22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Natasya

I 'd staked a lot on the fact that the necromancers wouldn't notice one extra dead amongst their ranks.

I won't lie, I was seriously considering just trading my life for Evengi's, even though I couldn't fathom why I would. But as I stepped into the burial mound, I saw the corpse there. The necromancers, it seemed, could only control one corpse at a time in their weakened state of being mere spirits.

So, the necromancer who controlled Brom had left his body unattended for me to come across. I reanimated it, and then while I played the part of keeping the spirits distracted, I sent my dead minion to relieve Brom's body of its spellbook.

I look across the way to see Evengi staring down at the spellbook as it is held out to him by the rotting corpse I sent to him.

"Evengi!" I shriek as the two corpses yank my arms apart. Skeletal hands grasp my shoulders as they shove me to my knees. A third undead steps in front of me, raising a crude dagger over its head "Read the book."

He jolts at my word, grabbing the book. He flips it open, and I hear necromancer spirits begin to realize that I was nothing more than a distraction.

"No!" one cries.

"Stop him!" another cries.

But it's too late, Evengi is already reading out loud. It's a strange language that I don't recognize, the language of magic. It's not one that I hear often, magickers always speak their spells softly in the barest of whispers to keep others from learning and stealing their spells.

But Evengi isn't a practiced magicker, so he reads it out loud. His tone is lilting and almost hypnotic. But what happens next is truly breathtaking.

Flames begin flickering through the air, dancing and skipping over our heads. As I watch the flames take on shapes, I blink as a dragon made of pure fire flaps its wings it lets out a breath of fire and suddenly the smell of burning flesh fills my nostrils.

After having been dead for so long, there was not flesh left on most of these necromancers, but what was had been dried and preserved. Easy kindling.

Over my head, I can hear the necromancers shrieking as the dragon lets out a snarl and swoops down on another section of the dead. They swing at it with what weapons they have, but their swords just pass through the magic.

I find myself smirking at the irony. The dead thought they were unkillable, until they met something else that couldn't be touched.

Suddenly Evengi is leaping through the flames. He lowers his shoulder and slams into one of the corpses holding me. With their puppeteers distracted I'm able to yank my arm out of the other's hold.

"Come on," Evengi cries as he reaches for my hand, but I jump out of his hold. I surge forward, grasping my father's skull. I won't leave him here to be incinerated like the rest of the dead. Then clutching the skull to my chest, I turn and take off toward Evengi. I pass him as I race up the incline toward the entrance of the burial mound. I am gagging on smoke and the horrid stench of the burning as I make it out into the fresh air. Evengi erupts behind me, bent over and gasping for breath.

I turn to him, taking in his soot-stained cheeks before I let out a squeal and throw my arms around his neck. Evengi is taken aback but to his credit rights himself easily. He lets out a laugh as he wraps his arms around me and spins me around.

"We made it!" I gasp out.

"That's a surprise."

"You had me worried, you idiot," I say as I lean forward and press a kiss to his lips. He stiffens under me, and I start to pull away ready to blame it all on the chaos of what happened but then suddenly he is tightening his arms around me. He loses his balance, and we both fall into the stone wall of the burial mound. He chuckles against my mouth as he raises a hand to run through my hair. Then he presses his lips to mine and kisses me back. He kisses me in a way that Brom never did, it sends warmth curling through my stomach, and I feel it all the way to my toes as he moves his lips against mine as if he is trying to memorize their every curve and angle.

He pulls back, arching a brow as we both gasp for breath. "Next time I sacrifice myself for you, do me a favor and don't try to make it in vain next time."

"Oh, never," I say with a laugh. "If you're stupid enough to try to sacrifice yourself for me again then I'll be just as reckless next time around. I will have you know that I am not in the business of accepting sacrifices."

The laugh dies on my lips as I spot the spellbook lying there in the grass. Discarded by Evengi when he caught me. I slide out of his hold and bend over, picking it up. I study the worn cover, flicking ash off the cover.

All that trouble just for this little book?

I will admit that if what Evengi did as an untrained Lowlander was anything to go on, this spellbook is invaluable. He conjured a flame dragon that killed a hundred dead.

My father will be unstoppable with this spellbook in my sister's hands. As official magicker of the family, Bronwyn will know how to wield these spells.

I hold the book close to my chest as I turn to the mound. "The spirits of the necromancers are still out there."

Evengi lets out a sigh as he steps toward me. "There are always spirits out there. The important part is that we defeated them."

I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Is that really what is important?

Because I feel no giddy sense of accomplishment for having outwitted them nor do I feel relief to be holding the spellbook.

I just feel hollow while at the same time strangely filled.

So many have died. The necromancer's bodies suffered a second death, Brom has died, even my own Papa's bones are gone.

And yet, Evengi is not one of the dead, and for that, I am infinitely grateful.