Edge of Pathos (The Conjurors Series Book 4) (35 page)

Her power blew
through Reaper, dissolving all of the darkness it found, until there was no
more, but whether it was no more darkness or no more of her own magic to fight
it, she wasn’t sure.

She was limp, but
remained standing, only swaying slightly. Reaper’s gaze was puzzled, as if he
was staring at something inside her that he couldn’t understand. His pulse beat
erratically in his throat, and then he moaned, gripping his chest, and
collapsed to the ground.

Thai knelt beside
Reaper and gripped his wrist. “He’s dead.”

Valerie started
shaking all over. “No, that’s not right.”

Henry’s mind touched
hers as he held her hand. “It’s okay. You didn’t kill him. If you did, you’d be
dead, too. Remember?”

“I healed him. I
saved him,” she said, knowing she was babbling, but unable to stop. “He’s
alive, and good, and now we’re going to save Cyrus.”

She got on her knees
and tried to pour more of her vivicus magic into Reaper, but it met a wall.

“It was a heart
attack,” Thai said, his tone gentle.

“I killed him,”
Valerie said. “And Cyrus…Cyrus...”

If the ground
beneath her feet dropped out from under her, it would make more sense than
Cyrus being gone. The pain went too deep for tears.

“Oh, please, don’t
let it be true,” Valerie whispered, as Thai pulled her to him.

Henry rested his
hand on her shoulder. “You can’t fold yet. Stay with me. We’re not done.”

The raw pain of
losing Cyrus threatened to swallow her, but she pushed it back. Not yet.
She sucked in a steadying breath and turned to meet Henry’s eyes,
allowing him into her mind so he could see that she’d hold it together, for
now.

She took a step
forward and almost tripped over Reaper’s corpse. She’d almost forgotten about
him, even as she’d tried to heal him. She was surprised that she felt nothing
toward Reaper anymore. No rage for what he’d done, or guilt over causing his
death. Only a little relief that her greatest enemy—the world’s greatest
enemy—was dead.

Valerie felt
detached from herself, as if her body could go on working and fighting, even
though her heart was broken. The part of her mind that wasn’t reliving Cyrus’s death
considered the battle still raging around her. The Fractus were shaken, their
weapons slipping as they cast glances at Reaper’s body lying behind her. With
the reinforcements from the People of the Woods, the Fist had the advantage.

Henry gave her a mint
that would amplify her voice. “End this. They need to know Reaper’s gone.”

Valerie sucked on
the mint before speaking. “Your leader has fallen. I know many of you fought at
Reaper’s side out of fear, and I ask you to cast down your weapons. I cannot promise
that you will all be pardoned, but I do swear that you will all receive
justice.”

The Grand Master of
the Illuminators’ Guild was the first to throw down his weapon. The bear loped
toward her, and Valerie tensed.

He stopped in front
of her and spoke. “The vivicus could have killed me more than once, or ordered
someone to do it, but she never did. I know she held back her magic so she
didn’t do more damage than she had to. I will surrender to her and abide by the
decision of the Justice Guild.”

After hearing his
words, more Fractus dropped their weapons, and those left gripping theirs were
outnumbered. They followed suit grudgingly.

Chisisi wound his
way through the crowd to stand by her side. “Per your orders, my people are
prepared to take the Fractus prisoners.”

“Per your
suggestion, you mean,” Valerie said with a slight smile. “I never thought we’d
make it to the point where we’d be the ones in a position to organize the
surrender.”

Chisisi smiled, a
real one that made his eyes crinkle. “My suggestion, then. I had faith in you
when I first met you at Mena House. Today, you lived up to my highest hopes. I
thank you for your service.”

Chisisi hugged her,
and her body sagged. His kindness nearly unraveled her, right there on the
battlefield, but she couldn’t let herself feel yet. She pushed her friend away
and took a deep, shaky breath.

“Go home, young
miss.”

“Soon,”
she promised.

In Silva, the
fighting continued to rage, fierce and brutal. When word spread that Reaper was
dead and Valerie was offering to protect anyone who surrendered, the effect
wasn’t as powerful as it had been on Earth.

It was a civil
war—Knights fighting Knights, guilds turning against each other. So Valerie
raised her sword and entered the fray with Thai and Henry. She tried not to think
about how Cyrus should have been there, too, meeting with the Healers and
helping with light treatments.

Explosions rocked
The Horseshoe as Steven and Willa used dynamite to keep the Fractus constantly
moving. It was effective in preventing them from rallying into cohesive groups,
but it was devastating to the buildings. The guilds, which were already
pock-marked with chips from the battle, crumbled further.

Kanti brought her
soldiers back from Earth to help with the battle in Silva, and even though they
were weary, sheer numbers had the effect that Valerie’s words hadn’t. The
Fractus who didn’t retreat were captured, and the fighting ended as the light
from the day disappeared.

 ”What’s next?”
she asked, after she and Skye finalized the details of the surrender inside the
heavily damaged Capitol Building.

The centaur bowed
his head and swayed a little on his hooves. “We rest.”

Valerie patted his
flank. “You’re right. Let’s get some sleep.”

Henry had left with
Kanti hours ago, but Thai had waited for her. He was asleep on a bench in the
hall, his head tipped back against the wall. His face was gray, and for the
first time, Valerie thought about the toll the day had taken on him. If it
wouldn’t completely humiliate him, she’d scoop him up and carry him home like a
baby. She was strong enough.

The idea almost made
her grin, but she thought of who would laugh the hardest at that idea and her
mirth vanished. Had she forgotten, even for a second, that her best friend was
dead? An image of Cyrus’s blood, still slick on her hands, passed through her
mind with perfect clarity, and all of her self-control crumbled.

She heard the echoes
of Sanguina’s cries before Reaper killed her, and images of the bodies that
littered the desert and The Horseshoe kept coming and coming, a kind of mental
torture that made what Zunya and Sanguina had done to her as a child pale in
comparison. Flecks of Cyrus’s blood were still on her hands, which began to
shake uncontrollably.

One of her tears hit
Thai’s cheek, and he woke up.

“How am I supposed
to survive this?” she asked him.

Even
tired and battered, he didn’t miss a beat. “With me. This is only the first
night. It won’t always hurt this much.”

Valerie couldn’t
remember walking home and going to bed. When she woke up, it was dark outside,
and she guessed that she’d slept through the entire day. Her grief was a weight
on her chest, like a living thing that wouldn’t budge, but the sharp edge of
her pain had dulled a little.

She cracked an eye
open and saw Clarabelle sleeping with her nose on Valerie’s windowsill. Even
asleep, the little unicorn lent her a measure of peace.

Welcome back.
Azra joined her
foal at Valerie’s window, her mane shining silver in the starlight.
Clarabelle
told me of your change. How do you feel?

“My change?” Valerie
rubbed her eyes, trying to focus.

Your vivicus powers
are but an ember inside of you after expending them so completely on Reaper.
They are not completely gone, but no longer yours to wield.

Valerie turned her
gaze inward, frantic at first, searching for the power that was always at her
core, a kind of fuel that was as fundamental to who she was as her DNA. It was
still there, but now, it was like looking at it from behind bulletproof glass,
untouchable.

“I’ll never be able
to save anyone again?” she asked, not sure whether she was relieved or
terrified.

Not with your
vivicus power. But now, it cannot strip your mind.

“I’m free,” Valerie
said, and even with all of the horror she had yet to process, the idea was
exhilarating.

She wouldn’t
mentally abandon Henry and Thai and everyone she loved. She wouldn’t ever
forget Midnight, Dulcea, Sanguina, her dad, Cyrus. The relief that they’d
always be with her was profound.

You have created a
new possibility for a future that has never been conceived of before. There is
work ahead, but it doesn’t have to be your work if you don’t want it to be. The
war is over. You could truly be free now.

Valerie combed her
fingers through Clarabelle’s mane, and the unicorn’s sounds of contentment
pinged her mind. She didn’t know if she’d ever be free of her memories, but
she’d learn to be happy some times in spite of them, she hoped.

“Will I see more of
you and Clarabelle now that the war is over? Will the Grand Masters elect you
as their Grand Chair now that Reaper’s gone?”

You will see me,
though not as Grand Chair. Clarabelle and I have a new calling.

Valerie was puzzled.
“What do you mean?”

Azra’s smile was so
warm that her eyes seemed to glow.
A new race of unicorns is rising.
Clarabelle will not be alone. Together, we will usher in a new generation.

Valerie didn’t
breathe, afraid she’d break the magic of the moment. “How is that possible?”

The legends say
unicorns arose from Arctic snows laced with the purest magic. Vivicus magic
could be the only thing that would have made such a thing happen again. When
you saved Clarabelle’s life, you awakened the possibility of future generations
of unicorns within her. Then, when you and your friends awakened the magic
within everyone, you also awakened long-dormant magic within the Earth. That
combination of power has allowed our race to arise again.

It was a legacy that
even Cyrus would have deemed worthy of him.

Thank
you, Valerie.

Valerie couldn’t
sleep after talking with Azra, so she decided to visit the hospital in Arbor
Aurum to meet with her wounded soldiers. Azra might say her responsibility as
leader of the Fist had ended, but she knew better. She owed her soldiers a debt
that couldn’t be repaid, but for the ones who still lived, she could
acknowledge it.

The sounds within
the People’s hospital made Valerie’s stomach clench. Would this war ever truly
be over, or would the sounds of it, the wounds from it, live with her forever?
She moved from bed to bed, clutching hands and murmuring words that she hoped
were comforting.

She saw Kanti’s dad,
George, quietly singing to a soldier who was missing an arm and moaning in
pain. The healing power of George’s song put the soldier to sleep. Valerie knew
that, somewhere, Kanti’s sisters Isabella and Amaryllis, along with their
mother, Pauline, were also helping the sick for a few days before they returned
to Elsinore. Peach was working with Kanti to get the soldiers from Elsinore
paid and returned home. Valerie avoided them all, not up to the task of small
talk in the face of so much suffering.

She almost tripped
over Cara, who was bent over the bed of a moaning soldier. Light pulsed from
her, and the moaning stopped. Cara turned and saw Valerie, and her face seized
up, as if she were in intense pain.

“I’m sorry—” Valerie
began, but Cara stopped her with a fierce hug.

“Don’t. Everything
you could say I already know. If my brother had to die, then he went the way he
would have wanted, as a hero, saving the person he loved the most. I could
never blame you. The only person to blame is dead, right?”

Valerie nodded,
hardly able to speak without crying. “Your parents?”

Cara had moved her
parents into a home in the trees a few days before the battle, and a cowardly
part of Valerie had been grateful that she hadn’t had to face them when she
returned to her home.

Cara wiped a stray
tear from her cheek. “They want to go home, to Messina, and to take me with
them.”

Ceru approached
them, and his expression as he watched Cara was tender. “I hope you will not
leave us. Or me.”

Cara’s ears turned
pink, and she had trouble meeting Ceru’s gaze. “Why?”

“Because we need you
here.”

Valerie quietly
slipped away, leaving them to their moment. In spite of his protectiveness,
Cyrus would have been glad that his sister found solace in her love for someone
that he had trusted, too.

She saw a glow
coming from someone sitting on a cot nearby. The light was so warm, like
Cyrus’s, that she almost thought he’d found a way back to her, after all. But a
second look showed her a form that she was much more familiar with seeing at a
hospital bedside.

“Dr. Freeman?” she
asked.

His face was lit up
when he saw her. “I have magic now. I can work with light.”

“That is—was—my best
friend’s power,” she said softly, so she didn’t choke on the words.

“Whatever you and
your friends did today, it woke up my power inside me. There are so many more
people I can help now that you’ve made magic possible on both worlds,” Dr.
Freeman said.

The way the light in
the room clung to him reminded her so much of Cyrus that she had to shut her
eyes to get her bearings. “You’re here to help with light treatments for the
Conjurors who were touched by the dark blades?”

“Yes. That’s where
I’m most needed today. But I am eager to talk with the Healers to see what we
can do to help humans. Think of the thousands, millions of lives we can save.”

Dr. Freeman’s awe
was a brilliant thing, and it made Valerie smile when she didn’t think the muscles
in her face would ever remember how to do such a thing again.

“Thank you,” she
said, and he gripped her in a hug.

“I could not be more
proud of you for what you accomplished today if you were my own daughter.”

Years
later, when Valerie remembered that conversation, she knew that it was his
words that kept her heart from going into a deep freeze of guilt and grief.

Thai was waiting for
her on the doorstep, sketching on his drawing pad, when she returned home. She
hadn’t seen him do that since before the war had started, and it made her
smile, especially when she saw that he was drawing the curve of a neck that
looked a lot like her own. When he saw her, he quickly put it away.

“Emin?” she asked,
deciding not to embarrass him by demanding to see what he’d been working on.

“Still at Elden’s. I
think he might decide to stay there,” Thai said. “I’m going to miss that little
guy. He was a bright spot in this house.”

“I can see how Henry
and I might not be the most lighthearted of roommates. I can’t imagine how
bleak it would have been around here without Emin…and you.”

Thai stood, and she
came closer so she could peer up at his shadowed face.