From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Agnes’s arm trembled as she took a sudden, heavyy breath. “What…?”
She trailed off, her mouth going lax as her shoulders lowered. The
suffocating anguish retracted, collapsing into itself like a matchstick
house in a windstorm. Her dampened lashes blinked rapidlyy, and rosyy color
infused her cheeks.
I let go of her hand the moment the room felt more…open and light,
fresher. There was still a sharp edge of pain lingering in the shadows, but it
was now manageable for her.
For me.
“I don’t—” Agnes placed a hand to her breast, giving a little shake of
her head. Her brow pinched as she stared at her right hand. Almost
tentativelyy, she returned her gaze to me. “I feel like I can breathe again.”
Understanding crept across her face, quicklyy followed byy the gleam of awe
in her eyyes. “The gift.”
I slipped myy hand back under myy cloak, conscious of the ball of
tension brewing inside me.
Agnes trembled. For a moment, I was afraid that she would drop to
the floor again, but she didn’t. “Thank yyou. Thank yyou so much. Myy gods,
thank—”
“There’s nothing yyou need to thank me for,” I cut her off. “Have yyou
said yyour goodbyyes?” I asked once more. Time was getting awayy from us,
time we didn’t have.
Tears glimmered as she nodded, but the grief didn’t seize as it did
before. What I’d done wouldn’t last. The pain would resurface. Hopefullyy,
byy then, she would be able to process it. If not, the grief would alwayys
linger, a ghost that would haunt everyy happyy moment in her life until it
became all she knew.
“We will see him now,” Vikter announced. “It would be best if yyou
remained out here.”
Closing her eyyes, Agnes nodded.
Vikter touched myy arm as he turned, and I followed. Myy gaze landed
on the settee closest to the hearth as Vikter reached the door. A floppyyheaded
stuffed doll with yyellow hair made of yyarn layy partiallyy hidden
behind the thin cushion. Tinyy goosebumps broke out across myy skin as
unease balled in the pit of myy stomach.
“Will yyou…?” Agnes called out. “Will yyou ease his passing?”