The Iron Hunt (37 page)
“Forward,”
he said loftily. “As your mother and Jeannie would have wanted. With strength
and honor and goodness. ”
“Old
Wolf,” I said. “It’s not that easy. The prison is crumbling. The world as we
know it is going to end. And I’m the
last
, Jack. I believe it now. When
the veil comes down—” I stopped myself, thinking of my grandmother, feeling her
hands, hearing her beneath the backdrop of wild sky and wind.
You
dig deep inside that heart of yours and push the cutters back. You take care of
what you can, when you can, but you
don’t
give up.
Don’t
give up. Don’t.
I
gritted my teeth and met Jack’s gaze. “There’s something inside me. I felt it,
when I fought Ahsen. It was hungry. It was strong. It wanted death. And if I
keep fighting, if I can’t control it…”
I
could not continue. I had tried not to think of it.
It
… Nameless, formless.
The more I remembered, the more I felt a creaking inside my chest, like a door
pushing open— and a presence inside, peering into my mind with a cold, hungry
eye.
We
are one,
said that quiet voice.
No
, I told it.
Never
.
Jack
stood, stepping around books and pushing aside paperwork. He crouched in front
of me. He held my hands, very carefully, and said, “The world is shaped by
hearts. Look deep. Trust yourself, Maxine. Trust, like your mother trusted you.
Like your grandmother, and every woman who has come before, who trusted her
daughter to stay true. Don’t listen to what your eyes tell you. Check here.” He
laid his hand over his heart. “Like the storybooks say.”
“That
won’t stop the walls from falling.”
“No,”
he said kindly, “but you’ll have the right kinds of friends at your back when
they do.”
Jack
kissed my hand, but when he tried to stand, I held him.
“You’re
mine,” I whispered, full of wonder. “Grandpa Wolf. Meddling Man.”
His
smile deepened, and he pressed my hands to his wrinkled cheek. “I have always
been so, even before you were born.”
And
that was enough. That was all I needed.
The
End
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THE
IRON HUNT
An
Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING
HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / July 2008
Copyright
© 2008 by Marjorie M. Liu.
All
rights reserved.
ISBN-10:
0441016065
ISBN-13:
978-0441016068
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