Epilogue

Carrow

The next day, I stood in the Shadow Guild tower, covered in dust as I tried to scrub out the ghosts that still haunted the place. The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind.

After the battle, the Temple of Anat had begun to repair itself almost immediately, magic flowing out from the statue of Anat to mend the floors and remove the red paint that the cult members had applied. Once the crown had been repaired, she must have regained her power.

We'd lost none of our forces, though there had been some truly gruesome injuries that would take time to heal, even with magic. All of the kidnap victims were home, thank God.

Grey and I had parted almost immediately. The kiss had ended, and we'd realized we shouldn"t be around each other. We were still cursed mates. All our work to break the mate bond was undone.

My theory was that Grey's act of sacrifice to save me must have broken it. He'd thrown himself into that blast without hesitating.

But now what?

Even though the bond had been broken, I'd fallen for him even harder. I wanted to be with him, with or without the bond.

I scrubbed a hand over my face, head pounding. I'd come to the Guild Tower to think about it all—to try to figure a way out of the future that was barreling toward us—but I was no closer to an answer.

"You want a drink or something?" Mac asked from my side.

I blinked, startled, and looked up at her. I'd totally forgotten she was there. "What?"

"A drink? Or a break? You look like you need one."

I dragged a weary hand through my dusty hair. "I could probably use one, yeah. It's been a long week."

"It's not that."

I shook my head. "Fine. You see right through me. It's Grey."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. What is there to do?" Memories of how wasted away he'd looked after his disappearance flashed into my mind. It hadn't taken long for the curse to wear him down. "If he doesn't kill me, he'll waste away. Quickly."

"Well, he's not going to kill you."

"If he can help it.He'd said he couldn't control it when he was too far gone."

She grimaced. "Yeah, that's bad."

I turned back to the piles of boxes in front of me. All were made of wood; most were nailed shut. They called to me, making my fingers itch to open them.

For some weird reason, I felt there were answers here. About what, I wasn't sure. About me? About Grey? About Rasla, who I was still obsessed with? Why had he hated the Shadow Guild so much? What was it about those who were different?

Maybe there were answers to everything here. Or maybe it was desperation. Because I was desperate now. I didn't know if I loved Grey, but I certainly didn't want to lose him. And I didn't want to lose my life. But unless I figured something out, that was going to happen.

No.

I could do this. I'd gotten myself out of miserable scrapes before, and I was going to get myself out of this.

"Come on," I said to Mac. "Let's look through these boxes. There's got to be something good in them."

~~~