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Evrardin made the foolish decision to trust Acastus. “Do not let harm come to her, or I will come here and gut you slowly like I’ve been yearning.”

Acastus gave him a faint nod, perhaps offering his friend this one last kindness.

“Evrardin,” Mara said as he stood to leave.

“I have to stop him.”

“I know… just…” Mara paused, wild thoughts crossing her deflated expression, his heart lurching. “Just come back to me, okay?”

Evrardin wasn’t used to someone depending on him, beckoning him to return. Standing as the culmination of someone else’s hope. For someone to want him. Someone waiting for him to return safely. Someone who would mourn him loudly. He had believed that when he left this realm, he wouldn’t have a single person to grieve him. This was an entirely new responsibility he had never realized he craved.

All his fondness and reverence resolved to a curt nod before taking off and running as fast as his feet would take him out of the cathedral.

He made it to the outside theater, spotting Cofsi, illuminated with green liquid.

“Ev,” he called out, his voice elated in surprise at his presence. Evrardin turned to him. “I tried to stop as many as I could, but they all began to wake. I…”

“I know. There’s no way you could have stopped them all.”

Cofsi shifted his stance, exasperated. “What in the gods' names do we do?”

Screams echoed down the halls, a chilling voice lingering in the dark passageways before making it to Cofsi and Evrardin’s ears.

“We kill the svik .”

Evrardin had Cofsi hot on his heels as they darted outside and into the large archway, the svik looking down onto the hundreds of Sun Warriors now polluting the streets of Kairth. He appeared like he was contemplating how his newfound life would play out. Svik’s are rather irritating creatures, always scheming and plotting. And now one had the power of the Sun Warriors, bound to the svik that surfaced them, Mara’s heart fueling the connection between the svik , Acastus, and the Veil. The creature's voice scattered in the air as he demanded his warriors spread throughout the city, seizing control for himself. Becoming the new Sun King in Cas’ stead.

Lord Cofsi and Evrardin shifted to make moves toward the svik , but their actions fell short as several Sun Warriors cut through their path. “Shit,” Cofsi cursed.

Ev counted. “There’s only four—we can take ‘em.”

Cofsi bit his lip. “Oh, yeah. Four Sun Warriors. No big deal,” he mocked.

Evrardin pretended not to hear his disbelief, but Ev, too, was thinking this might not be an easy feat—if possible at all. Evrardin slid around the bend of the awning and charged at one of the ragged Sun Warriors. Though they were undead, they looked collated. Their beings were full with wispy tails trickling off their skin. Some had helms that obscured most of their faces, but through the cracks and openings, Evrardin could see the decaying flesh beneath.

The Sun Warrior spun and clashed his sword with Evrardin’s, making him stumble back a short way. He hadn’t thought they’d be quite so strong, the mystique of them only something he knew from the old legends. He tried not to think about how this was his own doing. Every single one of these men—if you could still call them that—were fueled by those he had slain. The hearts he collected for Acastus. If anything, he deserved to be cut down by one of them. The poetic justice of it all is what motivated Evrardin to continue fighting.

To his side, Lord Cofsi’s hands smoked, a black mist dancing off of his fingers. The Shadow People were known to control shadow magick, but only those in The Shadowed Isles truly knew what that meant. They weren’t ones to share such sensitive information willingly.

Lord Cofsi managed his shadowed hands on one of the Sun Warriors, their armor cracking where he touched. Ev faced his own warrior, their swords connecting time and time again. He ducked under a powerful swing, just barely avoiding decapitation. “ Stars and runes . These bastards won’t die,” Ev growled as he swung his sword again.

“Maybe because they’re already dead,” Cofsi drolled beside him as if he wasn’t in the process of fighting for his life.

Off in the distance, Evrardin could see his men attempting to stop the warriors, but their efforts were fatal. No human was a match for something powered by the Veil. Even those who hadn’t pilfered a weapon were quick to tear the flesh off the humans who tried to stop them. Their grasps seared marks and nails dug holes.

Evrardin finally managed to land a good enough swing that the steel slid right between the warrior’s armor, where their neck met their helm, slicing through. His sword didn’t break free of the warrior’s flesh, but it went deep enough to open a wound too big to survive. Green pooled where red should have been. The Sun Warrior stumbled but didn’t fall. “Gods be fucked,” Ev said exasperated. “They’re bloody invincible.”

Cofsi huffed like he rolled his eyes, sending shadowed hands to grip the shoulders of a Sun Warrior approaching Ev’s flank, sending them flying backward over the railing.

The sun cast an eerie shadow, the castle slowly fading into darkness. Cofsi took a brief moment to look at the Sun Warriors heading down into the city and the loud cries of the people. “They’re headed to the streets, Ev. How the fuck do we stop them?”

Ev took a breath after shoving two warriors off of himself. “I have no fucking idea.” He tried to channel his energy back, shaking his body out, his arms sore from blocking such powerful blows.

“Killing Acastus won’t do,” Cofsi spoke his thoughts aloud. He groaned as his shadow magick slid around the waists of two Sun Warriors and sent them flying down the steps.

“No. The svik will still have their connection to the Veil through Mara. And how would we kill it anyway? Creatures of the Veil cannot be killed in the living realm.”

“That thing is being fueled by the hearts?” Cofsi called out.

Ev dodged the swing of a warrior’s sword before angling his own to slice through its flesh and severing its entire arm from its body, whooshing through a ghostly cloud. “Yeah.” Ev tried to recall the prophecy Acastus had spouted. “Needed the hearts to raise the warriors.”

“That all?”

“Cas needed— ugh .” Ev was cut short as he jutted his sword into the belly of one of the undead, green leaking around his blade. “He needed the heart of a monarch, which turned out t’be the princess’.”

Cofsi pushed his hair out of his face, leaving a trail of sickly green in its wake. “She’s part of the Sun Court now.”

Ev raised his brows in irritation.

“Ev, she’s bound by blood to Cas.”

The captain shook his head and shoved a warrior back with both of his hands, letting a grunt pry its way through his teeth. “Is there a point to all this?”

Cofsi stabbed two Sun Warriors with his sword, straight through the heart, and let go, both of the warriors stuck together as they tried to move it in opposite directions.

“Mara’s blood was corrupted! If Cas had been using dark magick this whole time, his blood is tainted. It's why Mara came back from the bonding terrified. She had crossed over to the Veil. Mara is connected to the Veil. She can kill the svik !” Cofsi called it out like he was elated.

Ev shook his head, running back up the steps with Cofsi hot on his heels. “She can’t kill that thing.”

“She’s gonna have to if we’re to live to tell the tale.”