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For a moment, his face is free of all expression. And then, like lightning striking, I see recognition flood his features.

“You,” he says. His gaze moves to the men stationed around the room. “Guar—”

Before the word can fully escape his mouth, I release my magic. My shadows blast out of me, darkening the room.

Galleghar’s soldiers rush forward, their wings flaring out. The rest of the room scrambles for the exits, shouting in confusion and fear.

I bar the great doors to the throne room, the intricate locks that line its seam clicking as they engage one by one. Then I seal the side exits shut.

The Night King and I stare at each other across the room as my shadows smother the light and the soldiers close in on me, descending the place into the darkness.

The corner of my mouth curls into a smile.

Feast, I command my shadows. In an instant they devour the soldiers caught in their web.

The rest of the fairies in the room are in full blown panic. Men and women are scrambling over each other, their wings materializing as they try to wrench the doors open.

I wait for Galleghar’s retaliatory magic to hit me. I’m ready for it; hell, I’ll relish the pain. But the attack doesn’t come. In one instant the Night King is staring me down, and in the next he’s gone, fleeing me just as he did the last time we met.

I dissolve into the darkness, barreling after him. It’s almost impossible to sense him at first. The night is nearly infinite and it’s full of thousands of creatures. If Galleghar was just another fairy, it would take time to locate him. But then, the king right now isn’t another fairy. He’s the darkness, just as I am.

I feel a ripple through the night, the power immense and terrifying and so very similar to my own.

There.

I hone in on the Night King, who’s ahead of me and to my right, and I spirit after him. We shoot through the night, both of us nothing more than shadows ourselves.

How am I supposed to catch my father? Like this, the Shadow King is just as insubstantial as I am. There’s nothing of either of us to hold, to break.

Suddenly, his power blasts out, flowing through the darkness. I think it’s going to pass right through me, but instead of doing so, it slams into what feels like my chest.

I choke as his power digs into me, forcing my body to coalesce.

That, apparently, is how you make something insubstantial substantial.

I manifest in midair, my body solidifying. All around me the stars twinkle. For a moment I feel like just one more of them—a pinprick of light in the infinite universe.

And then I remember that I’m not the light, I’m the darkness. And right now, my body rigidly locked up, I’m not even the darkness. I’m just a man.

I begin to tumble out of the sky, Galleghar’s spell locking up my limbs. I try to dissipate back into the shadows, but I can’t.

“Foolish boy,” the night air whispers around me, “you thought you could beat me at my own game? I was the night long before you ever were.”

His magic has frozen nearly every part of me; I can feel the spell crawling across my skin, slipping through my veins, moving into my very marrow. Every second that passes brings me closer to the ground.

It moves in on my heart, and if I don’t stop the dark enchantment now, I won’t have to worry about my body cracking against the ground; the spell will freeze my heart before that happens.

There’s a part of me that wants to give up, to give in. This life of mine has been a sequence of struggles, one right after the next. So much easier to just give in to the inevitable and die.

The trouble is, when nothing ever comes easy, you get used to the struggle. Sometimes, you even crave it …

I draw up my magic. Even it moves sluggishly. I glance at the ground, only seconds away from smashing into it.

Gritting my teeth, I release my power, forcing it out. For one precious second, nothing happens. Then, all at once, Galleghar’s enchantment shatters, dissolving away in my bloodstream. The rest of my power blasts out, shaking the night air.

My wings unfold, and I rapidly pump them. My body lifts back up into the air, my talons gleaming in the moonlight.

Galleghar stops, hovering in the middle of the sky. He stares at my wings, his own splayed out behind him.