witness it written on his beautiful face.
“You realize that you and I are not finished, right?” I stood to look at Thanatos.
“This one isn’t on me, Synthia,” Thanatos said, bristling with unease as he took in the grief in my stare.
“You took thousands of warriors, so why come for our family?” I asked, hating the tears that burned my eyes.
“I heard their cries, but I didn’t take them. Bilé did. He had already claimed them before I got here to do it. I’m not the only God of Death inside Faery right now, Synthia. I tried to save their souls before he could take them. You want a way to hurt Bilé? He took the soul of an angel today. That is forbidden and against the laws of the gods. Only heaven can reclaim her, and until they do, she will not rest. No,” he said when my head tilted and my eyes narrowed at his words. “Olivia left of her own free will. That which is dead cannot be raised again. She is gone forever, but her eternal rest is not guaranteed until she enters heaven. Use her loss, because he has violated the laws unknowingly by taking her angelic soul.”
I twisted in my seat, staring out over the crowd that listened as Ryder said the prayers of the fae and a blessing for the dead warriors. He stared proudly over the army he’d brought together, and now they formed a deeper bond in the grief we shared. This fight wasn’t over. It was just getting started, and it would be a long one.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Death had a way of changing people, forcing them to learn a new normal. Ryder spoke before the entire horde. The grief he felt remained hidden until he reached the names of his fallen brothers. Dristan was a hard hit, harder than Olivia was for us. She’d been a part of the family, but Dristan, he was Ryder’s baby brother.
Ryder murdered his father to protect his brothers and sister from Alazander, and as a result, he became king. He’d protected them all long before that day. Sevrin was another loss Ryder was struggling to accept, and each name he called out loud added weight to my chest until it felt like I’d never breathe again.
Ryder stumbled over Dristan’s name again as everyone watched. I swallowed past the tears threatening to drown me, moving to the middle of the glowing funeral pyres. Fairy lights lit throughout the courtyard and beyond the gate, where we’d been unable to accommodate enough room for the dead. Zahruk surveyed me carefully, his hand on Darynda’s heavily wrapped corpse. Unshed tears swam in his eyes for the woman he’d once cared for, and in death, he’d refused to leave her side.
Lifting my hand, I directed the wind until it blew gently through the kingdom, letting the power of Faery glow from within me. All around, people turned their attention to me, watching in wonder as tiny pixies carried flowers through the air, dropping them onto the dead, honoring their sacrifice. I called to the rain, drenching the world surrounding us without allowing its showers to touch any of us. Faery also wept for the heavy losses of those who had been taken from us too soon.
The skies sang with the wind, howling in mourning at the pain, sharing our sorrow. Those around us lifted their eyes to the heavens, bereaved in grief, yet able to see the beauty of our home. My body pulsed with raw power, calling back the souls from the vile god who had stolen them. My hand lifted in the air once more, and tiny glowing balls of light escaped from each corpse, forming a spiritual representation of the dead. My vision swam with unshed tears, uncaring who saw that I grieved the loss of my family and trusted friends.
I was aware of Ryder’s comforting presence at my back. I had taken the spotlight off of him, allowing him a moment to grieve his brothers without the judgmental stares of the crowd. I sensed his inner turmoil, his pain, and worse, I felt his anger. I could sense the magnitude of heartache at the loss of entire kingdoms that had been brought to