They reached Faella, and Silverdun let go of the disc and drifted down to her. He gathered her carefully in his arms and rose, placing her gently on the disc next to Sela.
'Faella, darling,' he said, fluttering next to her. 'Wake up. You need to get us the hell out of here.'
She opened her eyes, groggy but conscious. 'Silverdun, love,' she whispered. 'You came for me. You didn't leave me again.'
Silverdun looked at Faella. 'Never again, love,' he said. 'Never again.'
Sela's feelings were contorted into an unrecognizable shape that dug inside her like a many-pointed knife.
'Ein,' said Faella. 'He's loose.'
'We need to go,' said Silverdun.
'No,' said Ironfoot. 'Look.'
Ein had finished with Hy Pezho, and now turned to regard his bound siblings.
'Althoin!' he cried. 'The wise! I must know your counsel!'
Ein stepped toward the platform next to his own. He grabbed the iron bonds on his brother Althoin and pulled at them. They creaked but did not break.
'Althoin!' he shrieked. The bonds began to give way.
'Get us out of here!' said Silverdun.
'Yes,' said Faella. 'Let me think of how to reverse the fold. Give me a moment.'
Sela looked at Fin and felt his pain. He was alone, bound for so long, a bird with clipped wings.
'Here we go,' said Faella. 'We'll work it out, won't we?'
'Let's just get clear,' said Silverdun. 'One thing at a time.'
The air began to shimmer.
Sela leaned over, off the edge of the disc, and kissed Silverdun lightly on the lips. 'Good-bye,' she said.
She leapt.
'Sela!' shouted Silverdun. But his voice was faint, distant. Silverdun, Faella, and Ironfoot vanished into the fold.
Sela was on the floor. The pain of the fall mingled with the fire of iron on her skin. She stumbled, staggered toward a chunk of cobalt, one of the few remaining. She pulled herself up on it and stood.
'Ein!' she called.
Ein continued to tug at his brother's bindings.
'EM!' she shrieked. 'Look at me!'
She grabbed the Accursed Object and tore at it. For a horrible instant it clung to her, but it slipped on the sweat that covered her and fell away for the last time.
Ein turned.
He looked.
A thread formed.
She knew a god.
He flowed into her and she flowed into him. She showed him all that she was and all that she could have been. He let out his grief in waves that nearly consumed her. She showed him her childhood, her sweetest memories of devotion in the Chthonic temple of her youth, showed him Lord Tanen's cruelty and Milla's dead body. She showed Ein what he was. The full extent of her power, without the Accursed Object. To show what truly was. What was beyond what was.
She let it all flow out of her, into her, though her. Without the Accursed Object to restrain her, she drew in all of the re around her, channeled it into Empathy, hurled it all at Ein. All of her love and her loss and what remained of her purity.
All of her.
The thing that had risen up in her, that had destroyed Lord Tanen, the doctor, the Bel Zheret. It wasn't inside her. It was her.
Her last thoughts were of love.
Mauritane's company reached the gate and dispatched the terrified guardsthose who remained, anyway. Many
