Chapter 46
Forty-Six
JACE
L oss.
Grief.
Guilt.
Jace had yet to move from the ground where he’d fallen when Demitria broke free from his grip. Staring at his hands as if he’d been the one to stab her with the sword. He’d been an immovable fortress, and she’d still tossed him away as if he’d been lighter than a feather.
“Let me take her.” Jace whispered. His hands shook. Trembling with his own grief coursing through him. His only family. The only person remaining that he truly loved , and she was gone. Had slipped through his fingers before he could get a better hold of her. Before he could anchor himself around her frame, and never let her go. Now she was dead. Her body unmoving as the Horseman cried. “Let me take her.” He repeated, voice wavering. Weak. Pathetic. He didn’t care.
Kellan didn’t move. Whether unwilling to answer him, or had been so lost in his own emotions, Jace didn’t know.
“Please.” He broke, choking back the sob that tore from his throat. He couldn’t make himself move. To get up and take her body from Kellan’s hands, so he sat on the ground. The bite of the stone in his knees, the blood from his own wounds swelling to the surface, and he couldn’t even feel it. Everything was numb, yet he was broken. “Kellan let me take her.” Jace couldn’t help the tears as they flowed freely from his eyes. They’d promised to return. To end this together.
They’d promised each other they would never be alone. To never leave the other, and stay together. And even with the deaths of their families. His parents. Their entire world, he’d never felt alone, because she’d always been at his side. But now, that was all he’d ever be.
Alone.
On steady legs, Kellan moved toward him. Passing Demitria’s limp body to his awaiting arms. The grief that had overtaken him had vanished, replaced with a killing calm.
Jace cradled her to his own body, pressing his forehead to hers. Still warm. Still smelled like she had, after all those years, it had never changed. Like a field of lavender on a crisp morning. Never again would he smell it. Never would he breathe it in, wishing that it would just overcome him.
“You weren’t supposed to leave me. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Jace rocked their bodies back and forth. Pulling his head away only to brush the tousled hair off her face. The tips had been stained with her own blood, and it smeared on his fingers, cold, and no longer warm. He didn’t care, but wished it was his own. What he wouldn’t give to see her smiling again. To stare into those green-gold eyes he’d grown so accustomed to—so fond of, over the years. To take her place. He’d give anything to trade places with her, right here and now.
His own scream echoed over the mountain.
Anger.
Grief.
Regret.
It hit him with a slamming force that could have cleaved the mountain in two. As if his very being was shattered the moment her body fell.
A piece of Jace died with her.