Phantom fades from existence beside me. How I ruminate on their words, so similar to George’s. My shadow heart. I am a product of everything I’ve experienced, my parents’ deaths, my grandmother’s illness, Tony’s handschoking the life out of me, Damien’s love, Maeve’s friendship, facing the goddess, becoming a shade. Through all of it, I’ve made choices. Not always the right ones. Not always the smart ones. What’s important is that I’ve learned. I’ve become stronger.
What’s important is making peace with the darkness. But Phantom is wrong about one thing. I am no spider. I am a dragon. And I wait not in a web, but in the skies. And when I choose to unleash my fire, even the gods will fear me.
I turn my attention back to the tent and wait for Cassius. Hours pass. I try to reach out to him down the web of shadows. But I still can’t do it. So I do the only thing I can do—I wait and have faith.
Finally, shadows bleed from under the canvas and twist like a dark mist toward the forest. He forms with nimble grace and hands me the empty bag.
“What took you so long?” I whisper.
Cassius begins walking away from the camp, gesturing for me to follow, putting distance between us and our enemies. “At first, I did as you suggested. I added the vials to their water sources. It took some time. Hundreds of children are piled up in those tents, Eloise. The youngest are hardly old enough to shift. And Brahm and Nevina have barely fed or cared for them. It is a horrific sight.”
I stop walking. Was I wrong before? Should I have done more?
“But then I saw Gregoris,” he continues.
“Gregoris?”
“Lady Odette’s nephew.”
I remember the boy now. He’d been cleaning my room, his eyes glazed from whatever drug Nevina used tocontrol him. Lady Odette used the planning of the Harvest Festival as an excuse to visit him.
“He appears young,” Cassius says. “I am sure that is why Odette handed him over as a sacrifice—but the man is a trained warrior, an adult. I decided to give him the antidote directly.”
“What? But the concentration?—”
“I diluted it first, as you instructed, but I poured it into Gregoris’s mouth, and then I prayed.” He brings his fists together under his chin and grins at me, a smile that beams like its own star. “It worked, Eloise! And not violently, as you were expecting. His eyes cleared, and there he was, once a ghost of a man, and now, restored. I covered his mouth because when he saw where he was, he almost screamed. A natural reaction to the horror. But I used the shadows to explain to him what was happening. That’s what took me so long. He is going to help the others. He is going to lead them.”
“Lead them where?” I look back toward the tent. “Should we guide them out?”
He grabs my elbow and pulls me deeper into the woods. “No. Lead them into battle. They will pretend to be fighting for Nevina and Brahm. They will follow New Stygarde into battle and then turn on them when the time is right.”
A prickly weight expands in my stomach. “No. It’s too dangerous, Cassius. We have to get them to safety. We can’t have children fighting on our behalf.”
We’ve reached the stone we landed on, and he stops to turn to me. “You’ve always had such a good heart, and your worry for those children is in keeping with your character. Trust me when I say to you that Gregoris andevery child in those tents will benefit from being part of the fight.”
“How can you?—”
“Every child in those tents needs to feel they’ve had their revenge. After everything, they will never heal if they’re left feeling helpless. This way, they are part of the rebellion. They have agency in their own salvation. Don’t take that from them.”
Phantom appears beside us, and Cassius climbs on first. I draw a deep breath into my lungs, hating this. It goes against my every instinct to leave the children. But they are shades, and Cassius knows his kind. What he says makes sense. And most importantly, there is no other choice that won’t endanger the rebellion.
I climb behind Cassius, and we take to the skies, mission accomplished.
36
The Darkness We Unleash
Damien
We attack at dawn. The moment the silver light breaks the horizon, we execute the plan to take back Zephrine. This war, this battle, is not like those in Eloise’s Earth history where armies line up and face off against each other, head-to-head. We arrive quietly, infiltrate the cities that have already been burned and pillaged by silver coats, and attack.
It’s easy at first. The New Stygarde soldiers occupying what remains of these villages have become fat and lazy, feasting like kings while villagers starve at their mercy. We are an unwanted morning surprise. I order my men to end them in their beds.
But the ones we miss, the soldiers who wake before they meet our swords, have a surprise for us as well.
“Sunlight weapons!” Warbill screams as he takes out a shade at my side. “All of them! Not just the elves.”
I dodge an ax that sizzles as it grazes my skin. With awhirl and slice, I send the soldier’s head rolling. Warbill and I are back-to-back, surrounded by silver coats, the shine from their weapons heating our faces. “Could be worse,” I say to Warbill. “Could be arrows.”
