Xu’sasar was sprawled on the ground.
“What happened?” Lei said.
“I do not know. She is alive, but unconscious. Kin is nowhere to be seen.”
“What about … Shira?”
Pierce looked away. “Shira is no more. We have other concerns. Look to Daine.”
Lei’s heart raced. She looked across the floor and saw him still stretched out on the ground. Panic rose as she moved to his side, but she could see his chest rising and falling. He was alive.
Then Lei saw what Pierce was talking about. There was a circle around Daine, a pattern painted in silver and gold. It was a summoning circle, designed to aid in the conjuring or binding of spirits. Then Lei noticed something else. Daine’s sword … his scabbard had been replaced, and his sword now rested in the jeweled sheath Daine had taken from the Bier of the Sleeper.
Daine stirred. His eyes opened and he sat up with a start, glancing about wildly. Lei reached out to him, and he seized her hand as if it were a rope that might pull him from a stormy sea. Then he took a deep breath and smiled at her.
“It’s good to be home,” he said.