Chapter 240

Celena's Perspective “…He’s dead.” That voice—using Brett’s vocal cords to form utterly alien, icy syllables—kept echoing in my skull. It was like a rusted manacle, tightening with every reverberation, crushing my lungs, squeezing my heart until it felt ready to burst. Some part of me had known. From the very beginning… a corner of my mind, the most rational and coldest corner, had whispered it, over and over: *He’s not coming back.* But knowing was one thing. Hearing it confirmed, in that flat, cruel tone, from that familiar face… that was another. Brett. The person who had grown up beside me. He was gone. Erased. As if he’d never been. A candle snuffed by the wind. That’s what the monster had said. I stood rooted to the cold, damp concrete, surrounded by scattered bodies and a clotting reek of blood. But I couldn’t feel the cold, couldn’t smell the rot. The world had dissolved into a blurred, buzzing grey. Jacob’s hand was still clamped around my arm, s