Page 175 of Black Sea

“So,” Calien went on, “I did what I had to do for that vision to come true.”

A muscle fired in the enemy’s jaw, and he dug his claws into his palms once again.

How much longer could he hold himself back?

“And now here we are,” the queen’s spirit said. “Where it all ends.” She looked at Mornon with an unyielding expression, which softened as her attention shifted to me. “And where it all begins.”

A tear rolled down the outer corner of my eye, and she wiped it away with the back of her index finger, causing a gentle tingling sensation on my cheek.

Then, she spoke to my mate. “Are you ready to meet your fate, Mornon?”

I held my breath when his fierce gaze locked onto mine and held it so vehemently that I felt my knees get weak.

“I am,” he finally said, his deep voice betraying all the suppressed violence within him.

Calien silently watched us. When I managed to look away from Mornon and glance at her, she nodded at me with a small smile.

Then, with my heart pounding, I knelt before the one I loved.

Mornon wouldn’t let me look away, even for a moment, as I pressed my hand to his chest, slightly gasping at the unmistakable feeling of his heart pounding frantically against his hot armor.

Grandmother rested her hand on my head, sending that tingling feeling again. “You can’t take it,” she said solemnly. “It must be given.”

And, drawing a breath so furious it reminded me of a volcano on the verge of erupting, Mornon the Abomination gave me his magic.

Hazy beams of darkness shot from his back. Calien channeled them into the Crystal, which instantly became as hot as a branding iron. I tried to resist the intense heat spreading through my armor, watching in amazement as the black filaments were absorbed into the increasingly bright white light.

I couldn’t believe it.

It was over.

We had won.

The enemy had giv . . .

Suddenly, Mornon grabbed my wrist and pressed my palm harder against his armor. He pinned me with a demonic stare, subtly smirking as he pierced my skin with his claws.

I opened my eyes wide, a shiver running through me.

And then I felt it.

His darkness unrolled from my bones and tendons, abandoned my cells, crawled through my flesh, and escaped from my chest in four ribbons that converged into the stream of shadows being sucked into the Crystal.

The despair I felt rising from my soul overwhelmed me. The urge to scream, rebel, and beg him to stay squeezed me like a noose around my neck, making me gasp.

I looked at Mornon, trying to implore him with my eyes.

But the feral glimmer I caught in his gaze made me stop.

For, suddenly, I sensed that he was not only transferring all his power into Calien’s Crystal.

He was also doing something else.

But before I could understand what it was, the glow within the Crystal expanded to engulf me, Mornon, and my grandmother, becoming painfully blinding.

Then it exploded.

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