Page 32 of Bound by Wishes (Enchanted Deceptions #1)
A sharp shing filled the air as the blade slid free of its sheath, the metallic whisper of steel ringing through the silence and drawing the Nightshade’s attention.
“You think to end me with a mere sword?” The Nightshade’s voice danced with amusement, her cackle echoing through the room.
The sword warmed in my grip, and I watched in horror as the only weapon I had against the Nightshade began to bend, like glass softening in a hot furnace. The metal coiled around my arm, reshaping itself with a fluid grace until it melded into the familiar form of the cobra from the mines. My breath caught in my throat as the serpent hissed, locking eyes with the Nightshade. The silvery sheen of its scales added to the menace of its fangs, bared and ready to deliver a venomous blow.
The Nightshade’s hollowed eyes dimmed, and the shadows that had been creeping toward me retreated, shrinking away from the cobra. I seized the serpent just beneath its flared hood, feeling the tension in its coiled body. As my fingers tightened around it, the cobra began to shift and contort, its scales melding together until it transformed back into the staff. The air around us grew still, the once-threatening shadows now held at bay by the power radiating from the staff.
"How is this possible?" the Nightshade spat.
She whirled around to face Ranen, her sunken face twisted in a look of raw betrayal. The shadows around her wavered, reflecting the confusion and fury that simmered off her withered form.
I hobbled closer to Ranen, leaning on the staff as the Nightshade's poison pulsed through my veins. Each step threatened to bring me to my knees. Every face in the room morphed into Mathew’s, his cold blue eyes looking down on me. His voice echoed through my mind, reminding me I was nothing, a thing merely created for his pleasure. The room seemed to shrink, pressing him closer until I could almost feel his hot breath on my skin, just like that night.
“Don’t fight my poison, dear,” the Nightshade crooned. “It will only make your death more painful. Yield to your fear.”
When Mathew reached out and grabbed my arm, something inside me snapped. I had been yielding to my fear ever since he had stolen my peace of mind. I had given a man who didn’t even deserve a fleeting thought far too much power over me.
His grip on my arm tightened, threatening to snap the bones in my wrist. But I wasn’t the same person he’d encountered three years ago. Fear was not my enemy. It was my mind's refusal to confront it that held me captive. I wouldn’t let anything happen to Ranen because I refused to let go of past horrors.
I lifted my eyes, locking them with Mathew’s image. "I'm not afraid of you," I whispered. "You don't deserve my fear."
His face shattered, and the welts on my arm slowly faded, leaving nothing but smooth skin in their wake.
The Nightshade screeched in anger. I glanced at Ranen, his eyes swimming with a pride that made my heart swell.
Despite the shadows anchoring him to the wall, his lips curled into a smirk. “I always knew you were stronger than your fears, ya amar.”
An incredible weight lifted from my shoulders, and for the first time in three years, I felt like I could breathe. The staff trembled under my grip as I straightened, my muscles still weak from the effects of the poison. I used it as support to hobble closer to Ranen. It seemed to ward off the darkness, forcing her shadows to retreat. With every inch I gained, the shadows recoiled further, until they finally released their hold on Ranen.
He landed on his feet with a grace that reminded me of a feline predator, smooth and terrifying, his eyes locked on his mother. He took another step toward her, his presence growing more menacing as he prowled nearer. The air thickened with centuries of tension, suffocating the space between them.
“What now, Mother?” he growled. “Your minion is dead, and your upper hand has been severed at the wrist.”
She met his gaze. "You think this changes anything?" she said, venom dripping from her tone. “You’re not strong enough to defeat me. You never were.”
"You underestimate the cunning and power of your own creation," he said with cold resolve. "The darkness you birthed has grown beyond your control and now serves to destroy you." He took a step forward, his presence so overpowering it seemed to push the very air aside. “You taught me well, Mother,” he said. “You instilled in me a hunger for power, a ruthlessness that you molded with your own hands.”
The Nightshade's face twisted with rage, her form flickering like a dying flame. "I gave you life," she hissed, her voice trembling with fury. "And now you use that life to end mine?"
Ranen's eyes narrowed. "You lost the right to claim me as your son the moment you chose power over your children."
Shadows exploded around her, spreading in all directions, dark tendrils lashing out with a fury that shook the rafters and brought down columns. The darkness surged and twisted in a deadly force determined to destroy everything in its path. It enveloped the room, casting everything into an inky abyss of blackness.
The staff in my hand pulsed with raw energy. A blinding light erupted from within it. I had to shield my eyes as it filled the room with a brilliance so potent it felt as though the sun had entered the room. Ranen’s smoky magic lashed out, straining to hold the shadows at bay as the staff’s power surged forward, lunging for the Nightshade.
In the center of the throne room, darkness and light clashed with the force of a shockwave that shook the foundations of the palace. The air hummed with elemental energy as shadows and light fought for dominance. The impact was so intense it threw me across the room. My body tumbled through the air before crashing against the cold marble floor. The staff spiraled out of my grasp, skidding across the room and coming to rest several feet away.
The Nightshade’s shadows surged with renewed fury, stretching out like clawed hands eager to tear me in two. “This is the warrior you chose?” she sneered, her hollowed gaze fixing on me with a look of deep disdain. The darkness around her seemed to grow thicker, as if feeding off her deep-seated rage.
Ranen’s fury smoldered as he stood like a dark warrior, straining to contain the Nightshade’s shadows. “Do not touch her,” he warned in a low and dangerous growl.
His smoky magic billowed in a desperate attempt to intercept her shadowy tendrils, but the Nightshade’s power was too strong. Her shadows, now thick and suffocating, coiled around me, searing against my skin like acid. A scream tore from my lips as they ate away at my flesh.
The shadows twisted around me, consuming every inch of my exposed skin. I could feel the darkness seeping into my veins, gnawing at my strength and will. The pain was excruciating, a fiery sensation that felt as though it was burning through my soul.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, only to be licked away by the ravenous shadows. Each drop seemed to vanish into the dark tendrils, as if they delighted in my sorrow and were determined to consume every bit of my desperation.
My weakness, pain, and fear seemed to fuel the shadows and the Nightshade. Her strength swelled with each agonized cry, her magic becoming darker and more oppressive, feeding off my suffering and increasing her power.
Ranen’s eyes blazed with an intensity that could have set the world on fire. He moved with speed and precision born of desperation, his smoky magic colliding with the Nightshade’s dark shadows. Each clash sent ripples through the air, but the Nightshade’s power seemed endless, her shadows weaving and converging, a dark plague that refused to die.
Her evil laughter echoed through the throne room, a sound that crawled under my skin, filling me with a deep, suffocating dread. “You cannot protect her forever, Ranen,” she taunted. “The darkness is my domain, and she is mine to consume. I will make her pay for everything her people put me through. They cost me my throne, my power, and my life. I will make her pay for each offense.” I wailed as a shadow brushed across my cheek, welting the skin. “My shadows will devour her slowly, until she is nothing but bones, as grotesque as her people made me to be.”
Ranen’s response was a fierce roar, his cry swelling through the space. He thrust his hands forward, sending waves of smoky energy that pushed against the Nightshade’s shadows. The room trembled under the strain of their duel, the walls groaning as if they protested the assault.
The Nightshade was thrown from her feet, her shriveled, skeletal body crashing to the floor with a sickening thud. Bones cracked and snapped under the impact, her form sprawling as she skidded across the marble. She laid there, stunned for a moment, her twisted body barely moving. But with a grimace of renewed rage, she forced herself up. Her eyes, sunken and seething, locked onto Ranen as she unleashed every ounce of her dark power. Shadows whipped and coiled violently through the air, seeking to crush him with the weight of her wrath.
I struggled to stay conscious, each breath a battle against the searing pain and lurking darkness. My vision blurred, and I could barely make out the figures of Ranen and the Nightshade as they fought.
Ranen’s face was a mask of hard determination as he tried to shield me from the Nightshade’s deadly darkness. His magic surged with an intensity that shocked even his own mother, pushing against the shadows that were trying to consume me.
Malik staggered through the writhing shadows, his skin melting from his bones as he braved the darkness to reach me. He collapsed beside me, his face twisted with pain.
“Get the staff,” I gasped as a shadow tightened around my throat, searing the delicate skin. My voice could barely be heard over the agony that gripped me. Malik nodded through clenched teeth and scrambled toward the staff.
I watched in horror as Malik's body was ravaged by the darkness. Blood oozed from his pores, pooling and dripping onto the pristine white marble, leaving a gory crimson trail in his wake. His face contorted in a silent scream as he fought to reach the staff. The swirling dark shadows and vivid red of his blood heightened the horror of it all.
I screamed when Malik collapsed, inches away from the staff. My heart felt like it had ceased to beat as I desperately willed him to rise, willed him not to be dead. My wailing caught Ranen's attention, and he followed my frantic gaze to Malik. With a fierce burst of smoky magic, Ranen shoved the staff toward Malik. With trembling hands, Malik reached for the staff, wrapped his fingers around it, and twisted his body to face me. He hurled the staff in my direction before collapsing again, his body falling limp and motionless.
The staff landed less than a foot away, but the Nightshade's shadows surged forward with a vengeful hiss, closing in like a living, choking fog. They pinned me down, engulfing me before I could reach for it.
I had conquered a fear that had haunted me for years, proving I was stronger and braver than I'd ever believed. I wouldn’t surrender now, not to a nightmarish mummy and her nasty shadows. I refused to let her or her twisted magic break me.
I managed to get to my hands and knees, struggling to crawl toward the staff as the shadows gnawed at my flesh. Each inch I gained sent fresh waves of agony through me, but sheer determination kept me from collapsing. I was so close. I reached out, my fingertips barely brushing the cool metal of the staff. It flared to life, cutting through the shadows. I gripped it tightly and used it as support, forcing myself to stand despite the searing pain that clawed at my skin.
Blood dripped from my fingers, seeping into the silver metal of the staff. A blinding burst of light erupted from the staff, its power a concentrated force of all the light and hope I had left. It surged through the room, a white-hot tide that swept away the Nightshade’s shadows with a deafening roar.
The Nightshade’s scream of fury and frustration echoed through the throne room, her form dissolving into the shadows from which she had come. Her power was broken, at least for now, and the darkness that had filled the room was replaced by the bright glow of the staff.
Ranen rushed to my side, his face pale and drawn. With trembling hands, he reached out and gently touched my scorched skin. I whimpered, and his expression twisted with rage and horror.
“You think this is over?” The Nightshade hissed. “I will have the power that was stolen from me.”
Terror seized my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs as the Nightshade’s jaw unhinged with a sickening crack. Her mouth stretched impossibly wide, and a flood of darkness surged from within her as endless as an abyss. The overwhelming blackness consumed everything in its path and swallowed me whole. I couldn’t breathe as the shadows closed in, their icy grip tightening around my throat. I fell to my knees, gasping for air, my hands clawing desperately at my neck.
Ranen bent down and grasped the staff, which snarled in warning. Its ancient power pulsed against his fingers, thrumming with raw energy.
“No,” the Nightshade gasped, her voice trembling with disbelief. “You wouldn’t!”
Her eyes widened in horror as Ranen’s resolve hardened. The shadows around us recoiled in fear, releasing their deadly grip. I gasped for air, teetering on the edge of consciousness. My vision swam as I struggled to stay upright.
The evil smile that spread across Ranen’s face was more terrifying than the dark shadows themselves. It was a chilling, deadly expression, as though he had embraced the darkness completely, becoming something far more fearsome than the Nightshade.
Ranen raised the staff, and his forearm muscles flexed as he broke it in two. Darkness oozed from it, pooling at Ranen’s feet, so at odds with the silvery pure metal on the outside.
The Nightshade’s scream pierced the air, an agonized wail that echoed through the room. Darkness exploded around her, bending violently, breaking her apart like fragile glass. Her shadows, once loyal and bound to her, turned cannibalistic. They coiled around her, devouring her inch by inch in a grotesque swirl of hunger and death. The shadows writhed, consuming their creator until nothing of her remained.
In my daze, I saw the enchanted cuffs around Ranen’s wrists fall to the ground. They clanged against the marble floor. I swayed, barely able to stay upright, as people rushed into the room. It felt as though a hazy veil had been lifted. They crowded around Ranen, dropping to their knees and pressing their foreheads to the cool stone. His genie curse was finally broken, his brother was dead, and he had reclaimed his throne.
My vision swam as I glanced back at Malik, who lay motionless. The world around me dissolved. My senses dulled as though I were sinking into an endless night. Everything faded. The edges of my vision darkened until there was nothing left but an all-consuming blackness.