Mlinzi hopped up and down, crying out “ooo-ooo-ooo” noises as he swiped the Sword of Theodora from Viktor and jammed the blade through my brother’s chest. A beam of crimson light flared up from the wound. At the same time, the last rays of the Martyr’s Comet cast the meadow in a blood-red glow.
Viktor howled, pain etched into his pale features. He wasn’t a willing sacrifice, and agony was the result. It felt as if a year slowly passed while he died. In reality, it was probably a matter of seconds before my brother was gone.
The meadow’s grounds rumbled beneath our feet. Great fissures opened up in the earth. The Martyr’s Comet flared its brightest shade of red yet. We were almost out of time.
“Quickly,” I said. “We need to place Viktor’s body on the gateway.”
Rowan bent down to lift Viktor in his arms, but Walinzi was too fast for him. She scooped up my brother’s body and chucked it into a nearby gateway with all the ceremony of tossing out an old banana peel. I suppose that’s what she thought of him in the end: garbage.
Like I’d seen in the vision with Kila Kitu, Viktor’s dead body flared with violet light, a brightness that seeped into the gateway around him before being transferred into the surrounding arches. One by one, the nearby gateways lit up with searing violet light. The earth rumbled as the great breaks in the ground pressed back together.
Our world was healing.
Viktor was dead.
It didn’t seem possible, but it was happening all the same. I made a mental note to visit every Seer and spell Caster who’d said it was impossible for Viktor to become the sacrifice and explain to them what had actually happened. In detail.
The light from the Martyr’s Comet disappeared. Viktor’s body became transparent as a ghost’s, and then he was gone as well.
Across the meadow, the bone wall cast by Petra crumbled into dust. Beyond it, I could see how the Necromancers and Casters had turned into a combined army in order to defeat Petra. Her body lay lifeless on the earth. My eyes stung with sadness. She hadn’t been evil so much as weak, and it cost her everything.
Walinzi plunked down beside me, fanning herself with the end of her long orange tail. “It seems you and your mate are now rulers of an empire. What do you plan to do with it?”
There was no question on that count. I turned to Rowan. “Are you thinking the same that I am?”
Rowan gave me one of his most crooked smiles. “We’ll hold a festival that will be the greatest ever seen.”
“Precisely. We’ll need to be crowned—both of us—and we’ll hold the ceremony right here. You and Mlinzi are invited, of course.”
Walinzi kept fanning herself with her tail. “We’ll check our schedule.”
Across the meadow, the Caster army whooped with joy. Many pulled out skins of whiskey and passed them around. Another group broke into song, the words lauding all the glories of Rowan and me. A few Necromancers even joined in the tune.
And right here, in this moment, the world was perfect.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rowan and I stood at the far end of the Meadow of Many Gateways. Casters and Necromancers alike milled around the periphery of the long rectangular grounds, waiting for the festival to start.
Technically, they had to get through our coronations before the festival actually began, but that was a minor point in Caster culture. My Necromancers joined in the fun, not drinking themselves silly, but not sitting in a corner speaking in monotones, either. Also within the crowds roamed many Changed Ones. With Viktor dead, they were no longer a threat and could be reunited with their families. It had been sad work, but our palace mages had found the dead bodies of the Changed Ones that Viktor had killed in testing out his army. Over the past weeks, we’d held mourning ceremonies for all those lost. It had been a hard month for my Caster people.
But that was over now and a coronation was about to begin. I wore my formal Caster gown, which was little more than a band of leather that covered my chest, hips and waist. I’d paired it with a hooded black cloak to celebrate my Necromancer rule as well. Rowan had done the same. He wore his leather trousers and nothing to cover his chest, paired with another black cloak to match mine. We were going to become Genesis Rex and Regina, Tsarina and Tsar.
Or we would do so once our guests of honor arrived: Mlinzi and Walinzi were expected at any moment.
In the meantime, everyone else seemed to already be here. Kade, Amelia, and Jicho were in the crowd, along with Nan, Mrefu, and a good number of the Zaidi. Even Amelia’s brother Philippe and his new wife had journeyed in for the occasion. Philippe was now married to none other than Veronique, another woman with Necromancer power who’d been imprisoned with me in the Midnight Cloister. I could never imagine that girl being happy, but Veronique positively beamed with joy as she walked about at Philippe’s side. Another young survivor from the Midnight Cloister, the six-year-old Ada, trailed along with them as well. Ada was now their adopted daughter. Somewhere during the last few months, Philippe and Veronique had resolved their differences, eloped, and adopted a child. One of these days, I’d have to corner them and get the full tale.
Behind us, a gateway flared with orange light as Mlinzi and Walinzi burst onto the scene. As always, the ground shook as they landed beside us.
“You’re late,” I said to Walinzi.
She gave me a sly grin. “Just because we’ve decided to permanently live in your world, it doesn’t make you the rulers of me and my brother. We answer to no one.”
“Kill,” said Mlinzi. These days, that was his stock answer to everything. Walinzi said it was nothing to worry over, so I tried to ignore it.
Rowan turned to me. “Are you ready to start us off?”
“Mostly.” I’d been successfully avoiding public speaking. Now that I was ascending my thrones, that time was over.
“You’ll dazzle them, I know it.”
Rowan raised his arms and the meadow fell quiet. Every set of eyes seemed trained on me. He lowered his arms again; this was my signal to start.
I cleared my throat. Now, I could use magick to enhance the sound of my voice, but Rowan and I planned a major casting for today, and I needed all my power for that spell. Instead, I simply spoke as loudly as I could. “My people, Necromancers and Casters! Today, Rowan and I stand before you t as your Genesis Rex and Regina, your Tsarina and Tsar. Normally, this coronation would involve hours of ceremony, rites, and speeches, but I know my Caster subjects wouldn’t appreciate that.” Some of the Caster folks cheered at this.
As we’d planned, Rowan then continued the speech. “However, this morning is about a new era and doing things differently. Elea and I wield new hybrid powers now, and that means change. The old ways must be ended. Never again will someone need to sacrifice themselves with the Martyr’s Comet. Elea and I have another way to keep our world safe.”