“Impressive,” Tejus breathed. I could see he was itching to get out and join them. Hazel took his hand, stilling him. Words, unspoken, passed between them and he nodded, pulling her into his arms.
This final battle wasn’t ours.
Hazel
When there were only a few of the entity’s soldiers left, Tejus took down the barriers. Ruby and Tejus helped Ash to his feet, and we looked around at the weary GASP members and sentries. The only ones who didn’t look like they were half-dead on their feet were the fae armies—they had been battling the shortest amount of time, and still looked pristine in their elaborate uniforms.
I looked around for my parents and saw them standing by an autumn-leaved tree, helping the wounded. They were safe and unharmed. My mom was attending to Micah, who had a cut running along his side. It didn’t look too serious though, and Mona was approaching—I had every faith that she’d patch him up in no time.
“How are you feeling, Ash?” I asked.
“Okay,” he replied. “Been better, been worse.”
Ruby and I smiled at each other, but her eyes seemed dulled—the smile more of an act than anything genuine. She’d been through a lot. Having Ash almost dying twice was more than any sane person could bear, and I could understand that she wasn’t exactly in a celebratory mood. Neither was I. I’d imagined this moment being very different—once the entity was dead we’d all be overjoyed, patting ourselves on the back for making it through and defeating our enemy. It didn’t feel that way at all. I just felt exhausted—and sad. I thought of all the people who had been lost—Memenion, Varga, the villagers, the Acolytes, Queen Trina, Jenus. Some of them deserved our pity, some didn’t. But they had all suffered at the hands of the entity. I thought about Benedict, Julian and Yelena too—how much they had gone through to reach today. It just seemed like a waste of their innocence. It wasn’t like any of us would ever forget what had happened. It might have made us all a bit tougher, a bit harder and more resilient. But at what cost?
Tejus turned away from our group, walking over to a body that was slumped on the ground. No one had bothered to approach it, and the limbs sprawled out, lifeless on the ground.
It was Jenus. His eyes stared upward at the sky.
Tejus knelt down and gently closed his eyelids. I joined him, wrapping the fae cloak around Jenus’ body. He looked more peaceful than I’d ever seen him in life.
“I should have been a better brother,” Tejus muttered.
“So should he,” I replied gently. I felt pity for Jenus, but I wouldn’t forget how he had tried to use me as his pawn, trying to get me to end Tejus’s life in exchange for my brother’s. How he’d locked Benedict, Julian and Ruby up when they were meant to be released.
“I’m glad he’s at peace. I don’t think he experienced much of it while he was alive. I think he was his own worst enemy, not just in the end, but all through his life.” Tejus covered his face with the last fold of the cloak.
I nodded. In some ways, Tejus could have been talking about himself.
“You’re a good man, you know that—don’t you?” I replied.
He turned to me in surprise. He was silent for a moment before replying. “I have reason to try. He didn’t.”
“As long as you remember that.”
Tejus took my hand, turning us both away from the body of his brother. He moved closer to me, his eyes boring down into mine.
“Do you think for a moment that I’d ever forget?” he breathed. “Do you think I don’t know that if it wasn’t for you, it could easily be me lying in my brother’s place?”
“That’s not true!”
He smiled.
“It is. And that’s okay. I know who I am—I know what I am, and what I’m capable of. But I also know you. What you’re capable of saving me from.”
He kissed me, pulling me closer against him. It was unhurried—slow and lingering, like we had all the time in the world. For the first time since I’d met him, I supposed we did.
My grandpa interrupted us some time later. He cleared his throat. I untangled myself from Tejus while Grandpa’s gaze settled at some point off in the distance till I was standing, flustered and floaty, in front of him.
“GASP members are going to be dispatched to the other locations around Earth to finish off the shadow and the ghouls, but I think that you four should return to Nevertide in the meantime—Benedict and the others will need to be told what’s happened, and the villagers too.”
“Will you join us back there, after?” I asked.