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My heart aches in agreement. If everyone we love is dead, will ending this war even matter? It’s selfish. Earth needs us, but I can’t… I can’t lose Rayne too.
“If he dies, we win this war,” his lips say, his expression open and vulnerable. “The world is saved.”
I don’t care anymore.“No,” I sign, and our gazes hold.
He has to see it. To see that he can’t kill himself for this war. That there’s another way.
Dusk seems to know my thoughts, “Come out, then we’ll kill him before he gains control again.”
I see it in Rayne’s face. He thought of that already, but knows that has a risk that we won’t be fast enough. That the king will kill us, or run, before we can stop him.
Lifting my sword, I place it at the king’s throat to show him I can do it quickly, the moment he leaves the body. There’s no need to risk another person we love.
“You’d take the risk,” he says, his mouth forming each word.
I would. But I wouldn’t choose to lose him. But I can’t say that.What can I say?
He doesn’t give me the chance to figure it out. “Tell Ann I love her,” his mouth says. Before I can stop him, he yanks out the shard, blood spurting from his chest as he does so.
His eyes widen. His express goes blank, and he looks at the massive shard in his hand for a second before it tumbles from his hand and he collapses. Eyes blank, body dead. Soul gone.
My lips move. Maybe I’m screaming. I don’t know. But my sword slips from my fingers, and I stare and stare. Phantom. Rayne. The king.
Dead. They’re dead.
Everything… has changed.
Is this over? This fight? Is there any chance Rayne is still alive?The horror on Dusk’s face says no.
I don’t know what to do. I’m lost. Drowning. Surrounded by dead people I love. I need… I don’t know what, but I’m about to completely lose all control.
Dusk’s head snaps to look in one direction. I do too, although I’m not sure what I’m looking for. In this dark world, I thought nothing good was left. Nothing of love and light. But I was wrong. Ann rides up on a skeleton horse with–I can’t believe what I’m seeing, what I’m saying–with Shenra.
Ann pulls up to us so quickly that the horse nearly slams into us, but she yanks back on the lead, and the horse rears, as we spring back. The horse settles back onto all fours, and Ann slides off of the horse, rushes toward us, and freezes. Her gaze snaps from the Shadow King, and then to Phantom.
I don’t need to hear her scream to know that’s what she’s doing, and I wish like hell that I could have saved her mates. Saved the men I cared for. Protected her from this.
But as tears flow down her cheeks, I know I failed. Maybe we won the war, but nothing about this feels like winning.
SIXTEEN
Ann
I rush around the dead Shadow King and collapse beside Phantom. My hand goes to his chest, and I hold my breath, waiting to feel his heartbeat… and feel nothing.
“I’m sorry, Ann,” Dusk whispers behind me. “We were too late.”
Ignoring him, I call for my powers. I beg them to save this man who I love so much. Instantly, my hand begins to glow, and then my golden light spreads over Phantom. Lighting him almost from the inside out. I watch him with bated breath, pouring more and more of my magic into him.
But nothing happens.
I keep going, pushing myself as hard as I can. Crying. Begging for my magic to save him.
But his heart remains silent.
“Ann,” I hear my voice from Dusk’s lips, and I try to block him out, but can’t. “Rayne was inside the Shadow King when he died. He pulled the shard out of his heart. He saved us all, but…”
My hand shifts off of Phantom, and I feel blinded by pain and loss. I crawl to the Shadow King’s body, and I place my hand over his chest, even though I belatedly realize it’s covered in Phantom’s blood.
