Onyx huffs as he clomps out of the forest, then stomps his front hooves repeatedly when he hears the ocean. Poor boy. He’s never liked large bodies of water, so as soon as he sees the dark ocean beyond the cliffs, he panics.
“Hey. Easy.” I climb off his back, stepping in front of him and dragging a palm along the side of his face. “You’re safe, and you’ve done enough.” I pat his jaw, and his body sways. He stares at me with beady eyes crowded with lengthy lashes—eyes I can see my reflection in. Sometimes I think he understands me more than anyone else by the way he looks at me. It’s the deepest stare that often steals my breath away.
“Stay here.”
I cut my eyes to Cerberus. “You too, Cerberus. Stay here. Don’t follow me.” Cerberus whimpers, trying to give me puppy eyes, but it won’t work. Not this time. I have to walk up that cliff alone. I know Decius is up there, and judging by the fresh trail of blood on the ground, he’s weak, and right now is my time to end him. No distractions.
There’s a possibility this could be a trap, but I have several Trench bullets remaining as well as the machete. And as far as I’m aware, Hassha’s protection still lingers inside me, otherwise he’d have gotten into my head by now.
“Stay,” I whisper again to Cerberus before turning away. I move ahead, taking the steep rocks upward that lead deeper to an opaque fog. The thick moisture clings to my lashes and skin, and I rub the tip of my nose before raising my gun. Something crackles to my right, and I swing my gaze to find the source of the noise. Rocks crumble from the edge of the dark cliff, drifting to sea. Gravel crunches ahead, and I grip the gun tighter.
“But if I’m a raven, what does that make you?” a voice asks. It’s a soft voice, young. A boy. I frown as it whispers by.
“I’d like to think I’m a swan. But not just any swan. A black swan. Still beautiful. Still graceful. But she stands out, and she doesn’t care because she knows her power.” A woman’s voice, warm and familiar. Mum.
“No.” I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut. That’s Decius. He’s in my head again. Hassha’s protection must be wearing off now.
“But aren’t ravens bad?” the boy asks again.
“I don’t think they are,” Mum says. “I believe everything the universe offers has beauty to it. Ravens only seem bad because they’re carnivores. But if you look at them, really look at them, you’ll see they’re smart as whips, and they’re not afraid of danger. I believe that’s why people think they’re bad. Because they’re smart and they know how to survive. That’s you, my raven-haired boy. You know how to survive. You’ll always know how.”
“Just not right now,” a louder, deeper voice bellows in my head. I open my eyes again, walking deeper into the fog. I need to find Decius before Hassha’s protection has fully worn off.
The cliff has leveled out and is much flatter beneath my boots. To my left and right are black, jagged rocks protruding from the ocean. The water laps at the rocks, waves splashing over them, a futile attempt to drown them.
“I love you, Caspian,” Mum whispers. But it’s not her voice. It can’t be. She’s not here.
A silhouette appears at the end of the cliff as the fog drifts. I aim my gun at it, moving toward it slowly, just until I can make out what or who it is.
The silhouette stands at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the dark ocean. They wear an ivory dress, a bleak contrast to the black cliffs and rolling gray sky. Her dark hair is braided into one braid that swims down to the center of her back, loose tendrils flying with the damp breeze.
I freeze where I stand, looking at the familiar woman who has her back to me. She turns a fraction, and when I see her face, I stumble backwards, my heart hammering in my chest.
My mother turns to face me, looking like she never left this world. Her green eyes sparkle despite there being no sun, and her smile causes gleeful wrinkles to sink into the brown skin around her mouth and eyes.
“My raven boy,” she coos, and I lower my gun, staring at her in disbelief.
“Caz!” someone screams behind me.
I look over my shoulder, and Willow is stumbling up the cliff, her brown eyes wide with terror. “Caz! Stop!”
“Willow?” As she appears, so does another person. This person is familiar, her white hair catching in the fog. “Korah?”
“Don’t step any closer to her, Caspian,” Korah warns, her hands lit in purple flames.
I swallow hard when my clan appears behind them. Their guns are raised, lasers coming off them, ready to shoot.
My family. They’re awake now? I thought they wouldn’t be until I killed Decius. I stare at them with glistening eyes—that is, until I hear that familiar voice again.
“Caspian,” she calls. I turn my head, and my mother now stands next to me.
“You’ve grown so much,” she whispers, grabbing my hand. I lower my gaze to our hands, how they merge as two different tones. I always liked that her skin was different than mine. I was always in awe that I’d been conceived by her—that someone with such beauty and grace created me. Her hands are much smaller than mine now. “Come with me,” she says, her voice a melody to my ears. I’ve missed it so much. I want to cling to the sound of it, allow the notes of her voice to wrap around me and squeeze tight. “We can finally be together. We can get away from this awful place and all it has done to you.”
There’s an ache in my chest as a coldness sinks into my body. I stare at my mother a moment longer, then peer over my shoulder at Willow, whose head is shaking repeatedly. Korah has a fiery hand clasped around Willow’s wrist, and I can tell it’s taking everything in Willow not to run to me.
That’s not her. Willow’s voice whispers through my mind, and I feel that pain in her chest, her yearning for me to come to her. Please, Caz. It’s not her.
“They’ll never love you the way I do,” my mother continues. One of her hands grips my face as she forces me to look at her. Her blue eyes swim with certainty. “You’re my sweet Caspian. My beautiful, mighty Caspian. Come away with me. Come now.”
My throat thickens as she grips my hand and tugs on it, and Willow cries my name again. I allow my mother to lead me toward the edge of the cliff where the ocean and all its jagged rocks are only a fall away. I carry my eyes to hers again, and a vision hits me.
I remember when she took me to Vanora for my seventh birthday. We went to the beach and played in the ocean, and then she spread out a towel, opened the picnic basket she’d brought along, and took out jam sandwiches and black potato crisps. Afterward, we went to the market, and she bought me a miniature chocolate cake with gold truffles. It was the best birthday of my life, and I want so many of those moments to come back. I want her back in my life, and if I could have her, I would take her…
But that’s an unrealistic thought.
She cups my face in her hands again as Willow’s faint calls drown with the wind. “Ready?” she asks, and a chill emanates from her body as she wraps her arms around me. I bring her closer and bury my face into her hair, my throat burning from unshed tears. One jump off this cliff and we’re done—gone together, away from this world. I’ve always wanted that…
My mother lets out a loud gasp. I bring her body closer to mine, so close we’re practically one, shoving the blade of my dagger deeper into her heart. She leans back, and I stare at her as she withers away, the edges of her face becoming sharp and shifting into man.
Sure, I’ve always wanted to run off with my mother and leave this world…but that moment was stolen from me because of Decius. I can’t say I didn’t expect this—Decius using the image of my mother and all my fond memories to take advantage of me. I hate him with every fiber of my being, so despite the tears that slide down my cheeks, I yank the dagger out, push him off of me, and stab him in the heart again. He drops to his knees, blood sputtering out of his mouth, and the façade completely breaks. The ivory dress turns to black, the long black hair falling away, the blue eyes now pits of darkness. He morphs from my mother to his original self—an old, ugly man who’s lived too long and has done so much wrong. He stares up at me with those soulless eyes, and I’m reminded of Manx and everything he taught me. I’m reminded of the man who pretended to care about me, who sometimes took me into his home when I needed an escape from Magnus. Where is that man now? How has he become this?
He lied to me. Used me. Ruined my fucking life.
“It’s a good thing I turned out a bit like Magnus, eh?” My upper lip twitches as I raise a foot, stepping on his chest and forcing his body off the blade. “Just like him, the death of the people I hate satisfies the hell out of me. Especially when it’s by my hand.”
He lies there, curled over, coughing up blood, and I’m so tempted to kick him over the edge, but I need to make sure he’s dead—that this fucking Trench knife worked.
Korah appears at my side, lowering to a squat and looking him over. “After all this time, I finally get to see you go down.”
Decius croaks, clutching his chest.
“Why can’t he just die?” I grumble.
“The Trench tree weapons were never meant to kill him, just drain him of his energy. Without that energy, he’s nothing. Do you have a smaller Trench knife?” she asks, surveilling the blade of my dagger cloaked in blood.
I withdraw a smaller dagger from my coat, and she accepts it. She flips Decius onto his back, breaks off a piece of the wooden blade, and shoves the splinter into the wound on his chest.
Decius wails in nothing but pure agony, a sound that’s music to my ears, as Korah works the wood as deeply as she can into the wound. When she’s done, she raises a bloodied hand over him, and fierce purple light wraps around his entire body.
“I’ll see to it that he’s locked in a bloody coffin made of Trench wood too. It’s all I can do for now. Without Selah, I can’t kill him, but I can keep him contained. She’s his creation, so she has to be the one to officially end him.” Korah blinks, then her throat shifts up and down. I feel there’s more she wants to say, but she doesn’t say it. Korah and Hassha…they’re lying. Something isn’t adding up about Decius and Selah and I honestly don’t have the energy to demand the truth.
“Caz!” Willow runs my way, her body crashing into mine as she throws her arms around my neck. “Oh my God, are you okay?” She clutches my face, looking me all over. “You scared me!”
“I’m okay.” I smile, cupping the back of her head and bringing her face to my chest. She nestles her face into the center, sighing.
When I look up again, my family appears, still clinging to their weapons. Willow steps out of my arms, and the first person to run to me and replace her hold is Juniper. She throws her arms around me, holding on tight and smashing her cheek against mine. Her touch burns like hell, but I allow it and hug her back. When she pulls away, Rowan and Killian move forward, clapping me on my shoulders and smiling.
“We almost died in that forest because of you,” Killian grumbles.
“Ah, wouldn’t be the first time you almost died because of me, would it?” I smirk.
“Nah. About the thousandth, more like,” Rowan responds, and it feels good to have them here, to know they’re alive and healthy.
But nothing tops Maeve who approaches me with a tearstained face. Everyone steps out of the way as she rushes toward me and instantly wraps me in her arms. “I love you, Caspian. I love you to the ends of Vakeeli,” she whispers.
I nod, holding on to her as long as my body will allow.
Decius was wrong, you see.
I may miss my mother, but these are my people too. They’re my family, Willow too, and they mean more to me than anything in this world.
“To the ends?” Killian rumbles, gripping my and Rowan’s heads and pressing his forehead to ours.
I smile and nod. “To the ends, brother.”
