And in Alcaeus's, she saw it clearly.
He wasn't angry he was dying.
He was angry he had lost her.
The power he thought he owned.
The future he believed was his.
The control he never truly had.
"You… were… mine," He rasped, his voice breaking apart.
"No!" Her words were loud, because they didn't need to be.
The cracks widened, and light burst outward from his body as it shattered like obsidian that had been struck too many times. Fragments of dark energy burst outward, dissolving into ash before they could even touch the ground.
His roar faded into nothing.
Alcaeus was...gone.
And for the first time in many centuries, the forest didn't feel haunted again. The prickling sense of being watched while inside the hallow was gone.
Zeke changed back to his human form and dropped to his knees, the flames from his fur dimming around him before it completely retracted back into him.
