It was going to absorb her.

No! His spirit cried deep within him. No! Aurox’s mind echoed that cry. Instead of despair, he began to feel something else as he watched Zoey. He felt her fear and her strength. Her resolve and her weakness. And Aurox realized something that surprised him. Zoey felt just as unsure about herself and her place in the world around her as he did. She worried about not having the courage to do the right things. She questioned her decisions and was ashamed of her mistakes. Once in a while even Zoey Redbird, gifted fledgling touched by her Goddess, felt like a failure and considered giving up.

Just as he did.

Compassion and understanding flowed through Aurox, and as it did he felt a surge of white hot power. In a blinding flash, he dropped from the center of the disintegrating whirlpool, landing firmly in his reformed body, gasping for fresh air and trembling all over.

He did not rest there long. Still shaking and weak, Aurox found hand and footholds in the gnarled maze of broken roots. Slowly, he pulled himself up to the lip of the pit. It took a very long time. When he finally reached the top, he hesitated, listening hard.

He heard nothing but the wind.

Aurox lifted himself from the ground, using the broken trunk as concealment. Zoey was gone. He studied the area around him and his eyes were immediately drawn to a huge mound of timbers and planks, topped by a figure wrapped in a shroud. Even though it was encircled by what appeared to be the entire House of Night, Aurox had no trouble recognizing what he was seeing. It is Dragon Lankford’s pyre, was his first thought. I killed him, was his second. Like the despair in the magickal mist, the funeral drew him.

It was not difficult to get close to the circle of fledglings and vampyres. Sons of Erebus Warriors were heavily and obviously armed, but everyone’s attention was focused within the circle and on the pyre at its center.

Aurox moved stealthily, using the large old oaks and the shadows beneath them as cover until he was close enough to make out the words Thanatos was saying. Then he gathered himself and leaped. Grasping a low-hanging limb, Aurox climbed up and out, which was where he crouched, having an unimpeded view of the macabre spectacle.

Thanatos had just finished the casting of the circle. Aurox could see that four of the vampyre professors were holding candles and representing each of the elements. He expected to see Zoey in the center of the circle, near the pyre, and was surprised instead to see that Thanatos was holding the purple spirit candle in one hand, and a large torch in the other.

Where was Zoey? Had the creatures in the mist captured her? Was that what had caused their dissipation? Frantically, he searched the circle. When he found her standing beside Stark, surrounded by her circle friends she looked sad, but unwounded. She was watching Thanatos attentively. There appeared to be nothing wrong with her except that she mourned the loss of the Sword Master. Aurox became so weak with relief that he almost lost his perch in the tree.

Aurox stared at her. She had begun this internal conflict he felt. Why? He was almost as baffled by her as he was by the feelings she had awakened within him.

He shifted his attention to Thanatos. She was walking gracefully around the circumference of the circle, speaking in a voice that calmed even his frayed nerves.

“Our Sword Master died as he lived—a Warrior, true to his oath, true to his House of Night, and true to his Goddess. There is another truth here that must needs be told. Though we mourn his loss, we acknowledge that he was only a shell of himself without his mate, the gentle Anastasia.” Aurox glanced at Rephaim. He knew that, as a Raven Mocker, he had killed Anastasia Lankford. What an irony it was that the Sword Master had died to protect him. Greater irony yet that the boy’s face was awash in tears, and that he openly wept over Dragon’s death.

“Death was kind to Dragon Lankford. Not only did she allow him to die a Warrior, but she was a conduit to the Goddess. Nyx has reunited Bryan Dragon Lankford and his beloved, as well as the bright, shining spirits of their two feline familiars, Shadowfax and Guinevere.”

Their cats died, too? I do not remember any cats being at the ritual. Confused, Aurox studied the funeral pyre. Yes, now that he was paying closer attention, he could see two small bundles, shrouded with Dragon, nestled close to either side of the fallen Warrior.

Thanatos had paused in her walk around the circle to stand directly in front of Zoey. The High Priestess smiled at the fledgling. “Tell us, Zoey Redbird, as you have actually entered the Otherworld and returned, what is the one constant there?”

“Love,” Zoey said without hesitation. “Always love.”

“And you, James Stark? What did you find in the Otherworld?” Thanatos asked the young Warrior, who stood with his arm around Zoey’s shoulders.

“Love,” Stark repeated in a strong, steady voice. “Always love.”

“That is a truth.” Thanatos continued walking around the circle. “I can also tell you that my closeness with Death has shown me glimpses of the Otherworld. What I have been allowed to see has taught me that though love remains with us when we pass from this realm to another, it cannot exist eternally without compassion, just as Light cannot exist without hope, and Darkness cannot exist without hatred. So with that truth spoken and acknowledged, I would ask you to open your hearts and welcome our new Sword Master and Leader of the Sons of Erebus Warriors, my Oath Bound Warrior, Kalona!”

Aurox mirrored the surprise he saw in many of the faces below him as Kalona, the winged immortal he knew had long sided with Darkness, strode into the circle and approached Thanatos. He fisted his hand over his heart and bowed respectfully. Then he lifted his head and his deep voice filled the air.

“I have sworn to be Death’s Warrior, and that I will be. I have sworn to be the Sword Master of this House of Night, and that I will be. But I will not attempt to fill Dragon Lankford’s place as Leader of the Sons of Erebus Warriors.” Aurox saw that Thanatos was watching him carefully, though her expression seemed pleased. The Warriors that were spaced all around the circle shifted, as if they were unsure of what to think of the immortal’s proclamation.

“I will serve as Death’s Warrior,” Kalona repeated. He was speaking to Thanatos, though his voice carried around the circle and through the crowd that had gathered for the funeral. “I will protect you and this school. But I will not take a title that links me with Erebus.”

“I was part of the High Council when you claimed to be Erebus come to earth,” Thanatos said. “What say you about that?”

“I claimed no such title. That was Neferet’s doing. She strives to be a goddess, and that means she needs an immortal Consort, so she named me Erebus come to earth. I rejected that role when I rejected Neferet.”

Whispers soughed through the circle like wind through trees. Thanatos lifted the torch she still held. “Silence!” Voices stilled, but shock and disbelief remained. “Kalona speaks the truth about Neferet. Dragon was killed by her creature, Aurox. He was not a gift from Nyx. Last night, during the reveal ritual at Sylvia Redbird’s lavender farm, the earth showed us the terrible truth. Aurox was created by Darkness through the sacrifice of Zoey Redbird’s mother. He is a Vessel under the thrall of Neferet. Darkness continues to control him through sacrifice most bloody.” She pointed her torch at the three bodies atop the pyre. “I have evidence that Shadowfax’s life was taken by Neferet so that Darkness maintained dominion over Aurox. For Anastasia’s little Guinevere, that death was one too many. Grief stopped her heart and she willingly followed Shadowfax to the Otherworld to be reunited with those they both loved best.”