Burned (House of Night #7)(94)

"They're my friends."

"Yeah, that's what they are," Stark squeezed her hand again. Since he seemed to be getting through to her, he kept going. "So, check out the poem. Here goes: A double-edged sword

One side destroys

One releases

I am your Gordian knot

Will you release or destroy me?

Follow truth and you shall:

Find me on water

Purify me through fire

Trapped by earth nevermore

Air will whisper to you

What spirit already knows:

That even shattered

anything is possible

If you believe

Then we shall both be free

When he'd finished reciting the poem, Zoey stopped moving long enough to meet his gaze, and say, "It doesn't mean anything."

She started walking again, but she had a tight hold on his hand, keeping him with her.

"Yeah, it does. It's about you and Kalona. He has something to do with you getting free of here." Stark paused, and then added, "You remember you two are linked together, right?"

"Not anymore we're not," she said quickly. "He broke that link when he broke Heath's neck."

I sure as hell hope so, Stark thought, but what he said was, "Yeah, still, part of it's already come true.

You followed what you thought was the truth about him to find him on water. So the next line says: Purify me through fire. What do you think that could mean?"

"I don't know!" Zoey shouted at him. Even though she was obviously getting pissed, Stark was glad to see the animation in her face that had been so blank and dead-looking. "Kalona isn't here. Fire isn't here.

I don't know!"

Stark kept a tight hold on her hand and let her settle down before he told her, "Kalona is here. He's come after you. He just can't get into the grove." Then, without rational thought, he spoke the next words as if they came from his heart and not his mind. "And fire got me here. Or at least it felt like fire."

Zoey glanced at him, and in a very matter-of-fact voice, changed the course of his life by saying, "Then it sounds like that poem's for Kalona and you, not Kalona and me."

Her words settled over Stark like a mesh of steel. "What do you mean, Kalona and me?"

"You went with me to Venice, and you knew the real truth of how much of a monster Kalona is before I did. Fire brought you here. The rest probably means something to you if you think about it enough."

"A double-edged sword . . ." Stark spoke the words softly. The claymore was double-edged. And he'd destroyed as well as released with it. He did know the truth about Kalona being dangerous when he followed him with Zoey to Venice . . . the fire of pain from Seoras's cuts had brought him to here, a place that reminded him of earth, even though it was in the Otherworld. And Zoey was trapped here, needing to be released. And now he had to follow what his spirit knew about honor to bring this whole thing to an end. "Oh, shit!" He looked at Zoey, ever-moving beside him, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "You're right. The poem is for me."

"Good, then it shows you how to be free," Zoey said.

"No, Z. It shows me how to make both of us free," he said. "Kalona and me."

Her troubled, restless eyes lit on his face before looking hastily away. "Free Kalona? I don't understand."

"I do," he said grimly, remembering the killing blow that had freed the Other. "There are a lot of different ways to be free." He tugged on her hand, making her slow down and look at him. "And I do believe in you, Zoey. Even shattered, you still hold my Oath. I will protect you, and as long as I remember honor and don't ever let you down again, I think anything is possible. That's what being your Guardian's all about: honor."

He lifted her hand and kissed it again before he began walking. He didn't let her circular pacing control him. This time Stark led her in a straight line directly for the edge of the grove.

"No. No. We can't go over there," Zoey said,

"Over there is where we have to go, Z. It'll be okay. I trust you." Stark kept walking toward the widening bright spots between the green that marked the grove's edge.

"Trust me? No. It doesn't have anything to do with trust. Stark, we can't leave this place. Ever. There are bad things out there. He's out there." Zoey was pulling at his hand hard, trying to get him to change direction.

"Zoey, I'm gonna say some things to you really fast, and I know your concentration is messed up right now, but you gotta hear me." Stark was almost dragging Zoey with him, but he kept relentlessly moving them ahead, to the boundary of the grove. "I'm not just your Warrior anymore. I'm your Guardian. And that means a major change for me and for you. The biggest change is that I'm bound to you by honor even more than I am by love. I'm not ever gonna let you down again. I can't tell you what your change is gonna be." The end of the grove shimmered in front of them. Stark stopped and, following a gut impulse, he dropped to one knee in front of his shattered queen. "But I do believe one hundred percent that you're gonna be up to it. Zoey, you're my Ace, mo bann ri, my queen, and you have to pull yourself together, or none of us are getting out of here."

"Stark, you're scaring me."