.
Lucas hugged his wife and daughter. He even grabbed Heron by his face and kissed him on the forehead, laughing maniacally as he realized he’d just gotten a third chance at life. Derek hugged his brother, laughing and crying at the same time.
“You lucky son of a…” Derek managed. “You lucky… lucky bastard!”
“Good to be back… again.” Lucas chuckled hoarsely. He reached an arm out for Vivienne to join them, and she did not hesitate. The Novak siblings were together again, and all the torment they’d endured until now had completely evaporated. I did not wish to use the word lightly, but I couldn’t help it.
“It’s a miracle,” I whispered.
“Zeriel,” Vesta said, prompting me to look down. I realized then that my entire body was shaking, and I didn’t know how to cope with this—the very thing I’d prayed for but hadn’t thought I’d ever see. “Are you okay?”
I must’ve looked like crap. Losing her had damaged me in so many ways. “I’m okay. I’m better now, actually.”
“Might it have something to do with me being alive again?” she asked, slightly amused and remarkably calm. Her eyes were glassy with tears, but she held them back, and I loved her all the more for it.
