Page 161 of Sands of Atonement

“Lies,” I whispered anyway.

“It’s the truth, my child.”

“Don’t.” That word clawed at my mind. “You killed Yonam…” My voice was quiet, but it grew stronger with every word I spoke. “He barely had time to live! You took his life away. You took his future away. He’ll never know what it’s like to hold his child in his arms, to have a family, and he’ll never know what it’s like to laugh and to smile and to love again. You took everything from him.” I shook with burning fury.

Without another moment wasted, I released another arrow, but this one straight into his chest. He tumbled over his legs.

The loud fall caused every noise in the Atrove to fade. It was just the three of us up here.

The gurgling of his breath and blood sounded in the air.

“You don’t deserve her, and you don’t deserve the Atrove,” Ezra said as he strutted forward to Targon.

Targon held his breath where the second arrow pierced his skin. His eyes met mine, wide, shocked by what I had done. With who I had become.

I dropped the bow and grabbed a fallen knife nearby.

The column of Targon’s throat moved. “Don’t do this, Eshe. I’m your father,” he croaked. I pressed forward. “I raised you, taught you everything I knew—I believed in you⁠—”

Ezra lunged forward, gripping Targon’s tunic in his hands. He hissed words I couldn’t hear into Targon’s ears as I approached him silently. I felt the winds settle down in my mind. They didn’t whisper anything to me now.

Nothing did.

The blood within me stilled as if it were no longer warm but winter cold instead. As if the Silver Snake had bitten me and the cold poison entered and weaved itself through my heart.

“Eshe—” Targon began, but was cut off by the pressure of the dagger Ezra pressed against his throat. Ezra now had Targon’s arms pulled behind in a tight grip.

Think of nothing.

Nothing. Emptiness.

I sucked in a breath and breathed out, the weight of the knife feeling light in my fingers.

I finally felt a sense of peace.

“I will never forget what you did for me as a teacher,” I whispered in the midst of the acrid smell in the air. “But my family deserves justice. And so do I.”

Taking another step forward, I saw Targon’s eyes filled with fear. I reached him and raised the blade under his jaw.

“I will never forgive you for this, not in this life. And not in the next.” I saw Targon’s life flash before his eyes. “And I swear to you, Salazar, Targon, Father, I’ll be searching for you in every life. You will never be able to run from me.”

The blade slit like a half-moon across his neck, and I held his eyes until there was no more life in them. Until all I saw in them was pain, and my eyes reflected that pain tenfold.

Chapter 40

Ezra

Seeing someone kill their one and only living parent and watching the light flicker from their eyes did something strange in my chest.

Targon’s eyelids fell as Eshe dropped to her knees. I wasn’t sure what was happening down in the lower levels. I couldn’t hear anything but Eshe’s panting.

I fell to one knee in front of her and slowly pulled the knife out of her hand. Her eyes had not left Targon’s limp, dead body. Wrapping a hand around the back of her neck and one around her waist, I pulled her closer to me.

I’d never felt her this cold and trembling before. Not even in the baths, when she was afraid. Not when I carried her from the stones that threatened to bury her alive.

I met her forehead with my own, our breaths sharing a dark, solemn space as her eyes fluttered closed. She licked her lips and whispered. “Do you think my family is happy?”

Fuck. I wasn’t expecting that.