The evening of Lady Yang's execution had a chill to it, but no wind. The world had gone still as the ashes of the earlier executions cooled. Lady Yang was the last of her family to take their final steps.
The number of observers was slightly higher than it had been for Mingzhe's. In addition to those, Eirian and Chenzhou had allowed the Vermeer sisters to observe, since Lady Yang had been convicted of Finn's murder directly, after her head retainer had admitted she had ordered it directly. He'd been trying to save his own skin by throwing her under the bus, but it hadn't worked.
They'd executed the Yang family supporters the day before, though Chenzhou had pardoned as many as he could justify. Trying to salvage something from all the bloodshed.
Lady Zhao's request had shaken Chenzhou and Eirian a bit, even though they'd agreed to it and her family had been executed this morning, with Lady Yang the last to face fate.
All of them had been confined alone since the trial started and there had been no requests to visit any of them.
It was sad in away. The loss of an entire family, deserved or not, Chenzhou didn't think it was something to celebrate.
For the first time in his life, Lady Yang didn't look perfectly put together when he saw her. Her robes were dirty, her skin pale and shunken.
And she couldn't hide her anger.
None of them except Hikari had been able too. And none of them but Hikari had shown any kind of remorse as they'd taken their final steps. Two of his brothers had even requested the sword, rather than burn in Eirian's flames.
The guards left her in the center of the dais and her eyes found Chenzhou and Eirian. Her lips tilted into a sneer. "No last words, Lord Ye?"
It should have been Chenzhou's question for her and Eirian's eyes narrowed. Did Lady Yang have some delusion of survival? Or was she just trying to take one last swipe at Chenzhou. Somedays, Eirian thought Lady Yang hated Chenzhou more than her father and stepmother hated her.
Chenzhou stayed silent. Calmer than Eirian thought he could be. Definitely calmer than she felt.
Lady Yang's sneer grew when neither of them responded, but it faltered when Lady Zhao ascended the steps to the dais and stopped in front of Lady Yang.
Her request, that had left Chenzhou and Eirian shaken, had been to say the last words Lady Yang would ever hear and neither of them expected anything pleasent. They'd even debated refusing the request because of the damage they could cause. Or making everyone leave to avoid anyone else hearing them.
But Lady Zhao had sworn that her words were for Lady Yang only and neither of them could take Mingzhe's mother at anything other than her word.
"Lady Zhao, come to gloat?" Lady Yang hissed.
Mingzhe's mother managed to look supremely unbothered when faced with the woman she'd believed led her son to his death.
***
For Zhao Linlin, there was no one else but Lady Yang.
Not now.
They'd trained together once, long before all this. When they'd reached their age of majority and decided to take up the sword instead of the needle. They hadn't liked each other much, Linlin more for the shadows, Yang more for the clash of steel.
But they had respected one another.
Or at least Linlin had thought they did.
Apparently, that belief had been one-sided.
"There's no need to take this personally," Lady Yang murmured, like she was trying to take the sting out of everything that had happened. "If you had raised him differently, his fate would have been different."
Linlin barely fought down the urge to strike her. To beat her into a bloody pulp before she was burned.
Linlin had always been the angrier one out of the two of them.
Which made the situation all the more ironic.
Chenzhou and Eirian couldn't hear them.
Linlin pitched her voice low so no one, but Lady Yang could. She couldn't save her son, but she could make sure the last moment of the woman responsible for it all were the worst of her life.
"I asked Lord Ye for a favor after…" Linlin trailed off, watching Lady Yang for any flicker of acknowledgment. The other woman was still as stone, refusing to cower or apologize even as all her plans crumbled around her. "I wanted to be the one to tell you… the Yangs are over. All that will remain after you burn is the memory of a family once great that took such a fall."
"My blood will live on," Lady Yang whispered. "It always does."
A mockingly kind expression crossed Linlin's face as she leaned in, so close she could smell the stone cell Lady Yang had been confined in. "No. Not this time. You are standing in the ashes of your blood, Lady Yang. All of them. That was the favor I asked Lord Ye. He loved my son, you know. I wanted to be the one who told you that you are standing on the ashes of your children and their children. You are the last of the Yangs…for a few moments anyway."
Lady Yang faltered; Linlin could see her doubt slowly give way to horror. Vicious satisfaction swelled in Lady Zhao. It had taken her a long time to figure out Lady Yang's true motive. Power, wealth, and reputation were the standard fare for noble families, but there was always something personal.
There wouldn't be so much backstabbing if there wasn't.
Lady Yang, for all her many, many faults, loved her family.
So Lady Zhao was determined to take them all away.
Lady Yang had taken Mingzhe, her son, born from her body; it was only fair.
"You were trying to show the world how great your family was, but all you did was end them." Linlin shook her head, fought down the urge so smile so viciously it hurt. It didn't assuage any of the sadness over losing Mingzhe, but it lightened her black heart.
Zhao Linlin had never been a nice woman.
***
Eirian glanced at Chenzhou and found the same question in his eyes. Neither of them could hear what Lady Zhao had said, but she'd left the dais in a swirl of silk, leaving behind a pale, shaking Lady Yang.
What could she have said that had finally shaken the soldier known fr being unshakable?
For once, Eirian found she really didn't want to know.
Lady Yang turned wild eyes on them. Whatever Lady Zhao had said seemed to have truly gotten to her, but before she could speak, Chenzhou said, "Do it." In a quiet voice, Eirian's magic reacted immediately. She'd learned that tone was the only time Chenzhou allowed himself to be selfish and angry. Eirian got louder, but Chenzhou got quieter, and he didn't do it nearly enough to be healthy.
At least in her opinion. But then Eirian thrived on anger more than she probably should.
Lady Yang burned with a scream. Sharp and high. Her eyes were wide and surprised, and Eirian didn't look away.
Neither did Chenzhou.
***
Hours later, as the sun was almost completely lost behind the horizon.
Eirian watched the last dredges of daylight from the same tower roof that she'd first met Finn on. Just barely half a year had passed since then, but time felt strange whenever she looked back on things. It felt like it had gone by so quickly, and yet it felt like it was ages ago at the same time.
Chenzhou joined her, footsteps steady. More confident in his approach than he'd been those first weeks, when he'd practically flinched back from her presence.
Now he tucked himself up next to her and turned pensive eyes on the same horizon. "I feel like I could sleep for a decade." He murmured.
Eirian snorted. "Maybe a week."
"So much has happened…" Chenzhou trailed off, shook his head. "And there is still so much work to be done." They needed to deal with Song and Snow, Eiran's father, figure out a way to reform the Crimson Army around the loss of the Yangs.
Take care of the children. They had decided to take in the children of the two oldest Yang siblings, who had lost both their parents to the family's schemes. Now Eirian had seven children when she'd always planned on none, but she found it wasn't too scary with Chenzhou beside her.
They needed to properly mourn Mingzhe before it became a wound that festered.
There was winter to worry about, and the food stores.
A never-ending list of responsibilities that ensured neither of them would ever be bored.
Eirian looked at her husband, illuminated by the fading daylight, and smiled. This was not where she'd thought she'd be a year ago, but even though the anger of how it all happened still burned bright and ferocious, she couldn't bring herself to regret it completely.
There was hope for the future.
Hard work, but hope and enough love to carry them through.
~ the end (for now)