Chapter 542. Twins

Destin POV

Onyx lies on the bed of flowers and straw. The gray pigment has faded from her skin, leaving behind what she should have looked like. My throat grows thick as I look at her. I wish I had known her, but most of all, I wish I had known the price for opening the portal. Gracus steps forward with the torch in his hand, but I stand in his way. “It should be me.”

“You don’t have to do this,” he whispers.

I take the torch from him. “Tradition says it should be her kin who lights the resting bed. I am all she had left.”

Gracus’s jaw ticks awkwardly, but he doesn’t stop me. Stepping forward, I light the bed she rests on. The flame is small at first, but it grows quickly, engulfing her.

My jaw is tight when those around me begin to sing.

“Sleep now among the flames,

where you join the sky.

May the earth remember your name,

And your soul finds its road, undying.”

They sing the song in the new tongue and the old, unti