AllFreeNovel
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She finishes her bowl in record time, drains a water pouch, then wipes off her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing the dirt on her face. Her dark eyes meet mine, and then she says, “The Void is spreading.”
“No,” I say. “We’ve been diligent. We haven’t let them spread the shards…”
“On the other side, over the canyon.”
Hell.“What would that even…? Why would they do that? They can’t use that space.”
If they came out of the Void above the canyon, they’d fall to their deaths, and expanding it as it hovers above the canyon couldn’t have been an easy thing to do. They’d have to work a hell of a lot harder than expanding it here, and it’d only be useful when they made it to the other side and could expand onto the land there.
Or maybe they’d just kill everything in the canyon and expand their realm there.Fuck. Maybe they don’t even care about how usable the land is.
“There’s no stopping this,” she continues, pushing her dark hair back from her face, and looking around at all of us. “I thought maybe there was a way… but there isn’t.”
Onyx begins to sign, his face pinched in pain. “We’ll find a way.”
She shakes her. “Perhaps you will, but I will not.”
“Imara–”
She lifts a hand. “I have fought and fought. I have held out hope. But there is no more hope within me. I am going to the human towns and lands. I will find a way to have some peace before everything ends.”
Rayne laughs and shakes his head. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re just going to let the world end?”
Her angry gaze pierces his. “My world already ended. I’m letting your world end now too.” He looks like he wants to say more, but she turns back to me. “Your brother was taken?”
I nod, not knowing what else to say.
“Thenifyou defeat them, you will be king, and I hope this time you won’t show any of our enemies mercy.”
It’s like a knife twisting in my gut. A reminder that I failed my people and caused all of this. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Even with your brother,” her tone leaves no room for argument.
But I won’t hurt him unless I have to. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
She nods and rises. “Although I would suggest you all leave with me now.”
“Imara–”
“Although I already know you won’t.” She tilts her head and studies the three of us. “May the Moon Goddess protect you.”
“May the Moon Goddess protect you,” I say, and then she turns and heads out of the cave, disappearing from view.
“So, she just came to tell us to fuck off?” Rayne asks in shock.
I shake my head. “She’s a warrior. If I’d told her to stay, she would have. She came here to see if whoever was in charge would let her go, so she could leave honorably, and to warn us about the Void.”
“Why didn’t you tell her to stay? We need the help,” Rayne sounds annoyed and I don’t blame him, he doesn’t know our ways. He doesn’t realize that after all she’s given to us, I would not be the one to tell her to spend her final days fighting for a cause she’s already given so much to.
“It was her choice,” is all I manage, and then that hollow emptiness where Ann holds my heart echoes inside of me, and I want to sleep and… I don’t know what. But I want to do anything but keep feeling this empty and lost.
My words are met with silence, and then Rayne says, “And it’s my choice too to go to the shadow realm today and try to get Phantom and Ann back.”
I jerk my head to look at him in shock. “Rayne, you need us by your side. That world is too dangerous for you alone.”
He glances between me and Onyx. “You need more time to heal. I don’t. Besides, it’d be easier for me to go unnoticed if I go in alone.”
Onyx frowns and begins to sign. “The fae is too soft. He won’t survive there. We need to serve as a distraction so that he can take over the king and bring Phantom back to us, then rescue Ann.”
