Kingdom of Ash

Rowan doing the same beside her. “There are
no more.” At his raised brows, she added, “I
swear it on my throne. There are no more
left.”
The amusement in his eyes guttered. “I
don’t know whether to be relieved.”
“Everything I know, you know. All the
cards are on the table now.”
With the various armies that had gathered,
with the Lock, with all of it.
“Do you think you could do it again?” he
asked. “Draw up that much power?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. It required
being ... contained. With the irons.”
A shadow darkened his face, and he rolled
onto his side, propping up his head. “I’ve
never seen anything like it.”
“You never will again.” It was the truth.
“If the cost of that much power is what you
endured, then I’ll be glad not to.”