One
ANSEL
Before the man was unceremoniously dumped inside the cave, I didn’t think it was possible for a mage’s soul to be more broken than mine.
Especially not the soul of one of my Arcana brothers.
Especially nothissoul.
Cass was supposed to be our leader. The strongest of all of us. Unbreakable.
But heisbroken. I know it as surely I know all the shades of blue in Stevie’s eyes.
How could I not? I’m the one who shattered him. That’s how it feels, anyway. I may not have any control over the one they call the Black Sun, but he’s still connected to me. I can see—and feel—everything he does. His every word, every action, every thought weighs heavy onmyconscience. The blood he’s spilled is onmyhands. When the Dark Arcana split me in two,thispart of me—the true part—kept the conscience, the heart, the soul.
That… thatthing…He took the malice and cruelty. The darkness I’ve been carrying my entire life, finally made manifest. And then he amplified it.
I wish I could say it wasn’t my fault, but it is. And now I watch, helpless and invisible in the shadows of the misty cave, as the Black Sun and his master look upon my Arcana brother like he’s a prized buck they’ve just shot and dragged out of the woods.
They can’t see me. Like the rest of the mage and witch souls they’ve exiled, I exist between realms. Here, yet not here. Alive, yet not.
From the looks of things, Cass may soon join the rest of us.
“Truthfully, I was hoping the professor would put up more of a fight,” my dark counterpart says, lips curling back over his teeth. The Wand of Flame and Fury pulses bright in his hand, and he prods Cass’s slumped body with it. “Guess he’s just as feeble as the others. How he’s managed to survive his own pathetic life eventhislong is a mystery.”
“But hehassurvived, and you’re fortunate that’s the case.” Dark Judgment places a hand on the shoulder of his star pupil. “You have much passion for this work, my Sun. An admirable quality, but you must rein in your fire until it is time to fully unleash your power.”
The Black Sun glares at him, a spark of defiance igniting in his eyes. I feel it rising in my own chest—his unchecked desire to dominate.
To burn.
Not long ago, he looked upon Judgment with reverence and awe, but that’s no longer the case. The Wand has given him a thirst for power that only destruction and death can sate, and right now, the other Dark Arcana are all that stand in his way.
He doesn’t want to share.
None of them do.
“What the darkness has unleashed will never again be caged,druid.” He tightens his grip on the Wand, a fierce wave of possessiveness roiling through his body.
Judgment releases his shoulder and smiles—the beaming grin of a proud father, his razor-sharp fangs tipped in blood. “Good man, my Sun. Another test passed.”
“A test?”
“Yes. You are more than ready for what awaits. Our Magician will be quite pleased with your rapid progress.”
At this, my chest constricts with a mirroring flicker of the Black Sun’s only vulnerability.
Myvulnerability.
That desperate, endless quest for validation and recognition from a father who turned his back on our family the moment he discovered I was a mage and not his son, and from a mother who blamed me for the ruins she set ablaze with her own treachery and lies.
Judgment is a poor substitute for a parent’s love, but still. He’s offering him everything I never had.
No matter. My parents are dead now. Incinerated in the attack on my hometown conceived by Judgment and carried out by the Black Sun standing before me.
I may as well have lit the fuse myself.
The taste of blood and ash fills my mouth, and in this moment, I feel more connected to my own darkness than ever before. And for the span of a single deep breath, I’m almost ready to give up, to fade out of the flimsy existence I’m still clinging to and let the Dark Arcana take whatever they want.
