Page 122 of Into the Heartless Wood
Father shakes. Blood pours thicker from his wounds. “But she’s gone now, isn’t she? For good?”
I can’t tell him. I can’t bear it. “She said she loved you, in the end.”
“I will see her soon,” he rasps.
“Father.”
“Don’t despair, my boy. There is much for you to do yet, I think. I saw her, you know, when I went into the wood the day she was lost. The wind blew through her hair and there was blood on her face. She was still so beautiful. She sent me away. It was too late for her. But you needed me. You and Awela. So I came back. I am glad to have had all these extra days with you. But I have never truly lived since I lost her. Do not mourn me, Owen. I am happy. I am with her.”
“Father—”
Between one heartbeat and the next, he goes limp in my arms. His soul winks out of him. He dies with a smile on his lips.
“Merrick?”
I can barely see Drystan through the haze of tears. The world seems to waver and bob in the torchlight.
“Another guard joins me on duty in five minutes.”
Meaning if Drystan’s trespass is to go unnoticed, the only chance of it is now.
I drag myself to my feet. I sway. Drystan catches my arm.
He helps me back down the corridor, up the stairs, out into the blinding moonlight, through the courtyard. Leaves swirl in the wind. Inside, I’m screaming. Outside, I’m horribly, deathly calm.
I walk numbly through the gate and out onto the hill. Drystan locks it behind me. He peers at me between the bars. “I’m sorry, Merrick.”
There’s a buzzing in my head. “Thank you for taking me to him.”
“He’ll have a proper burial.”
I want to scream. I want to burn the world down. I want to drive a knife into the king’s heart and watch the bastard bleed.
I focus my eyes on Drystan. “Where can I find the king?”
He frowns. “The king?”
“You’ve been on duty in the palace before, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” He looks wary.
“Then you know the layout better than me. Do you know where the king’s private chambers are? His office?”
“Merrick, taking you to see your dying father is a trifle different than helping you commit regicide. I’m not a fool.”
“Then you know that what he did to my father isn’t right. You know he’s not the hero all of Tarian believes him to be.”
Drystan’s lips press hard together. The wind rattles leaves over the courtyard stones. “There’s a stair on the fifth floor that will take you up to his private tower. But you shouldn’t go. He’s stronger than you think. He’ll destroy you.”
My hand goes to the knife at my hip. “He murdered my father—I’d like to see him try.”
Chapter Forty-Six
SEREN
ISTAND ALONE IN THE COURTYARD,IN THE MOONLIGHT AND THEwind. Leaves skitter around me, new plants push up between the cracks in the stone. I shut my eyes and reach through the palace, feeling gently for all the souls inside. There is the Eater’s soul: thin and tremulous, surrounded by scores of others. He is still dancing, then. Owen’s soul is farther away, down in the earth, but it is so much brighter than the Eater’s. So much stronger. There is another soul beside Owen’s. I feel it flicker. I feel it die. I feel Owen’s anguish and rage. Enough to swallow my mother and the Eater, too. I ache for him—it was his father’s soul. Now it is gone.
I promised Owen something I cannot give. I have already gotten Awela out, but she is safe with my brothers now. When he comes to me outside the palace walls, I will explain it to him. I will tell him how to find her.
