Page 109 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

brOKEN PEOPLE

Kase

HOT AND COLD. SWEAT AND shivers.

Kase didn’t know what to feel. His body didn’t know what to do. He raced away from the hospital ward like a coward, the empty space where Ana’s ring once sat mocking him. At least he made it away from the ward before he lost control of his emotions.

He didn’t know what had come over him. After fighting with Harlan and then with Hallie, it’d just hit him, and he hadn’t been able to wait a second longer.

He’d known for a while he wanted to marry her, start a family with her, live the rest of their days in the shadow of the mountains—but he’d also known that was his delusional side talking.

From the moment she’d brought down Achilles with whatever power she’d taken, he’d known it was impossible. He’d been in denial ever since.

He shouldn’t have asked. What in the blazes had he been thinking?

And what was she thinking, with all that nonsense about only marrying her because the world was ending?

Kase hadn’t asked because of the tragedy they were all barreling toward.

He would have asked even if Saldr had announced he’d found a new prophecy that stated Jagamot was going to take his sweet time, and they’d all be Burned long before the world met its end.

All he knew was they were running out of time, and if everything was spiraling toward destruction, then why not have a little joy as they welcomed the end?

Wasn’t love enough? It always was in the stories.

Reality really was a two-blistered wench.

Some of the books Ana had loved to read were those sprawling romances with soulmates bound together by the universe, brought together against all odds in a bond that transcended time and space.

It was a comforting notion, if unrealistic.

Kase and Hallie weren’t like that; they had been thrown together by fickle chance.

Their decisions alone had led them to each other, not some otherworldly bond or something out of their grasp.

If he’d not taken the fall for the greenie that rainy night in late September or if he’d turned his brother down when asked to pilot the Eudora mission, he might never have met her.

If she hadn’t taken her family’s savings and attended University, she wouldn’t have become a scholar.

If she hadn’t needed the money, she would’ve told Jove no when asked to go on a mission from which she might never return.

Maybe it had been something or someone guiding them unwittingly to each other, but Kase didn’t think so.

All his life he’d been told what to do, what to think, how to feel.

He knew what having no choice felt like.

Even his slight deviation into the Crews had only been possible with his father’s begrudging blessing.

But it wasn’t like that anymore. Kase chose Hallie. He would always choose her, whether it was just for a day or, by some miracle, the next fifty years.

He rubbed the spot where he’d worn Ana’s ring. His sister would’ve been proud. Zeke, too. Maybe that was what they’d been trying to teach him all along, and he just hadn’t wanted to listen.

What he’d said to her was true. He’d wait forever for her if he had to.

His breathing finally eased. He nodded to Saldr as he passed him in the corridor. Hopefully the perceptive Yalv couldn’t see the desperation or despair or whatever it was Kase knew had to be showing in his eyes. The man nodded back, then greeted Sergeant, who followed close behind.

With it being the second day of reintegrating groups of people into the city for cleanup and normalcy, the corridors were less crowded than usual.

The shouts and footsteps still echoed too loudly to concentrate on anything in particular, but it was nice to move at a steady pace without having to shoulder past people.

Kase didn’t know where his destination was. He just needed to think.

Before he knew it, he stood in front of the hangar.

Of course, even with the events of the day, he would end up here.

He just hated that his safe space would now include the memory of Hallie’s lifeless body replaying in his mind over and over again.

He shouldn’t trust the hover. Despite what she said, he wasn’t sure the Soul Tech hadn’t interfered with her power.

He wouldn’t fly it again. Just being in the hangar might be enough to process everything. Then he could go back to the ward and check on Ben and…well, should he go see Hallie again? Would she want to talk with him again? Would it be too awkward?

He’d figure it out once he got there.

His first clue should have been the lack of guards, but alas, he wasn’t entirely in his right mind as he tugged open the doors and stepped inside.

Sergeant tried to say something, but whatever he’d been about to say was drowned in the loud alarm that went off as soon as he walked past the first hover.

It was a screaming, whining whistle coming from Merlin, his hover. Kase jumped out of his skin and reached for his Cerl pistol, but it was missing. Blast it. Where had he left it? In the hover? He fumbled for the knife the greenie had given him. He wrenched it from its sheath and whirled around.

“Watch it, Shackley.” Eravin stepped out of the shadow of the nearby hover. “Tell your pet to be quiet.”

Merlin went silent, but Kase didn’t know if that was because it had read his thoughts or not. He also wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He turned his attention back to Eravin.

His old friend looked even worse than the last time he’d seen him in the corridor, the day Kase had threatened to end him if he laid a finger on Hallie.

How long had that been? A day? Two?

The hollows beneath his cheekbones had only sunk further. Maybe it was the dimly lit hangar, but stark black shadows lined his eyes. Eravin stopped a few paces away. “Just want to talk.”

Kase didn’t loosen his grip on his knife, but he also didn’t throw it at the other man. Not yet.

A muffled yell came from behind him. Kase spun. A gagged Sergeant fought against an attacker—a man Kase had dreaded ever seeing again and had hoped had somehow died in Achilles, even though Hallie had told him otherwise. It’d been a pointless wish.

General Marcos Correa looked worse for wear, too.

His skin had gone sallow, his hair unkempt.

Shadows darkened his pale brown eyes to lightless pits.

His clothing was dirty and torn. He had the same black lines around his eyes as Eravin.

He finally wrangled Sergeant into a submissive position, though it took enough effort to keep Sergeant there that sweat beaded the Cerl general’s brow.

Sergeant still tugged and twisted best he could.

Kase took a step toward him, knife coming up to…to…to do what? He couldn’t throw it at Correa. The Cerl would use Sergeant as a shield, and Kase wasn’t skilled enough at knife throwing to avoid that outcome.

“Let him go,” Kase demanded. “This doesn’t involve him.”

“We have a deal for you, Shackley,” Eravin said, drawing Kase’s attention. “Agree to help us, and we let your babysitter free.”

Kase spat something foul at him. Eravin’s eyebrows shot up. “Didn’t realize you cared that much. Interesting.”

Eravin nodded at Correa, who touched a finger to Sergeant’s cheek. Sergeant screamed and collapsed into Correa’s hold.

Kase flinched so hard, he nearly dropped his knife. He knew that pain. He’d lived it at Achilles. “Stop!”

Eravin walked back into his view. The lantern light hit him in such a way that his eyes were more visible. The veins in his eyes were black, not red—so numerous they nearly swallowed the whites entirely. Kase couldn’t even find the voice to scream. Eravin was like a nightmare come to life.

“What—what are you?” Kase managed to choke and stumble away.

Eravin smirked, but it didn’t look mischievous as it always had in the past. It spread nearly too wide for his face; his lips parted slightly, twitching, baring his teeth in a sinister slash that dragged chills down Kase’s spine. “We are Jagamot.”

“I don’t understand.” Kase’s limbs turned cold. He could barely feel the knife in his hand. “You’re not…Jagamot is something else. A god or something.”

“Jagamot is darkness. He is inside all of us; you need only surrender to him for him to manifest. That stupid old man, Loffler, set it all off by destabilizing the planet enough to allow Jagamot’s essence to filter throughout the atmosphere and enter every single person on this planet.

Just inhaling the scent of the ashamox—the gaseous form of Yalvar fuel—allows him to take root.

Particularly if you’re broken enough.” Eravin stepped closer.

“And this city is rife with broken people.”

Eravin was too close. Kase tried to raise his arm to stop him from doing anything else, from stepping closer, but his hand wouldn’t work. His fingers refused to move; his knife slipped right out of them.

Eravin’s smirk deepened. “Want this all to end? Hand over your girl. Give us Hallie Walker, the Essence of Time, and we’ll allow you, your babysitter here, your mother, and your brother’s family to live.

Not many will get that gift. We’ll even let the Stradat Lord Kapitan die.

A gift for you. He was supposed to die weeks ago. ”

Kase still had enough in him to spit, “I already told you: touch her, and you die.”

“Not really an option now. We can’t have her combining the Essence powers or resetting the Gate, and she’s very determined. She’s got spunk.” Eravin smiled, and Kase nearly puked. His gums were black. Darkness.

Jagamot.

Eravin was about to say something else when his eyes flicked up past his shoulder. “No! Don’t—”

The right side of Kase’s chest caught fire. But when he screamed, slapping at the flames, his hand met something wet and warm.

When he opened his eyes again, he was on the floor, everything tipped at a sickening angle; above him, Eravin yanked the King Arthur knife out of its wielder’s hand—Neville, whom Kase hadn’t seen in the room until now.

In the blink of an eye, Eravin slit the man’s throat.

Blood spurted from above him, splattering across Kase’s cheek as Neville choked on a wet, bubbling gasp. He clawed at his throat and fell to his knees.

Neville. Kase blinked, trying to understand, trying to stay awake.

Neville had stabbed him with his own knife.

“Fool,” Eravin shouted. “You let your petty revenge get the better of you, and now you’ll die, just like Lavinia.” He kicked Neville in the chest. He disappeared from Kase’s line of sight. “Should’ve figured out I did that one in, too.”

Kase couldn’t move, and his brain couldn’t comprehend his words, not fully. The pain in his chest grew with each passing second. But he couldn’t let Eravin near Hallie. “Stay…away…”

Stay away from her.

But the crescendo of agony stole the breath he needed to finish the threat.

BANG.

The crack was like lightning in a storm. Kase’s ears rang and warred with the pain flooding his system. Sergeant’s flashpistol. He’d managed to get it off.

He’d done that despite being tortured by Correa. For Kase.

Kase could barely register that fact. Not with the fire consuming him.

The bullet screamed and sparked against the walls and the hovers. Merlin’s screeches only fused with that of the stray bullet. Eravin ducked.

The echoes finally stopped. The bullet lay dead and near the end of the hangar, so close to the doors, so close to freedom, but not far enough. Sweat and who knew what else blurred Kase’s vision.

Eravin leaned down. His eyes were completely black without the light to reflect off the white specks. It chilled Kase to his very core. “Tried to give you a chance to choose the right side of history, but looks like I’ll have to do it myself.” His smirk was cold and superior. “Things never change.”

He looked up to Correa. “Kill him, and let’s go. We have a bit of a task ahead of us. This one deserves his pain.”

Kase couldn’t do anything as Sergeant yelled out, the note so anguished and full of torment, soul-rending. And then it went silent.

No.

Eravin disappeared. The pain in his side was so intense that he couldn’t even scream. His lungs felt cased in iron; he could barely get them to lift enough to take in a breath. Pierced lung, maybe? He could barely concentrate with his vision going in and out.

He hadn’t realized the alarm was going off again, but every few seconds or so, the Cerl hover’s loud beeping interrupted the pain.

His next blink lasted too long; he only knew time had passed because Saldr stood over him when his vision returned next. Two Saldrs, actually, both blurry.

Fresh fire roared into his chest as golden light blinded him.

What in the blazes was going on? Kase’s body contorted with the pain, twisting him into knots of anguish.

Maybe it wasn’t Saldr. It had to be Correa; Kase had only felt this kind of pain being tortured by the Cerl general’s lightning power.

Kase clenched his teeth hard. He clawed at Correa. Someone held him down.

And then it was over.

“Rest now, Master Shackley. The Vasa needs time to do its work.” Saldr. It was truly Saldr. Not Correa.

Kase couldn’t rest. He didn’t have time. Hallie didn’t have time. Sweat poured down his face, but he pushed himself up. “Gotta get…need to find…Saldr, where’s Hallie?”

“If you don’t rest, the Vasa won’t heal you—”

“I don’t care!” Kase shouted. He pushed himself to his knees only to collapse. The pain spiked in his side again. Saldr said something. More golden light. And then darkness.