Prologue
300 YEARS AGO
The echoes of her feet could be heard along the stone walls, swallowing the sound of his cries and sending them through the tunnels.
“Please,” she begged him, holding him tight against her chest as she maneuvered her way through the darkness. The only thing that lit up the path was the power that shone in her eyes, almost as bright as the sun. “Please, you have to be quiet.”
She had trusted him. He told her he would protect them both but ran to the rest of them the moment he got scared. He betrayed her, and now they had come to collect the only thing keeping her shattered heart from crumbling. The baby cried in her arms, not understanding what was at stake if she couldn’t soothe him—or better yet, find a way out of this nightmare.
Behind her, the shadows were slithering along the walls, creeping toward her at a deadly pace. The only thing stopping them was her own light, but she had used so much of it already to slow them down. Soon, her light would dim and they would catch her.
She paused at a wall, placing her hand against the stone and pushed. The rocks split, collapsing onto the ground, and revealed a small, hollow space. After running inside, she turned around and quickly raised the pebbles, aligning them back together. The baby wailed, flinging his arms as she clutched him, surrounding her child with every ounce of light that she could manage. But she sensed him. She felt every pulse of his heart as he approached, feeling their tether pulling at one another.
It was then that she regretted allowing him to convince her of the soul bond. They found a way to tie their light together, making their hearts beat as one. He promised eternity, but now, she knew he did it with malice. He did it to keep her wrapped around his finger like a puppet. He was too strong—his power far deadlier than her own. And now, she knew that he could feel her, too.
“My little daisy…” He meant the words to sound loving, filled with his felonious affection that was never truly real. “We can fix this.
“I won’t let you hurt him!” she yelled, her baby flinching from the sound. Lifting the child, she pressed her forehead against his and smiled sadly at his own light connecting with hers. She could feel it—the pulsing energy that ran through his veins. “I won’t let him hurt you. I won’t let them take you.”
“He’ll be safe, my daisy,” he lied. She knew he was lying. She could feel his emotions burning through her chest like a wildfire, ready to explode.
“You can’t have him!” she said again, stepping back until they hit a wall, and sank down to her feet.
Pounding began as he slammed his fist, trying to fight the wards she placed the moment the stone had stitched itself together. But they wouldn’t last for long. No, she knew he would get in eventually—just as she knew that he would take him. Looking down, she placed the baby against her lap, removing his blanket so she could memorize every inch of his face. She soaked in the piercing blue eyes, with white, iridescent light that streaked his irises. He inherited them from her.
She jumped at another bang on the wall, listening to the rocks tremble as they began to crack. Tears swelling in her eyes, she hugged the child and let them fall. “I love you so much,” she whispered to him, the words alone beginning to soothe him. “You’re the only good in my life…” Her cries shifted into heavy sobs as she heard pebbles falling to the floor. “I’ll kill them. I’ll kill all of them. If they touch you I’ll burn the fucking world to the ground, do you understand me? I will destroy every inch of their precious earth if I can’t keep you safe.”
“You can’t stop this,” he growled. Then, the rocks flew apart, his shadows covering every inch of space between his silver, glowing eyes and her light. He finally resembled the true monster that he was. “Give me my son.”
Lips quivering, she placed a shaky kiss against his head and cherished the sound of his heart as long as she could. “I’m begging you,” she cried. “Please… Don’t?—”
Before she could mutter another word, the shadows pierced through her light, wrapping like vines around the child and pulling him from her embrace. She screamed as she reached for him, but more of the dark tendrils slinked around her arms, holding them against the stone like chains.
“No!” she yelled, willing every bit of strength she could to fight his power, but she was forced to watch in the darkness as the shadows brought the child to him. The baby’s eyes shone bright, illuminating the room as he grabbed him.
But there was a pause as he stared into his eyes… Like, for a single second, he contemplated his actions. “He looks just like you,” he whispered. Then, any bit of kindness that she could see, faded into his silver glow. And from her distance, she watched as little black webs crawled up the baby’s arms, slithering toward his face, until they reached the child’s eyes. The light that shone, blue and beautiful, snuffed out with his darkness encompassing her baby. “It didn’t have to be this way,” he sneered at her.
“I’ll kill you,” she growled, feeling every bit of her rage twisting into a fire, deep in her belly. “I’ll fucking kill all of you.”
With a small twist of his lips, he gave her a crooked smirk, before disappearing into the darkness. When her arms fell to the ground, she ran at the last remaining shadows, but it was too late. He took him. They took him.
“No,” she whimpered. “No, no, no…”
All of her fury and anger bubbled beneath her skin. She could barely contain it anymore. The light that had begun to dim, now burst like a star exploding in the sky. She let out a scream so guttural that it tore from her throat like venom, defiling every ounce of love that he left behind in her heart. The light grew… and grew… destroying the rocks beneath her hand… exploding the hollow cave around her… until the only thing left that she could feel was a blazing fire that had enveloped her. Her cries echoed, morphing into the screams of a thousand souls that she planned to burn.
The world would burn.
And she… would kill… them all.
Part One
THE HIDDEN PROPHECY
Memory
300 YEARS AGO…
I quickly rinsed my tea cup, then swiped the packed food from the table and raced out of the house.
