I staggered back, the breath ripped from my lungs. “No,” I whispered, but the word felt thin, fragile, like it could shatter under his gaze.
“You could have saved her,” he continued, stepping closer, his expression hardening into something cruel, unfamiliar. “But you chose me. You bound yourself to me.” His lips curled into a bitter smile. “And I will betray you. I will never choose you in the end, Seren. I have a duty to something bigger, more important, than you. You’re frail. My weakest link. Not strong enough to be my queen. If I survive tonight, it won’t be because of you.”
The words hit deeper than I wanted to admit. Because, beneath the surface, a part of me—the part I tried to bury, to smother—believed him.
He was going to leave me. I knew that. He’d told me he had to leave.
But I didn’t want that. I wanted him to choose me, however impossible that was. However selfish that was.
“You’re weak.”
“You can’t save anyone.”
“Why would I ever choose you?”
The whispers merged with his voice, rising in a chorus that drowned out reason, smothered me under the weight of my own guilt. The shadows thickened, and from within them, more shapes began to emerge.
More Nyxwraiths.
They slithered from the darkness like liquid shadows, their forms barely solid, their eyes empty voids of endless black. Their limbs were too long, too thin, and their fingers ended in curved claws that dripped with inky darkness. They moved without sound, but their hunger screamed in my mind.
They fed on fear.
And I was drowning in it.
I sent a kick toward the Nyxwraith holding me, straight toward its core. It released me, dropping back enough for me to wrench my wrists away.
The Nyxwraith lunged, its claws slicing through the air with a hiss that sent terror surging through my veins. I stumbled back, barely dodging the swipe, but another was already there, its shadowy form flickering like smoke as it reached for me.
I couldn’t fight them. Not like this. Not when my mind was unraveling, my heart gripped in icy claws of doubt.
I dropped to my knees, my breath ragged, my vision blurring with tears I couldn’t hold back. The Nyxwraiths closed in, their whispers merging with my own.
I squeezed my eyes shut and through the darkness, I felt a tether.
The bond between Rykr and me. Always there. Always shimmering beneath the surface of my mind, entangled in the very fibers of my soul. He had a solid wall up, blocking me from him … to protect me.
Because he loved me.
Because even amid all this ugliness, we’d found love. Real love. Love that didn’t make sense and shouldn’t be but love all the same. A love that had brought me hope during my fears, during the worst betrayals I’d ever known.
The Nyxwraiths’ claws dug into my skin, their voices louder in my ears.
“I won’t stay.”
“You’re pathetic.”
And yet the bond, the feel of him, there, in my heart. In my soul. He had brought me calm. Fear could destroy everything, yes, but not where love and hope existed.
But it couldn’t be that simple, could it?
Or maybe it was. Maybe fear had sufficient force that it could swallow some people whole.
“He doesn’t have to choose me over his kingdom. That’s not what matters,” I whispered in a trembling voice. “I don’t have long left to live anyway. Those fears don’t matter. I love him. Our love is enough to survive this trial.”
The shadows thickened, twisting around my throat, squeezing.
“You’re weak.”
