I tried. Gods, I tried. I looked around the room, but I was alone. Completely alone. Erina was nowhere in sight. My heart was racing far too fast, almost felt like I was dying. I clutched at the sweat-drenched blankets and threw them off of me.
As I tried to stand, my knees buckled underneath me, and I collapsed on the ground. I landed on the side that had been burned, clutching my stomach. My mouth opened as a silent scream left my body. It rocked through me like a tremor, causing a single tear to escape down my face.
“Damien…” a bitter voice echoed through the tall room.
I spun around, looking for the person who said my name. But it was quiet. Too fucking quiet if you asked me. It was like all the sound and air was sucked out of the room. You could hear a pin drop if you tried hard enough. Every move I made was amplified tenfold.
“Come to me, my love.”
Eva’s voice. She was talking to me. But where was she? I croaked, but nothing happened. Maybe this was all a nightmare.
“You’re all I ever wanted, Damien. Everything I’ve ever wished for. Come to me,”she whispered to me. Her breath rolled against my skin, but I still couldn’t see her. I pulled myself up off the floor and searched the room. I was far too unbalanced to remain standing for long, but I still couldn’t see a damn thing.
There was a noise behind me. It sounded like a tray being placed on a bedside table. Maybe she’d brought me dinner, although it seemed unlikely given the time of day. Or night, I suppose. I slowly turned around when I saw a cloaked figure standing in the shadows.
“Hello, Damien,” the figure said. Their voice echoed off of the stone, just like Eva’s had.
“Where’s Eva? What have you done to her?” I asked. I could barely make out their shape. They were so well encased in the darkness.
“Oh, I haven’t done anything to the dear girl.” The figure stepped closer, and I saw the barest hint of a smile in the moonlight. “Yet,” they added. “But the kingdom’s survival is in her hands. Your hands as well, Damien. The two of you have the potential to unite two people and stop this incessant war.” They clasped their hands in front of their body and leaned forward slightly. I could make out a firm jaw under the cloak. Male, if their voice was any indicator. That could be a simple trick, though, as I’d heard Eva’s voice earlier.
“You want to end the war, don’t you?” I nodded. “Aethion has seen far too much bloodshed in its history. No more is needed. Only a few must die to ensure the peace you seek.”
I shot my head up. “Who? Who must die?”
The shadow figure moved forward, weaving in between the shadows and moonlight until they were on the other side of my bed. They reached up and clasped their hood and dragged it down.
The face… The face was familiar. One that I must have seen before but couldn’t place. Their eyes, though… Black as night. Not a speck of white clouded them. I gasped and stepped backward but fell onto another bed. The figure smiled, enjoying the show of their prey running from them. They moved forward and leaned over my bed. I couldn’t move. I was hypnotized by the dark eyes that seemed to pulsate with longing.
“Let me show you,” the figure crooned as they moved in closer. I felt hands on either side of my head before visions of people swarmed in my mind. One, in particular, made my blood run cold.
“Yes,” they said. “You must find and kill Matthew. Kill the shadowbringer. Only then will the kingdom be safe. Only then willEvabe safe.” I looked back into their black eyes and nodded my head.
“Kill him, and I will give you everything you want in this world. Together, we will save the kingdom. But I need you, Damien. You must be the one to do it.”
And I would. I would find Matthew, and I would drive my sword through his fucking black heart.
* * *
Every day,I tried to talk to Eva. Showing up outside her door, hoping to escort her to meetings or training cycles where I’d decided that I’d gladly let her beat my ass however many times she needed to in order to make her feel better.
In order to get us back tonormalagain.
To make her love me the way she was supposed to.
But every time I opened my mouth, she whipped up a wall of air surrounding her faster than I could actually get any words out, then she’d walk right past me like I wasn’t there. I’d even taken to leaving notes outside her door, but conveniently, I found little piles of ashes where I’d left the slips of paper as I doubled back to check for a response.
Obviously, she was still pissed about our fight.Understandable. Yes, I was slightly in the wrong. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said some of the things I had, but I was just so angry at her for shrugging it off like it had been nothing.
Matthew had taken her, abducted her right in front of me and I had been powerless to stop him. Regardless of her reasoning, she didn’t fight him. She didn’t fight to stay with me, and that wasn’t something I could accept.
She had told me she loved me, yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that Matthew had come in and tried to fuck that up.
Eva had become a recluse, talking only to Briar or her father. And Briar was no longer talking to me, firmly showing that her loyalty laid strictly with her princess. Not that we had been close before, but now her silence was accompanied by the slight pinch of her eyes as she gave me a stare that could freeze over the darkest depths of the underworld. Or the occasional middle finger when she thought I wasn’t looking.
Her father had begged her to speak to me, to tell us what had really happened while she was being held captive. She’d told him repeatedly that Matthew had been a perfect gentleman, but I didn’t believe that for a second. I knew what he was from the moment he’d stepped out of the shadows that night at the ball.
A shadow-bringer.
