House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig Page 0,127
love?”
I pressed the softest kiss I could to his cheek. “Of course I did.”
“Then take me out from under the trees, Annaleigh.”
With Verity’s assistance, I picked him up as gently as possible and helped him walk farther from the house, out from under the oaks’ obscuring branches.
A great cough racked his chest as we lowered him to the ground. Blood flecked across his lips, and I wanted to howl. This wasn’t how things were supposed to play out. Eulalie’s novels always had the villains defeated and the lovers safe and sound, ready to start their lives together.
“Cassius, isn’t there a way to stop this? To summon your mother and—”
He clasped my hand, his head moving with a nearly imperceptible shake. “Oh, my darling Annaleigh, remember when you let the turtles go? Some things can’t be kept.” He cupped my cheek, and my tears trickled down his fingers. “Be brave. Be strong. You’ll always have my whole heart.”
He coughed again, his hand falling slack into the snow.
“No!” I screamed, and Verity sobbed, wrapping her arms around my neck. I rocked back and forth, holding her as tightly as I dared. The smoke on her clothes and hair singed my nostrils, grounding me into this horrible, awful moment. I wanted to punch the ground, kick and stomp and rip my shattered, useless heart from my chest.
He couldn’t be gone.
I waited, praying to hear the wicked cackle of Kosamaras’s laugh, but this wasn’t part of her tricks. The beguiling was over, and Cassius was dead.
The snow swirled as the night wore on into morning, piling up on us, on Cassius, until he was tucked under a blanket of white. Hearing our cries, my sisters gathered around us, huddling together, warm and safe, the last of the Thaumases.
As the storm cleared and the sun rose over the smoking facade of Highmoor, Camille stood, inspecting her ruined estate. She held her body stiff and erect, trying to be strong, but her shoulders shook.
I pushed myself to my feet, knowing she needed comfort, someone to hold her hand and meet this challenge with her. But I needed to see Cassius one last time. I wanted to say goodbye while he was still just mine. Not a half god. Not Versia’s son. Just mine.
But when I looked back, the body wasn’t there.
I pushed through the snow, brushing handfuls away, rooting through it, but he was gone, vanished as if he’d never existed.
But he had. Verity had seen him. She was pressed against me, alive and well, because of him.
I looked up into the sky. Had Versia somehow spirited him away, back to her moonstone palace? Back to the Sanctum? I wanted to race to the Grotto’s door and travel to the House of Seven Moons, demanding answers, but stopped short. There was no door. There never had been. I had no way to reach her and would never know.
A great piece of the East Wing’s wall toppled over, sending tremors through the garden and gasps through the crowd.
“What do we do now?” Lenore asked. “Where will we go?”
Camille’s eyes, pink and watery, flickered over the crumbling edifice. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re the People of the Salt. We’re tied to this land, to these seas. Fire cannot force us to retreat.” She turned, her eyes looking over all of us, the final six Thaumas sisters. “We rebuild.”
“Hold on tight, don’t let them go just yet!”
“But I have my wish already! I don’t want to forget it!” Verity exclaimed, jumping impatiently from foot to foot.
“Me too!” Honor held on to the edge of her paper lantern with just her fingertips, dangerously close to releasing it.
“You have to wait for mine to be lit, and Annaleigh’s,” Mercy snapped. “You just want your wish to get there first!”
A summer breeze danced around us, light with the scent of seaweed and salt, and for a moment, Mercy’s wick wouldn’t catch. It sputtered out once, twice. When it finally lit, the paper lantern filled with warm air, and I handed it off to her. I hurried to light mine before the Graces’ patience wore out.
“All right, do we all have our wishes?” My sisters nodded eagerly, their eyes reflecting the happy glow of the flames. “Then, on the count of three, we’ll release them. One…two…”
“Three!” we cried together, and let go.
The little white lanterns slowly rose into the sky, twirling and twining around each other, caught in a dazzling ballet. They floated higher and higher to join with the stars.