On the ninetieth day, black snow finally fell across EternalNight City. I wore the black-and-gold coronation robe from my ascension. Beneath the throne, Carlyle no longer resembled anything human.
His silver hair had turned to ash, his eye sockets had sunk into darkness, and backlash sigils covered his entire body. Yet he was still alive.
That was my mercy, and his sentence.
"Isabella," he lifted his head, voice so faint it was almost gone, "I finally know what pain is."
I walked over to him. "But it's too late."
A faint, shattered smile crossed his face as tears slid down, "Yeah."
He reached out, as if to grasp the hem of my robe. A blood net snapped tight around his bones in an instant. He curled up in pain, but this time he didn't beg.
"If I could begin again..."
"There is no ag
