Page 19 of Return of the Darkness (The Lost Kingdom Saga #3)

Elisara

“ L evanna!” a voice she knew all too well screamed from the other ship, prompting Levanna to tighten her grip around the rope. Hanging off the side of the mast, she summoned all the power within her. The turquoise waves were rough as the river drake thrashed below, eager to be assigned a task.

“I know, sweet creature. All in good time,” Levanna murmured, reaching for the rope.

She pulled it taut around her wrist and tied an unbreakable knot, securing herself to the mast. A flash of fire blazed overhead, and the ship rocked when it hit the quarterdeck.

Her white hair flew into her face, and she hurried to brush it aside, eager to keep sight of his ship and the waiting river drake below.

“It doesn’t have to be like this, Levanna!

” he shouted again. He was too far away to discern his expression, but she knew Kai well enough to know the urgency in his voice would be paired with a furrowed brow.

Levanna scoffed. He had a funny way of proving his words as his soldiers flourished their hands, aiming fire at her ship.

His chestnut brown hair, which Levanna once loved combing her fingers through, blew in the wind.

“Yes, it does, Kai! You know damn well I’m not returning to the mainland with you.

I won’t let you do this; I won’t let you start this war!

” Levanna screamed back. This was all a game to him; he could easily make the leap between the boats or have his soldiers burn the ship into ashes.

He was toying with her. Either that, or a part of him truly still loved her before his heart had blackened, corrupted by greed.

“And what does sacrificing yourself have to do with ending my attempts?” Kai shouted over the ship’s edge.

He crossed his arms, the deep red of his cloak billowing in the wind behind him.

Levanna paused to look at him. She wished she could save him.

She wanted to reveal everything she knew—everything they could have shared if he had never left Thassena.

“Goodbye, Kai,” Levanna called. She did not look back at his ship to see if he heard.

Instead, she stared down into the ocean, spotting the iridescent wings of the river drake spanning wide from its blue-scaled body.

Levanna loosened the grip on the water and sent a silent command, twisting her power until the drake glanced up at her with purple irises and catapulted through the ship.

As the deck splintered into pieces, taking Levanna with it, she could have sworn she heard the pain in Kai’s voice as he screamed for her, like he was himself again.

Elisara woke with a start, clasping her neck and sputtering salty water from her lips.

She was reminded of when Kazaar saved her from the Vellius Sea.

River Drake. The creature in the dream looked so similar to the one she had encountered when searching for the other half of her talisman.

Elisara’s shadows crept up to stroke her skin like a gentle caress.

Her flinch turned into a shiver when she realised how cold she was.

She placed her palms on the stone floor and pushed herself up from where she lay, taking in her surroundings.

Glimpses of the checkerboard floor appeared in her vision, though her shadows slithered along it, filling the majority of the throne room on the Unsanctioned Isle.

She glanced up at where she knew the opening to be, but found only twinkling stars watching her.

No wonder it was so dark. When she flourished her hand, the sconces instantly lit along the wall.

Elisara jumped when the flames illuminated the shadow army lined along the walls and up the staircase.

They extended so far that they were likely in the tunnel and fields as well.

Elisara had no time to process how effortlessly she conjured a flame; instead, she watched the swaying bodies, silently waiting.

She wrapped her power around herself and shivered under the soldiers’ stares.

Imagining their eyes on her was unsettling.

Elisara did not know what they wanted. As of now, she had no further use for them. She had already failed.

“You can leave. I don’t want you here,” Elisara called.

She tried to draw the dark threads lingering over the floor back into her, but they disobeyed.

They continued floating across the floor, forming a barrier between her and the army.

She squeezed her fists, willing them to retreat again, but still, they did not obey.

Though it appeared at least some of her soldiers had listened to her command, a handful of dark bodies filtered back and through the walls.

Above, she sensed a creature shift on the rock face it clung to and fly towards her.

She scrambled back, but as it neared, she saw its wispy form and recognised it as another soul from her sword.

There are no more creatures here. Caligh is gone , she assured herself.

The darkness shot up and wrapped around the creature’s throat before flinging it against the wall.

Elisara’s eyes widened; she had not commanded them to do that.

“Take that as a warning!” she shouted, feigning confidence. “Leave!”

Still, the army remained, watching. It was as if they taunted her lack of control.

A handful more shifted on their feet before drifting through the wall.

Elisara frowned and tried to focus on them.

Where she once felt their emotions, now only darkness remained in those leaving.

Perhaps she had been too slow to try to understand them before they departed.

None of those remaining in the room taunted Elisara.

If anything, they pitied her—pitied the queen who had lost her everything, the queen who could not even control her powers enough to be alone.

Despite the army’s suffocating presence, Elisara was still lonely.

Her body was cold without Kazaar’s warmth while she slept.

When Elisara willed her shadows to whisk her away, she had no destination in mind.

Kazaar was simply the only image in her mind.

But the Isle made sense, having been the only place that was theirs.

As soon as her cheek touched the floor upon arriving, she had immediately fallen asleep.

Her body was exhausted, it made sense that her mind had run away with itself and dreamt of people she did not know.

Elisara snapped her head up. Or did she know them?

Peering around the throne room, Elisara tried to recall the snippet of a memory that surfaced when her shadowed protector had re-entered the sword.

Had her dream been the memory of a shadow here?

Was Levanna in the room with her? Or Kai?

Scoffing, Elisara glanced at the shadows wrapping around her again.

Perhaps she was just going crazy with the new power squirming under her veins.

The shadows around Elisara’s body pulled away to circle her instead, revealing the clothes from battle still on her back.

Elisara frowned at the crook of her arm and brought it closer, inspecting the skin in the bend of her elbow.

Her fingers traced a raised scar, paler than her skin; it assumed the shape of a ship’s sail that had never been there before.

Like Kazaar’s. Was this because Elisara had now conquered the elements during her grief-stricken display of power?

She considered checking the rest of her body but halted when movement caught her eye.

Her power seemed to subconsciously emerge when flames rose from the floor and formed a ring, protecting Elisara like Kazaar would have.

Her newfound protector patrolled the room.

Elisara tugged her shirt sleeve over the scar.

Kazaar’s shirt. She brought it to her nose and breathed.

Still, it smelled of him; smoke and ember intertwining with pine and snow.

On her wrist was his leather band, which she had used to tie her hair into a braid.

On her legs were leathers he had made just for her.

On her feet were the knee-high boots he had gently unlaced.

Everything reminded her of him. Everything.

Elisara closed her eyes, refusing to look at the room, knowing they had once fought here, battling each other and then the creature.

Kazaar had run to her with so much concern.

Tears filled Elisara’s eyes, and the threads of shadows tried to embrace her again.

“No!” she screamed. “I don’t want you near!

” Her joints were stiff as she tucked her knees up to her chest and hid her face, crying.

What was she to do now? She was alone with her grief and a lingering presence who would not leave her be.

As Elisara sobbed into Kazaar’s shirt, she sensed her protector's presence drawing near.

She did not know why she appointed him such a title, but it felt wrong not to, especially after his silent declaration of allegiance.

The shadows that were quick to throw the creature against a wall now drifted apart for him.

Through blurry eyes, Elisara peeked over her knees and watched his shadowed boots come into view.

His head blocked her view of the stars when she looked up.

Deep down, a voice cautioned against trusting this being.

She did not know his name, where he was from, or why he had been trapped in the Sword of Souls to begin with.

She could differentiate between the killed copper soldiers and those who had been there before.

The older ones felt cold in her soul, dead for far too long.