Page 170 of Black Sea

She gave me the nicest smile. “You know.”

Her eyes sank into mine, and in that instant, what I had to do to destroy the enemy was revealed to me in my mind.

My blood ran cold as a wave of terror washed over me. “He will kill them to stop me from doing it,” I murmured.

“Yes, he might,” Calien said solemnly. “But I assure you that my son is prepared to sacrifice himself to save his people. And I’m certain the same applies to Araton.”

Just imagining my mother wandering alone through Aegel’s Palace for who knows how long, before finally feeling ready to reunite with her family in the Rest, brought tears to my eyes once again. “What if things don’t go as we hope? What if Mornon won’t be as affected by my death as we believe? What if seeing me die before his eyes doesn’t break him?” Panic crept through me, and my tone grew antsy. “He will wipe out our race and humans and witches. He doesn’t . . .” I paused for a moment, realizing a frightening truth. “He doesn’t need the Crystal to get what he wants. He could exterminate the entire universe using only his monsters and demons.” Why hadn’t he done it already? “But then he would remain completely—”

“Alone.”

I flinched and went still. So that was the real reason Mornon wanted to create a new species. It wasn’t simply to be idolized.

He no longer wanted to be alone.

Calien framed my shocked and sorrowful face in her loving hands. “There is a reason why the Spirits have destined you for each other.” She slowly kissed my forehead, giving me the feeling of being wrapped in a spiral of light. “You are the only hope,” she declared as she stepped back with a final caress.

Confused, I opened my mouth to flood her with questions, but the world around me started to blur.

“I just hope he accepts he’s in love with you before it’s too late,” my grandmother added as her figure’s outlines started to fade, dispersing like fog.

I jerked forward to grab her hand and beg her to wait, to tell me more, to help me find another way.

But . . .

94

I snapped back to the present as if someone had shoved me.

Mornon was still behind me, his breath brushing the hair on top of my head. My arm was still outstretched toward my father and Araton, holding up the glass dome.

Only a few seconds must have passed in real life.

Suddenly, Mornon inhaled deeply and spun around. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye as he took a few steps away. When he paused and faced me again, his expression was as hard as a diamond.

“Last chance,” he said with a piercing stare. “Come with me, and I will spare your family an eternity of excruciating suffering. They will be simple”—he clenched his jaw as he searched for the most appropriate term—“subjects.” He uttered that word with barely concealed disgust, then offered me his hand. “You have my word.”

I observed his skyward-facing palm, and my fingers tingled from the need to entwine with his one last time. Instead, I created a small glass dagger in the hand I wasn’t using to control the barrier.

Mornon snorted quietly through his nostrils. “Really?” he asked in a flat tone.

I ignored him and turned to my father and brother. I gazed at them intently, and when a flash of understanding crossed their faces, I tried to give them a smile filled with apologies.

Araton attempted to break through the shield again, repeatedly mouthing my name and the word no, but our father swiftly grasped his hand. Initially, my brother looked at him with despair, but then he understood the message in his steady gaze and pushed his fear aside. Both of them looked at me with resolve and deep, deep affection.

Father nodded at me, giving me the final boost of courage I needed to proceed.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured in a broken voice.

And in an instant, I shrank the dome into a bubble surrounding me.

Mornon’s indifference shifted to a shocked look that slowly turned into pure, inexorable anger. “No,” he growled through his teeth, bared like a beast’s.

I wasn’t surprised that, unlike my father and brother, I could still hear his voice even though now he was outside the barrier. There was no magic that could prevent us from perceiving each other.

“No, no, no!” he erupted, lunging at me. He started pounding his fists, swathed in black flames, against the glass. “This. Can’t. Be. Happening. Again!” he shouted, punctuating each word with a punch. “ No!”

The force he was using to break the bubble was so intense that I had to summon all my strength to resist, feeling like my eardrums would burst with each strike. Blood started to flow from the inner corners of my eyes, nostrils, and the sides of my mouth, dripping heavily from my chin.