“It was reckless. Foolish. It was—”
“The only way I could get Jonathan out of that prison and save my friends.”
His eyes blazed, his icy, stoic demeanor finally shattering. I hated fighting with him, but I’d take that over the nothingness any day of the week.
“And now he is here, trapped as you are trapped. You have banished him, but not destroyed him. As long as you are both here, he will hunt you. Eternally. And each time you’re caught, you will be forced to relive his cruel torments. Endlessly.”
“And each timehe’scaught, he will relive mine.”
Liam was impassive once again.
“I made him, Liam,” I went on, the words leaving a path of fire in my throat, burning as only the most difficult truths could. “Just as he made me. This was the only way.”
Jonathan and I had been in love once. Then, he’d tried to kill me. He spent the rest of his life hunting me down, dreaming of my death, dreaming of stealing my power. That more than anything was his life’s work, his ultimate quest. It shaped the boy he used to be into the man he ultimately became.
And me? I spent the rest of my life fearing the day he’d come for me. The day he’d hurt more people that I love. The day he’d make good on that age-old promise.
When I find you, I will burn you.
If we’d never crossed paths as teenagers, how different would our lives have become?
“I couldn’t leave him there to wreak havoc on my friends,” I said. “On anyone. They don’t deserve that.”
Liam’s eyes softened just a fraction. “You no more made him than I made this place. Heexists, Gray. He made choices, just as you made choices.”
“Choices you obviously don’t agree with.”
“Gray…” Liam sighed and turned his back on me, igniting a flicker of shame in my chest. Was he that disappointed and angry that he couldn’t even look me in the eye?
“You are never leaving this place,” he continued. “All of those friends you were so desperate to help? They will have to find a way to go on without you now. You have no future. No fate. No destiny. Only this.” He swept an arm out before him, indicating the vast, endless hills, now glittering beneath the light of two moons. It was eerily beautiful, like the vines and flowers I’d seen in the crevasse.
There were no monsters in sight.
“Is it really so terrible?” I took a step closer to him, but a sharp bite of pain in my foot stopped me.
I lifted it to take a look. Blood soaked through the fabric I’d wrapped around it.
“Not at all terrible,” Liam said sarcastically, finally turning to face me again. “Especially if you enjoy long walks in the moonlight through meadows of razor-sharp grass.”
My eyes widened. I tried not to move.
“Nothing is what it seems here, Gray. You can’t trust anything or anyone you encounter.”
Yeah, I was starting to figure that out.
“Why does it keep changing?” I asked. “What happened to the lake pit? Before that, I was trapped in some kind of volcanic wasteland for weeks.” I told him about the fire demons, the smoke, how the lake initially healed my wounds.
“The Shadowrealm comprises many different worlds. No, not all of them are terrible. Some are quite peaceful, even restorative. An unburdened soul could travel to her final destination rather pleasantly, lingering in beautiful places as she pleased, healing the spiritual wounds she’d endured in life. Others, however, encounter all manner of demons, monsters, fears, nightmares, regrets—not to mention the physical challenges of landscapes like this. If they fail those challenges, if they refuse to fight those battles, if they give up without trying, if they allow the realm to destroy the last spark of their humanity, they end up in what your kind refers to as hell, though that is really just another realm, like so many in our universe.”
A stone bridge appeared before us, and the sharp grass beneath it dropped away, revealing a dark blue river dotted with lotus blossoms. Liam gestured for me to step onto the bridge, and he followed close behind.
When I turned to look at him again, he was back in his human form, dressed in jeans and a soft-looking flannel, his blond hair flopping into his eyes. My heart kicked up a notch at the sight, but the rest of my body relaxed. He was much easier to talk to as Liam.
“Hi,” I said, my voice strangely shy.
“Hello.” Liam chuckled softly, and my stomach did a little flip.
Had his laugh always sounded so warm? So comforting? I wanted to hear it again, but the moment passed.
