Page 159 of Walking in Darkness

Timothy stepped up to Dani’s opposite side, and Ellis and Josephine were on the other side of them.

Then all Laven who remained standing, one after another, pressed in to create a vibrating throng that faced Ambrose.

The Kruen and their hosts had been destroyed.

Relief gushed out of me with the realization that Ambrose was the last one.

The beast who stood in front of us, his face twisted in wickedness.

The sky swarmed above him, vicious swirls that churned and howled. The fissure that cut through the realms throbbed, pulsing with brutality.

And on a thunderclap, it began to crack wider, a splinter that stretched wide across the heavens.

Horror ripped through me when at least a hundred Ghorl jumped through the crack, falling through the chaos that whirled from above and landing on the ground to gather around Ambrose.

Soldiers that assembled.

Enormous and obscene. My insides shuddered as I took them in on this realm. They were as big as buildings, towering high over Ambrose where they’d come to protect him.

Massive beasts.

Bodies of char and flame.

Radiating dominance and debauchery.

They were the strongest, oldest of the Kruen. So powerful that we’d barely been able to stop the one who’d hunted me, the one who’d sought my end through my father.

Theone.

Now there was a host of them, standing whole on this plane, their mouths gaping open as they raged.

Smugness filled Ambrose’s expression, every vile thought he’d ever possessed so clear on his face.

The greed.

The thirst for power.

For recognition and adulation.

To be greater than those around him.

His jealousy of Abigail was so distinct that I nearly choked on it. The hatred it’d bred, the way he’d opened himself up to the greatest of evils.

Because of it, Kreed had so easily been able to use him for his endgame.

And the goals of Kreed’s endgame were right there, the monster taking human form so he could stand and rule this world.

No longer from the bowels of darkness, though there was no question that the darkness would spread to stain everything.

“It’s time to meet your end, little Valient.” Ambrose’s voice was low, thunder that rolled across the field. “Just like the rest, though you will be the last—because with you, Valeen will die, as well as every Laven in existence. There will be nothing left of your kind.”

His statement punched through me with a devastating blow. A sword driven through my soul. Puncturing and boring.

Valeen.

Ambrose laughed—a morbid sound, though his voice was more human than Kreed’s. “Didn’t you know? Her well has run dry. Her strength depleted. No power left because it’s been gifted to me by Kreed. Kreed, who has drained her, feeding off the foolish love that she never stopped giving him for all this time. And once her strength is gone? So is yours.”

Then his voice boomed, a reverberation as Ambrose rose higher, wickedness glowing from the depthless chasm of his eyes. “And now, her power is mine.”