“Stop leaving without me!” comes the accusing screech.
I glance down and blink rapidly when I see Lils standing among the destruction of what used to be Pollyx’s family.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, reaching for her and scooping her up protectively into my arms.
She gives my chest an angry slap before burying her face in the curve of my neck. “You left. You always leave without me. This time, I left without you so you could see how it feels.”
The crowd behind me is still screaming my name, along with the garbled voices of the Others beyond the treaty line. They’re chanting their support like a rabble of rebellious children ready to overthrow anyone that stands in their way, and it’s finally starting to help me see things much clearer than they are.
This isn’t the world my mother envisioned before the sickness took her. This wasn’t the way she would have wanted things to be. Me with the daughter of a man who kills indiscriminately and beds his own offspring. A piece of land that the inhabitants can’t even control on their own and are constantly warring over.
I glance at the crowd behind me, then back down at Lils. My own daughter and bite down on my lower lip as a tear threatens to roll.
I hate myself for feeling so goddamn conflicted and weak when I’m holding someone who desperately depends on me, the Four Regencies finally united under one banner, and a wife dying because the woman I seemingly love did her best to get rid of her in an effort to take her place in her father’s bed.
When did I lose sight in both eyes that I allowed this to happen?
I rest my cheek on the top of Lil’s head and look down at Heidi. There’s no saving her—she wanted to come back to a place that meant certain death, and for that, I have to allow nature to take its course.
The man at my feet should have been a traveler—he should have moved on with his family and taken their madness far away from our borders, but he didn’t.
And Bevie.
My poor, muddle-brained, Bevie.
She only knows what her own voices tell her is right, as it’s clear that she never had an authoritative figure in her life to lead her down the right path.
“This has to end,” I whisper, as I begin to bounce Lils in my arms. “And it has to stop now.”
“What does, Colby?” she asks, her voice muffled by my neck.
“Pollyx,” I begin as I turn my attention back to him. “You’re going to relinquish your land. This is no longer yours, and if you fight us, you’re going into the woods where they’ll either tear you asunder or make you join them. Which choice they make is no longer a concern of mine. Bevie, you’re coming back with me and Lilian. You’re going to learn what a normal life looks like. You’re going to be her mother and you’re going to stop making all of those vile creations. And if you think I won’t throw you to the creatures in the woods, should you attempt to disobey, you’ll find out quickly that my primary concern will always be the safety of this little girl in my arms. I will—and have—sacrificed things near and dear to me to keep her safe.”
Bevie gives me a deadly look as Pollyx uses his hands to slowly scooch back toward her, and my eyes wander over to Heidi where they soften.
“And you, Mother. You who hasn’t deserved a thing that’s been done to you, I’m going to set you free.” I set Lillian down and gently shove her behind me to keep her away from this mad family wrought by incest and murder.
“Take her,” I say to one of the older women who stands behind me, chanting my name so boldly. “Guard her with your life or forfeit it in return.”
She nods as she crouches down and holds her hands out to Lils, who runs into them and lets the grandmotherly women pick her up and hold her like I just had.
“I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there when this started,” I say, turning my attention back to Heidi’s almost lifeless body. “This shouldn’t have happened to such a good woman.”
I scoop her up off the ground into my arms and inhale deeply; her ragged breaths becoming more and more distant between each one. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead gently, then turn to the leaders of the new Four Regencies. The ones I’ve recently appointed because they’ve earned the right to take hold of these lands, to reclaim what was stolen from them.
“Make sure these two don’t go anywhere. I’m going to clean up the mess they made, but they have to atone for their crimes.”
I watch as four rugged men step forward to encircle Pollyx and Bevie as I cradle Heidi close. The sticks and dirt crackle under my boots as I take her to the only place where she might have another chance at life.
To become the monster so many of them fear.
To give her a chance to reap the revenge she so richly deserves to harvest.
I’ll stand by your side should they try to stop you, Heidi, I promise her silently as the crowd and evil start to slowly disappear behind me. And in front of you, if that’s what needs to be done.
It doesn’t matter what happens to me anymore. Lils has a new guardian, Bevie will obey or be tossed to the wolves, and Pollyx won’t be an issue to anyone much longer. The land will be united once more so that I can finally extract the cure, or we’ll all die side by side.
Because even though Mom promised me I can’t die until I find the cure, I’m sure I can find a way when it all becomes too much for me to bear.