yet. Agents said they were heading back there to see, but no one's said a word in almost twenty minutes."
He smiled again, and, for a mere flicker in time, I had the false sensation that everything would be okay. My skepticism cut deeply, but it was necessary. Sherus was right. I couldn't delude myself about this.
"I'll be okay in here," he replied. "Why don't you go to the grand hall? I think the GASP seniors are still gathered there. Find out what's happening."
"Perhaps our son will say something in the meantime," I said hopefully.
"Regardless of whatever he tells you, make sure he knows I love him," Sherus said.
My eyes felt wet. Tears were pooling again, and I needed to get out before I broke down and cried. It wouldn't have been the first time today. Exhaling sharply, I shot to my feet and gave my husband a brief nod.
"I'll see you in a bit, Sherus."
I vanished, teleporting myself across The Shade and right inside the grand hall.
I found the whole of GASP here. All of them looking rather conflicted, torn between grief and relief. What an odd pair of emotions to behold across so many familiar faces.
“Any news?” I asked, feeling stupidly hopeful.
A thousand storms were raging through my heart, as I’d yet to hear from Taeral. Perhaps knowing that he couldn’t be killed had taken some of the edge off, but I was still worried. It was in my nature as a mother to worry—about his wellbeing, his state of mind, anything that could make him feel anything less than happy and fulfilled.
Derek and Sofia were the first to greet me. They didn’t seem happy at all. No one could bring themselves to experience such a thing. The haunted looks in their eyes stabbed my heart with invisible daggers. I could only imagine how they felt, considering how much of their family they’d had to leave behind in the sanctuary on Calliope.
“We think Taeral and the crew managed to stop the ritual, somehow,” Derek said, his tone grave and heavy. “But not before the five millionth fae was taken under the Hermessi’s influence.”
“That… That means the fae… They died?” I replied, finding no better words for this kind of follow-up. Sofia teared up and nodded rapidly, then hid her face in Derek’s chest as he pulled her into an embrace. Oh, my heart…
“I am so, so sorry,” I managed, feeling their pain like a throbbing pulse in the pit of my stomach. No mother would ever want to bury a child, and for Sofia, this was her worst nightmare come true. She’d already lost Ben once. I, too, had experienced such agony before, because of Cyrus.
This time, she’d lost Grace, Caia, and Vita, as well. Derek had lost his brother. Aiden, his wife. River had it the worst of them all. She could barely move, as Lawrence and Field tried to comfort her as best as they could. But she was limp, her eyes glassy and blank. When would all these troubles end, I thought, while my gaze wandered past them and around the grand hall. Moonlight poured through the tall windows, dressing everything in a pale, pearly white. The glass table in the middle glistened quietly. The only sounds I could hear were the muted sobs of those present.
Yes, the ritual had been stopped. But at what cost?
Millions of fae were dead, gone forever. We knew Taeral and his crew had killed Brendel, but we were in the dark regarding the Spirit Bender and Death, how it had all been stopped. There was no news of the rebel Hermessi, either. Everything had come to a sudden halt, in a way we’d never asked for.
This kind of pain would never simmer down. It would burn through us forever. At least we still had a future to look forward to, as empty as it was without our fae friends and loved ones.
“We’ll have to open the portal soon,” Derek said after a long pause, stroking Sofia’s hair with one hand in a bid to comfort her. “We’ll need to go out there and assess the damage. The agents who stayed behind are already at the sanctuaries.”
“How did it manifest?” I asked, trying to get their minds away from Ben and the others, at least for a little while.
“The ritual?” Derek replied. Dark shadows had settled under his blue eyes, brushstrokes of grief that would take forever to fade. Sofia wiped her tears and raised her head, trying to get back