Epilogue
EPILOGUE
“ A nd that’s how I got the scar.”
Ronin rubbed at his eye patch. A throbbing ache had gathered behind it as he’d recounted his sad, sorry tale.
A much sharper ache needled through his chest. The ache he’d tried—and failed—to soothe for two-hundred-and-six years. Not that he was keeping count.
Seated on the rough, black boulders next to him, Reena and Cassandra gaped, the former looking like she’d just swallowed her tongue and the latter…
He was still adjusting to seeing her with those incredible, iridescent white wings, her human features sharpened into something new and painfully beautiful. Something Fae .
And she was clearly still adjusting to the wings. They cascaded through the slats in her gray prison shirt, drooping down her back and resting upon the charcoal dirt.
No Windrider he knew ever let their wings drag upon the ground. She’d need to work on building up those muscles, would need to learn how to carry them properly. Not to mention figure out a way to hide the fucking things before the Emperor journeyed to the prison to deliver their sentences. Before Eamon Erabis found out what his brother Tristan had done. Again . Turned a human woman.
Creator save them all.
The trio gathered in a yard outside of Tartarus’s intake tower, the place where new inmates were dumped before they received their sentences. Several other groups of shell-shocked, freshly-minted prisoners were scattered throughout the barren, dusty expanse, eying their new neighbors warily.
There were no guards at Tartarus. There was no need. The extensive wards surrounding the complex prevented escape and the inmates were left to fend for themselves—a violent, lawless existence that often resulted in bloody civil wars that served to cull the population.
A worry for another day.
“So,” Reena said hesitantly, her golden tiger eyes glinting in the murky sunlight seeping through the warded dome above them, “she’s here then? Your former?—”
“She’s nothing to me,” Ronin snapped. “But yes. She’s here.”
He knew it to be true because as soon as he’d arrived, as soon as he’d woken up in his cell, his wolf had released such an anguished, mournful howl that Ronin’s eardrums had nearly burst.
Oh yes, she was here. He could sense her. But he didn’t dare ask his wolf what state she was in, how she was feeling. He didn’t want to fucking know.
The only thing he cared about was saving Selene, who was here as well. Captured by the Empire during a raid on the Teles Chrysos ten years ago.
He didn’t even feel guilty that he hadn’t told Cass that she and Mireille were destined to cross paths. That Mireille’s father—one of Cass’s human ancestors, for fuck’s sake—had said Cass would need her help.
Maybe he’d tell her one of these days. But for now, he kept the information to himself. She had enough shit she was dealing with at the moment: being ripped away from Tristan, being shipped off to this High-Gods-forsaken prison.
Being Turned into an entirely new species .
But despite everything she’d endured, despite the raw, ever-present anger that lingered in her blue-gray eyes, she’d listened to Ronin’s tale with compassion.
She reached out to squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Ronin.”
He shrugged and her grip tightened, nearly crushing his bones. Fuck she’d gotten so much stronger. Was she aware of it yet?
Her gaze narrowed, determination hardening her features. “But you need to get over it.”
He startled, an amused smirk curving his lips. She was more like her half-human ancestor than she even knew. “And why’s that?”
“Because if Mireille is here, has been here for centuries , then surely she’s learned a few things about the prison. We need to find her so she can help us.”
Ronin scoffed. “Help us do what?”
“We’re breaking out of here.” Cassandra gritted her teeth, her muscles tensing as she spread her glorious white wings wide. Rainbow light shimmered through her feathers, glowing with divine fire.
“And then we’re going to end the Empire.”