A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir Page 0,156

the mud. His green eyes glaze as the life leaves him, as blood oozes from his chest.

“Harper, no—” I whisper. “No—please—”

“Helene—” He says my name, but I cannot hear it. The battle is too fierce, my heart thunders too loudly. No—no. I do not want victory if this is the cost.

“Em-emifal F-F-Firdaant—” he whispers, and his hand, gripping mine only a moment before, drops to the mud.

I will sing him back to me. I will. But I do not, for something tears again into my left side. I cannot help the scream that explodes from my throat. It feels unending, the sum of all my pain, all my defeat and sorrow.

Keris watches me. Dagger in hand, she approaches, relishing my suffering, basking in it.

I try to rise. I cannot. Loyal. Loyal to the end.

But the end is here. And I am not ready.

LXI: Laia

Beware, Laia. Rehmat’s voice is sharp in my mind. Something isn’t right.

I do not speak as the Nightbringer thuds onto the plateau. Fear will not claim my mind. I will defeat him. I will destroy him.

“Can you feel it, my love?” the Nightbringer says, and I do not know if he speaks to me or Rehmat. When he steps toward me, Rehmat pushes me back, even as I hold my ground. I stumble.

Stay with me, I say to her in my head. I know this is difficult. I know you loved him. But we cannot win if we do not move as one.

“We will stop you.” Rehmat and I speak together, and though my voice trembles, I steel myself. “You will not crack open this world to the Sea of Suffering. I will not allow it.”

“Won’t you?” he says, and as he closes in, he lifts his hands to my face.

Stay with me, I say again to Rehmat. This time, we hold steady even as within my mind, she flinches at his touch.

“It does not have to be this way,” we say. “You are the Meherya. Meant to love.” I gesture to the battlefield below. “This is not your way.”

“All that I do is driven by love,” he says, and his flame eyes meet mine. My heart—or Rehmat’s—lurches. “Love of all that was taken from us. Love of what is left.”

He’s so close that if my scythe was in hand, I could kill him. Ever so slowly, I edge my arm back. But Rehmat holds me fast. My limbs do not cooperate.

We have to kill him, I remind her. You promised you would not take over. You swore it.

Something is not right, she whispers.

“This is not the way forward.” Rehmat speaks now, though I try to stop her. “You do not honor our love by letting vengeance consume you. You do not honor our people. Or our—children—” The last word is choked off, for the blood magic will not allow her to speak of her life with him. “Show remorse,” she urges him. “Repentance. Dedicate your life to the task Mauth gave you. Restore the balance.”

What are you doing? Now I am furious, for this was not the plan. There is no forgiveness for what he has done.

Rehmat does not bend. Stay your anger, Laia, she says. For something is wrong, and I must draw it out of him.

She does not sound weak, or unlike herself. She seems as stern and alert as ever. And yet she will not move. She will not let me reach for the scythe. I grit my teeth and fight her, scrabbling at it. The Nightbringer grabs my wrist.

“You would kill me, my love?” he says. “Your own Meherya?”

Laia, you must escape here. Rehmat’s voice rises in pitch, frantic. I do not know what he has planned, but you must escape quickly.

I try to back away from him, to reach for the scythe. But I cannot. My body is frozen.

Let me go, Rehmat.

It’s not me! Rehmat shouts. Fight him, Laia! Break free!

But the Nightbringer holds me still, and though I strive against him, I cannot even blink. Through Rehmat’s increasingly frantic exhortations, I hear a voice that has gotten me through so much.

“Laia! I’m here—”

Darin.

He bursts from the woods, but my heart drops, for he hurtles toward the Nightbringer too swiftly. He is yards away, then just a few feet. His scim sparkles with salt, and he raises it high, hoping, no doubt, that an attack will give me a few moments to escape the Nightbringer’s grasp.

“Darin!” I shriek. “Stop!”

The Nightbringer does not even turn his head. He simply releases me, reaches