Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,107

more,” the sorcerer declared.

Cheers erupted around me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything except stare halfway across the field at Damian, holding Rylan, his arm healed. For Rylan, the Rén Zhsas had been too late.

“But for you, King of Dansii,” the sorcerers suddenly spoke all together, their voices rising until the ground trembled and my ears actually hurt, “for your crimes, you shall be cursed to suffer far more than death or becoming Dish. You shall be cursed to not only wander the Lost Paths for all eternity, but to suffer the pain you have made others suffer until the end of time.”

I spun to face King Armando. For the first time since I’d met him, fear filled his eyes. But then his gaze dropped to me, standing only a few feet away, and his fear turned to rage.

“This is your fault!” he roared, and, yanking a sword out of a body next to him, he rushed at me with it lifted overhead.

Strengthened by the force of the brilliant light, I lifted my own sword and blocked his blow with a resounding clang that echoed over the suddenly silent canyon.

His eyes burned with the fires of loathing as he charged at me again and again, but I continued to deflect him until he began to tire. And then, with the firelight of the trees burning all around us flickering across our bodies, I charged at him, lifting my sword and swinging it around as hard and fast as I could. He stumbled back, the fear returning, but he was too late — and too slow. My sword drove through his flesh and organs, but rather than pulling it back out, I pressed it in even harder as I stepped closer to him so I could whisper, “Enjoy your eternity of suffering.”

He tried to say something, but his words were only a gurgle.

I pulled out my sword, and he dropped to his knees in front of me. Not ever wanting to see him again, I turned and strode away, so that I only heard the soft thud of his body when he hit the ground.

It was over. He was dead.

They were all dead.

Above us, the sky was an endless expanse of velvety black, with millions of stars spreading like glittering diamonds spilled across the dark canvas. Before I’d left Antion, I’d never seen so much sky at once; it was only visible in patches through the unbelievably tall trees and bushes that enclosed our kingdom in a lush canopy. But here, the sky was as incomprehensible as eternity, stretching on forever.

I stared at the stars, because I couldn’t bear to bring myself to look down at the bodies that lay before me and those being buried elsewhere. I didn’t want to remember that they were gone. That they’d been taken away to live up there somewhere, among the pricks of light in the sky.

Asher.

Borracio.

So many other soldiers and sorcerers from both of our kingdoms.

Tanoori.

Rylan.

Tears slipped out of my eyes to run down my upturned face.

I heard someone walking up to me, but whoever it was stopped a few feet away and waited silently. Finally, I squeezed my eyes shut and let my head drop. I wrapped my arms around my body and took a deep breath.

When I glanced over my shoulder and saw that it was Damian standing there, wearing clean clothes and his crown, the grime and blood of the battle washed away, the tears started all over again.

He stepped toward me without a word and took me in his arms. I clung to him, staining his clean tunic with my tears as my body shook from the sobs I’d been holding in for years. No matter how many losses I’d suffered, I’d always forced myself to go on, to bury my pain and grief. But tonight, there was no one else to fight — no more battles to prepare for.

We’d finally conquered the enemy; we would finally have true peace.

But the cost had been unbearable.

My entire family, almost everyone I’d ever loved or cared for, except for Damian, had been taken from me.

But the same was true for him, too, and when I finally pulled away, I realized I wasn’t the only who had been crying. His face was streaked with tears as well.

Together, we turned to face the funeral pyres.

It had taken all night to bring the bodies down from the canyon and to put the wood together to honor our fallen, after the remaining soldiers