Chapter 78
It’s been three days.
I think.
My castle is empty because her room is empty.
But I haven’t left it. Her sheets still smell like her. Her books are still where she left them, full of notes scribbled in her awful scholar script, and her favorite black dagger is in my hand.
My eyes glisten in its reflective sheen, puffy and red around the edges—black in the center.
I should’ve known she’d pull something like this.
I’ve been in the same spot on the floor, against her bed, for a while.
I killed Jasper, the hidden heir of Zo, for what he did. If there wasn’t already a war, there is one now.
A knock comes on her door.
I don’t answer because I don’t care. Her funeral is tomorrow. She’s no longer brimming with heat and life. I know exactly what she’s facing, and I’m powerless to stop it.
After I ignore another demanding knock, it opens to a man in white robes. I jump to my feet, Nizzara’s dagger clutched in my fist.
Thaddeus steps in. I’m starved and not capable of reigning in my darker self, so the monster inside begins climbing to the surface. Before I can take a step in his direction, dark purple smoke washes his face and it’s—
“You’re in my room.” Her voice is just as menacing as I remember.
My hand falls slack at my side, my voice splintering. “Lo.”
She runs to me and buries her face in my chest.
I squeeze so hard. Her chest is heaving, or maybe it’s mine. She’s the same height, her arms wrapping the same spot around my chest, her hair the same dark brown. Her presence the same, my fiercely protective older sister.
Finally, she looks up at my face. Her teary green eyes, now ten years older, search mine. “She was your hellion.”
The unbearable sting burns behind my eyes, down my throat, and lodges into my chest. All I can do is nod.