"Legion! Kill the girl. Kill her like you did the last one."
Legion grinned and raised Lyana toward the ceiling, and his jaws opened, and Lyana cried out.
"Wait!" Elethor shouted.
Legion froze, holding Lyana a mere foot above his jaws.
"Wait!" Elethor repeated. "Solina, wait."
The Queen of Tiranor smiled softly. She nodded at Legion, and the nephil lowered Lyana to his breast and held her close, a spider clutching a fly.
Elethor lowered his head, pain pulsing through his chest like demons inside him, scratching at his heart and ribs. Again he saw all the dead: his father, his brother, Treale, and countless others, all dead for this war between him and Solina. He could bear no more—not Lyana. Not her. He clenched his fists at his sides, turned toward Solina, and stared at her.
"Let Lyana go," he said, "and I will stay with you here." He exhaled slowly and lowered his eyes. "You win, Solina."
"El," Lyana whispered. "El, I—"
The claws tightened around her, constricting her breath and voice. Blood trickled from her lips.
Elethor stepped toward his wife, heart wrenching. He wanted to touch her, comfort her, hold her and whisper to her, but Legion's foot thrust out and kicked him back, and Elethor fell several paces. Solina caught him, wrapped her arms around him, and stared into his eyes.
"You made the right choice, Elethor," she said. "You grieve for her now; I know. You will forget her in time. You will forget her and you will love me again." She turned to her demon. "Legion! Take the girl back to the bridge. Let her go! She is free."
The nephil bowed his dripping, spiked head, and his tongue lapped up drool from the floor. Clutching Lyana to his belly, the creature retreated back out the door, leaving a trail of slime.
Elethor gave a wordless cry, wrenched himself free from Solina, and ran after them. He passed through the doorway, and stench hit his face, and shrieks filled his ears, and he found himself standing outside the pool again. Around him rose the columns of the Hall of Memory. Below in the pit, the million nephil spawn rotted and shrieked and fed upon one another. Legion was already retreating along the stone bridge, moving from the Memory Pool toward the archway that exited the chamber.
"Elethor!" Solina cried behind him.
He ignored her and raced along the bridge.
"Wait!" he shouted. "Solina, let me speak to her! Let me say goodbye. Then you may have me."
"Put her down, Legion!" Solina shouted. "Let him speak to his whore!" She laughed. "Let them cry together one last time; it will amuse me."
The vermin in the pit screamed and leaped and clawed at the rims of the bridge. Their father, the towering Lord Legion, cackled and tossed Lyana down. She thudded against the bridge, and the vermin all around clattered and screeched and clawed, grabbing at the bridge and trying to reach her, then falling back into the pit.
Elethor ran. He reached Lyana, knelt above her, and held her, and for a moment he could not speak from pain. She was hurt. They had removed her armor and torn her clothes, leaving her ragged and bloodied. Dirt and ash matted her hair and caked her face.
"Lyana," he whispered. "I'm here. I'm here."
She struggled to her feet and stood on trembling legs. Elethor held her waist, and she placed her hands on his shoulders. They stood in the center of the bridge. Solina stood behind at the pool; Legion retreated to stand at the archway. All around in the pit, the wretchedness and darkness of the world screamed and bled and fed, their cries echoing in the chamber.
"Elethor," Lyana whispered and tears filled her eyes. "Elethor, no."
He touched her hair. "It's the only way, Lyana. Leave this place. Fly to the others. Find Mori and Bayrin and whoever still lives and flee this desert. Promise me, Lyana."
She stared at him, and her eyes hardened, but then she trembled and pulled him into a crushing embrace. They held each other as the creatures screamed all around.
"I love you, Elethor," she whispered, her head against his shoulder. "I love you always, my husband, my king. They will sing your name in the halls of Requiem. Always."
He touched her cheek and looked into her eyes—those eyes that would once taunt him, madden him, infuriate him… and which now spoke of Requiem's halls, of warm embraces on cold nights, of her steel and fire and love that had taken him through this war, that would remain