Page 31

The flame in my chest swelled. “Science and rationale told me that you couldn’t be real, even though every fiber of my being demanded that you were.”

“When did you know,” he asked, his voice a grated whisper, “that I wasn’t a figment of your imagination?”

“It wasn’t until Graem bruised me that day in the clearing that I knew you were real. That it was all real,” I answered, my fingers unable to stop caressing him.

His eyes darkened. “That was one of the days you slowly flickered away from me. Every time you disappeared, I thought it was the last I’d ever see of you. You’ve been giving me heart attacks since day one.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, my gaze lifting to his through my eyelashes.

“Never apologize for appearing to me,” he said, taking my hand to his mouth and brushing my knuckles with his lips.

“You were so young when this all started. With no one to help you, no one who understood what was happening to you. Navigating your beautiful gift all on your own . . . it must have been terrifying.”

“It was, but knowing you were there, real or not, made it all worth it,” I said, remembering when I’d stretched myself so thin, I’d astrally torn myself—half of me stuck on Luneth while the other half lay comatose in a hospital bed, and how Rowen had helped me pull myself back together.

“You’ve always been my anchor, my tether home. ”

Rowen’s thumb traced soothing circles on the back of my hand. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? From thinking we were both losing our minds to realizing we were just two lost souls connected by an unbreakable bond, drawing us together.”

“All the disorientation, the unexplained injuries, and the restless nights brought me closer to you, to Luneth,” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion, realizing that everything I had ever searched for had been searching for me, too.

Before I ever knew Rowen or possessed the power of the Alcreon Light, I was just a small girl with the ability to astral travel.

Were these connections the reason the Elder Spirits chose me as their vessel?

It was hard to say, but as remarkable as it all was, I didn’t have the time or luxury to dwell on the marvels of astral traveling.

We had much bigger concerns. “What if when Erovos escapes, he comes straight here?”

“We’ll meet with the Summit, and we will come up with a plan,” Rowen said with a reassuring squeeze of my hand. “We will be ready.”

Rowen’s hand in mine was a steadying force as we walked to our dome, Sabra trotting beside us. “I’m surprised how easy you went on Maddock,” I said, still seething that he had accused Rowen of being too rough with me.

My soul flame sighed, his expression thoughtful.

“Keira. I pity him. I don’t have to imagine his pain because I’ve experienced it myself.

Before I knew we were soul flames, I felt our connection, the irresistible pull drawing us together.

But I had to fight it—fight the bond that stretched across galaxies to bring you to me.

I resisted you to keep you safe, and it was sheer agony.

I know precisely what Maddock is going through, and considering everything, he’s holding himself together quite commendably. ”

As Rowen spoke, the depths of Maddock’s torment became clear. My own hatred and anger had blinded me from understanding. He was isolated from everyone by an invisible barrier, just as I had been .

“I guess I could go a little easier on him,” I said, rounding the corner to our bungalow. “But he just makes it so hard to?—”

Before I could finish my thought, a deep, strangled cry pierced the air behind us.

I spun towards the tree line, my gaze landing in the direction of the crevice.

Alvar, the war captain, emerged from the shadows, limping with his arm tight by his side. “Sabra, get Takoda!” I said with growing alarm, pointing to the healer’s dome before charging toward the warrior. I stole a glance to ensure the wolf was on her way, her form dashing like a lightning bolt.

“What happened?” Rowen asked, worry in his voice as he swiftly dove under Alvar’s good arm to help carry him.

“We were attacked,” the captain ground out, his breath coming in short and labored.

Blood streaked his face and matted his silver buzzcut.

His warrior leathers and linen undershirt hung in tatters around his massive frame.

“We were patrolling the area around the crevice when the earth shook, and a demon slipped through the cracks. My soldiers fought bravely, but the creature cut right through our weapons. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Simply using its claws and teeth.”

My gut sank as I peered at the war captain. “Where are you wounded?”

“My ankle is twisted, and I have a few cuts and bruises, but my arm is the worst,” Alvar said through a pained grimace. His body swayed with fatigue as Takoda and Sabra ran up to us. “We tried to fight them, but our weapons were useless against them.”

“Help me lower him. Gently,” Takoda said, his tone calm yet urgent.

“Were you bitten or scratched?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady as Rowen helped him to the ground.

Alvar winced. “What? Why does that matter? ”

“Bitten or scratched?” I repeated more firmly as Takoda peeled back the shredded layers of his clothes and armor, revealing the extent of his injury.

The wound was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was as if a shadow had been spliced into his skin, painfully and with jagged edges that seeped into his bloodstream. Even now, I could see the blackened veins spiderwebbing up his left arm.

“Bitten,” the captain grunted, his voice strained.

My heart stopped.

“I have never treated anything like this,” Takoda said, his eyes narrowing in concern as he applied a shimmering paste around the raw flesh. “We need to stop the darkness from spreading, but the noxlily salve is not working.”

“Listen to me,” I said, panic welling in my chest. “He was bitten by a Voro-Kai. They are Erovos’ newest demons. There is no stopping it. It will spread until he becomes one of them.”

Alvar’s face paled, his eyes flashing with horror. “The two other warriors . . . I thought they were dead.”

“They might be turned,” I said solemnly, wishing any other outcome for the brave soldiers.

“How do you know this?” the healer asked, his eyes widening in alarm.

“I just returned from battling them,” I said, recalling their grotesque faces and boar-ish tusks. “Rowen was there. He saw the whole thing. He can attest.”

Rowen’s eyes were heavy with sorrow. “It is true.”

“My arm,” Alvar said, his voice weak yet resolute. “Take it. Quickly, before it spreads.”

“Alvar, let me try to save it,” I choked out, knowing the risks. If I did try to heal him, I might accidentally latch onto the parts of him that were dying, and like the flower in the bathing suite, I would only kill him faster. But I had to try. I couldn’t let the war captain lose his arm .

“You have no mastery over the Light,” the war captain grunted, pain etched on his face. “We’ve all seen what you’ve done around the village. You are still a weakened mare in my eyes. I can’t take the risk.”

“Alvar,” Takoda said, his expression torn between concern and duty. “I can see the dark veins. They have yet to reach your heart, but it is spreading. If you’re sure, I will need to get everything prepared.”

“I’m sure,” he grunted, his face hardening in determination.

“No!” I pleaded.

“Alvar, don’t be proud,” Rowen said as Takoda readied the tools from his medicine bag. “Not with this.”

Alvar’s battle-worn face twisted as he yelled, “Do it!”

The air was thick with tension, and I held my breath as Takoda readied his knife.

The blade pressed into his skin, and Alvar let out a guttural cry, tears streaking down his dirt-smeared face.

“Stop!” I screamed, and Takoda’s hand stilled. “I’m not giving you a choice. Weakened mare or not, I’m going to save your arm,” I said, reaching for his hand, his dark veins bulging.

The second I latched onto his hand, darkness choked up my throat and blinded me. The death I’d been running from clogged up my veins and cut off my airways. It was overwhelming. Suffocating. Alvar was as good as dead. We all were.

“Keira, your eyes are pitch black,” Rowen yelled beside me, but I could barely hear him over Alvar’s screams and the shadows whirling around my mind. “You’re absorbing the darkness!”

The thread of death tangled around me, its tendrils heavy and rotting, constricting my throat. What was the point of living if everything was already dying? Why was I even here at all?

Consciousness felt like too heavy a burden to bear. I didn’t want it anymore .

“You must stop her,” Takoda cried, his voice filled with panic. “She will become one of them in Alvar’s place if she doesn’t let go.”

“No. Give her a chance. She can do this,” Rowen demanded firmly before his voice echoed in my ear. “Keira, find the light.”

“Why?” I wanted to scream, and maybe I did. The darkness was going to find me one day anyway. Why not just end it all now?

“Because I need you. I need you to choose to come back.”

Suddenly, Nepta’s words rang through me: You must choose which beast to nourish, the one who heals or the one who destroys. Her words made it sound like a choice.

But did I? Have a choice?

I could focus on all that was dying or dead, but neither of those scenarios anchored me in the present or allowed me to admire the beauty of the now.

The weight threatened to pull me under as glimpses of the dark cave and slumbering demons flashed before me. Dark figures twisted and churned in their cocoons, but I was one of them. No , I was all of them—a part of their hive mind.

Images of my face appeared over and over again in the shared mind, thousands of times and from every angle. Their mind focused on one task and one task only.

Find. Find. Find.

Take. Take. Take.

Ours. Ours. Ours.

The cave echoed with their chilling, sleeping chant.

Their collective consciousness was searching for me.

A whole sleeping army was seeing my face, dreaming of destroying any obstacle in their way to bite into my skin and tear through my flesh.

I saw them lifting my limp, bloody body in their arms, reverently, as if delivering me like a precious offering to Erovos .

Once that mission was complete, they would have full reign to unleash their terror unto the world.

“Keira!” I heard Rowen and Takoda scream my name.

Instead of falling into the darkness, I pulled back, desperately searching until I found the vibrant thread of Alvar’s life. I waded through endless strands that conglomerated together like sticky spider webs. If I didn’t find it soon, the war captain would be lost to the hive mind.

I batted away at the thick ropes that caught on my limbs and slowed me down. When suddenly, in the sea of dark webbing, I saw a bright strand.

There it was! The thread of Alvar’s life. It was strong, resilient, and beautiful. But turning. And fast.

With a concentrated effort, I summoned a gentle blast of Light, incinerating the darkness within Alvar. I flushed out the blight that would have turned him into a Voro-Kai—a being that would hunt me to the ends of the earth.

Slowly, my vision returned, and my veins faded from black to silver, a familiar, comforting glow emanating from my body. I dropped his arm, our veins shimmering as we both blinked back to our bodies.

Rowen and Takoda sagged with relief, their tension melting away.

“You did it, star-touched,” Takoda said, awe etched on his long, slender face.

Rowen wrapped his hand around the base of my skull and pulled me in until our foreheads touched. His warmth and strength brought me back to my senses.

Alvar flexed his arm and rolled it at the socket, his eyes wide with wonder. “Thank you, he whispered, his hazy stare filled with gratitude. “I was wrong. You are no weakened mare. You are the Alcreon Daughter, and you have saved my life.”

I offered him a weak smile before I glanced up, realizing we had attracted a crowd of worried villagers.

Their faces were a mix of fear and relief, solidifying how real this war had become.

So far, the Wyn elves had been shielded from the impending darkness.

But now it had crossed through their front door.

Terror churned in my gut like acid. There was officially nowhere left to hide.