Chapter 290: Renewal

I didn't bother troubling Sebastian with my appearance, instead stepping out of the veil immediately in the chamber itself and threw my arms around the stunning young woman who greeted me with a smile.

"I thought you were gone," I whispered to her soul that hugged me, as solid as any physical form.

"As did I," she said, sounding puzzled. "I felt the last battle. I was there, Syd."

"I didn't know." I wiped at tears, still smiling to see her. "It's been days. Have you been here all along?"

"No." She looked down at her hands, frowning now. "I feel oddly. Like this isn't the way things are supposed to be anymore. Syd." She looked up then, smiled faintly, sadly. "I think it's finally time for me to go."

Grief, still fresh, hit me with a fresh blow. She'd been my nemesis once, hated and reviled. But the real Ameline, the woman I'd grown to love here in this place, she I wouldn't willingly part with.