Elara POV
"Fifteen children," Alex said, his finger moving down the list of names. "The youngest was three years old, her name was Sara, she died holding her mother's hand."
I stared at the scroll, at the ages written beside each name, five years old, seven, nine, twelve, so many children, so many families, all marked with the same date, all marked with the word BURNED in red ink.
"Tell me he's lying," I said, turning to Kael, "tell me this is some kind of sick joke."
Kael met my eyes, and I saw it there, guilt and resignation and terrible truth, "It's real," he said quietly, "I killed them all, every single one."
My legs gave out, I grabbed the table to keep from falling, "No," I whispered, "no, you said, you told me you were trying to break the curse, you said."
"I was trying," Ka
