“I had to make her wait until she was ready.”
“Another lamb off to slaughter, then.”
She stares at Kael, unwavering under his mimicry.
My thoughts flicker back to Sylas and the weight of his sacrifice, as Nyx’s thoughts enter my own.
It’s been a century since the War of Sun and Shadow, and yet,westill suffer the aftermath like it was yesterday.If sacrificingyourfreedom will mean the end of suffering forourpeople.Then what is one life in the face of so many?
Without Sylas, what else do I have left to live for?
That’s it, my girl.Your choice will set me free, and I will use that freedom to save our people.Her voice slithers through my mind as my shadows trace idle lines over my shoulders.
What will happen to me?I say into the void.
Her breath blows against my neck.Your body will be mine, but your mind shall go into the space in which all shadows share.
And where is that?
The dream-world where we have spoken.A safe place for you to be until it is time for you to see the light again,she drawls.
And how long will that be?
As long as it takes for the prophecy to be fulfilled, my daughter.
Time stills.I rise, putting weight into the staff, forcing my legs to steady.
Without thinking, I put one step in front of the other, until I’m at Kael’s side.My hand pushes him away, forcing space between them.
“Let us begin.”
51
KAEL
The moment she speaks, the water answers.
Violet light flares from the sigil scarred into the ceiling, raining down onto the shrine.The cavern folds inward; light fractures, sound bends.Before I can speak, the shadows scoop her up, their tendrils wrapping around her.They whisk her to the shrine’s edge, placing her within the strobe of incandescent light.
The shadows release in a wisp of smoke as her arms flail outward—a cross dangling within the strobe.Yara drinks from the chalice, eyes turning black the moment the substance touches her lips.She raises the blue flame.Her voice booms unnaturally, sending rocks tumbling beneath my feet.
“Flesh is fluid, form is free,
What Mother wills, let it be.
Old self fades, new self wake,
This new chapter her spirit must take!”
The strobe ignites, until Seren’s form vanishes.A piercing scream fills the cavern, one word extending into the void.
“Kael!”
Then, silence.
The sound of my name reverberating on the walls sends my legs scrambling for the basin’s edge.I hesitate, the memory of the water burning my skin making me wince.There’s no time to think, only act.I dip a boot into the inky surface and that familiar pain slices up my leg, a phantom boil piercing my core.
I snatch it back, sinking to the floor.My breaths come in ragged gasps as I pull at my clothes, but there is nothing there—only the lingering sting.I reach for the thread between us, hoping to feel Seren on the other end.
