their knees.
Trees swayed, their weeping branches alight with glowing pixies who watched me as I filled the world with a song to mark the passing of our people. Karliene’s The Unquiet Grave played through the air as if a loudspeaker had replaced the clouds, and the heavens of Faery sang. Fire leapt to life in the torches as the voice began to sing. The wind continued, ruffling hair and the swathes of cloth that covered the dead. The skies displayed a multitude of vibrant colors, bathing Faery in a blanket of unmatched beauty.
Stepping forward, I called the first soul to me. My eyes closed, and my heart clenched tightly as if an invisible hand had ripped into my chest, continually squeezing it. I opened my eyes to stare into a beautiful forest-green gaze. Tears slipped free of the precarious hold I’d had on them, and my legs threatened to give out as pain ripped through me with immense sorrow, leaving me broken in tiny, useless pieces.
“Who would have ever thought that you, a former guild enforcer, who hunted down fae, would be the one to send me to the Otherworld, Synthia?” Dristan asked, his ghostly lips turning up at the corners into a sad smile. His hand lifted, cradling my cheek as he studied me without accusation or judgment for failing to protect him.
A thick scent of earth and sandalwood danced in my senses the moment he touched me. He observed me with love burning in the depths of his gaze. His hand felt warm, alive even though he was merely a soul now. He was a beautiful soul. He was one that couldn’t remain here to wander Faery until he became nothing more than an angry spirit. I wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“Dristan,” I whispered, thick with emotion, searching for the words I needed to say. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I failed you.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay with my fate. I need you to keep Ryder grounded for me.” He nodded to where Ryder studied me through narrowed eyes, unable to see the souls that lined the courtyard. Each soul had returned, all except for one. The soul who didn’t belong to Faery, and couldn’t be summoned to send to the Otherworld, since Olivia didn’t belong there. My hand lifted, gently pushing Dristan’s hair away from his face before he leaned over, kissing my lips. “I knew my fate the moment we watched you walked out onto the battlefield. I sensed it coming for me. I stayed in that tower to protect the children. We all did, that’s on us. Not you. Don’t carry my death with you. Use the anger of our deaths to win this war against those who trespassed against us. Ryder is right: use it, Goddess.
“We did not die in vain. We died protecting our family, which is worth fighting for. If asked if I would do it again, knowing my outcome would be death, I would do it time and time again, without hesitation.” Dristan’s hands cupped my face between them as he nodded while holding my gaze. “We will meet again, you and me. When the world is right, and the time comes, I will be reborn into the same bloodline. The horde is a part of me, and you are now a part of it as well. Tell Ryder to keep fighting, keep moving forward, and don’t grieve too long for those he lost, because the future you are fighting for is worth more than the lives he has lost in this fight.”
I nodded slowly, aware that I looked like an idiot speaking to the ghost no one else could see. It wasn’t until Thanatos stepped up beside me that my heart kicked into overdrive. Panic erupted within me, and I shook my head violently as the reality of why he’d come struck me. He had known I’d call our dead back to this place because I was one of the few who could do so.
“Not yet,” I whispered.
“He’s ready to move on,” Thanatos said softly, holding his hand out for Dristan to accept as he held my panicked gaze. “He will be given peace for the sacrifice he made protecting his family and kingdom. He will