Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,297

neck. I'm sorry, Ben. I'm sorry, Gloriae, Agnus Dei, Kyrie. I love you all so much. I love you.

Blackness was spreading before her eyes. Through blurry tears, she could see that the women and children had fled the hill. She smiled softly. I saved them. He will kill me now, but I saved them.

He lifted Stella Lumen above her. The Draco Stars shone above between the smoke and flames, glittering across the sword.

"I'll kill you like I killed your husband, whore," he said. "I'll butcher you with your own sword."

Stars floated around her. Stars glowed on the hilt of her sword, and in the sky beyond the fire and shadow—the stars of her life. The light of Requiem fell upon her, waiting for her. I will join you soon, Ben. I will join you soon, Mother and Father.

Dies Irae lifted his foot off her neck.

"Will you plead for your life now, weredragon?" he asked. "Beg for it."

His boot crushed her shattered wrist, pinning her down. She saw her husband again, her love, her eternal companion. They danced in the halls of Requiem among marble columns. They raised their daughters in the light of stars and the song of harps. They fled together, hid together, fought together. She sat with him again by the stream outside Confutatis, the night they had summoned the griffins. The young ones went seeking supplies, and we kissed, and he loved me by the water.

She smiled softly. It began to snow. The snowflakes glided, so beautiful to her, and coated her.

"I do not fear death," she whispered, staring up with blurred eyes. "I do not fear my father's blade. But yes, I beg you, Dies Irae. If you still remember Requiem... if you still have any pity in you... spare me. Spare me for the child that I carry within me."

His eyes widened.

"Pregnant," he whispered. "With his child."

Her lips parted. The blade slammed down, a streak of starlight.

She gasped.

Blood bloomed across her breast, poppies in the snow.

She tried to speak, but no words left her lips. He stood above her, boots crushing her. He twisted the blade, his eyes alight. But Lacrimosa felt no pain, only love and warmth. She smiled softly and her fingers uncurled.

Harps played, and the stars seemed so close, their light no longer cold and distant, but warm against her. She looked at King's Column, which rose from the fire, and it seemed to her like the halls of Requiem stood again, all in white, awash with light. The birches rustled around her, their leaves silver.

"I return to you, Ben," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "I love you."

She held his hand as starlight flooded her.

KYRIE ELEISON

He was running uphill when he saw her fall.

His heart froze.

He gasped.

Lacrimosa. Stars, no.

"Mother!" Agnus Dei shouted beside him, voice torn.

Stars, no, Kyrie prayed. She lost a father already, don't let her lose her mother too.

"Lacrimosa!" he shouted and ran uphill, his eyes burning. Smoke flowed around him. Fire licked at his boots. He ran, shouting, horror pulsing through him. Stars, no, please. He shoved his way between battling Earthen and mimics.

He reached the hilltop and saw Dies Irae laughing, Stella Lumen bloody in his hand. Lacrimosa lay at his feet, eyes glassy and staring. Kyrie shouted, eyes blurred, and leaped at him. He swung his sword.

The blade slammed against Dies Irae's breastplate. Rubies flew from it. Dies Irae laughed and swung his mace, and Kyrie leaped back, dodging it.

"Murderer!" Agnus Dei screamed, swinging her blade at Dies Irae. Her hair was wild, her eyes blazing. "I'll kill you, bastard! I'll kill you!"

Her blade slammed against his helmet, knocking his head sideways, but he stayed standing. He swung down his mace. Agnus Dei leaped back, and the mace grazed her thigh. She screamed and thrust her blade.

Shouting, Kyrie swung his sword too. He wanted to go to Lacrimosa. Is she dead? Oh stars, is she dead? But he dared not. He leaped onto Dies Irae, screaming, the world turned red. He slammed the pommel of his sword against Dies Irae's visor, a monstrous beak of steel. It dented, but Dies Irae only laughed.

Agnus Dei whipped around him and slammed her sword behind his knees, where his plates of armor joined. Dies Irae shouted. Agnus Dei swung the blade again, tears on her cheeks, shouting hoarsely. Blood splashed down his armor.

Dies Irae fell.

"You killed her!" Agnus Dei screamed, weeping. "You killed my parents, bastard."

Dies Irae was on his knees, blood seeping from his legs. More blood poured