AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The streets widen as we approach Lenwick Street. The Arcanium’s spires peek through the cobalt roofs.
Is my father inside? Or has he too been summoned to the Lower City to deal with the fires?
“Gelu’tempis!”a mage cries to our right.
A blizzard of frozen needles rains over us.
“Ekrad!”
Heston draws the shadows over us, forming a shield and preventing the blizzard from reaching us. When the mage’s attack subsides, he releases the shadowy barrier.
Arluin steps forth. Aether swirls in his fingers. It crackles, spreading into ice.
I can’t let him do this. I can’t let him condemn himself.
If he chooses this path, he will become as monstrous as his father.
I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. Terror mutes my tongue.
Arluin shapes the ice into a sword. “Gelu’gladis!”
He unleashes the frozen blade.
The mage draws aether into his fingers. But it’s too late.
Arluin’s icy sword strikes him through the chest.
The mage falls onto the street. Blood wells around the chunk of ice lodged inside him. He gurgles and chokes as he desperately tries to tear the frozen blade from his chest.
The life in his eyes soon fades. As does the magenta glow of aether.
The buildings spin around me.
If Heston wasn’t gripping my shoulder and holding me in place, I would have collapsed onto the street along with the mage.
Arluin killed him.
Horror strangles me. I choke in its grasp.
When I finally tear my gaze from the corpse and look at Arluin, his face makes my blood curdle.
His expression remains indifferent. He has killed, and yet he does not care.
I can no longer believe this is an act. The Arluin I know is no murderer. He would never kill just to earn his father’s trust. How can he stand there with such an icy expression? Has he killed before? Is that another secret he has never confessed to me?
He gathers the shadows into his hands—the same shadows his father wields.
“Arka-joud,” he hisses. Dark magic pours over the mage’s corpse.
I scream until my voice falters. Until my throat is raw and broken.
Arluin is a necromancer. As wicked as his father.
All along, I was blind to the truth.
The shadows wash over the mage’s corpse. They gouge out his eyes and replace them with orbs of darkness.
The mage’s fingers twitch first. Then he sits up. His head hangs limply as he stares at the ice piercing his chest. The surrounding blood has dried and blackened.
